Jonathan Z. Smith (1938–2017)
Auteur de Imagining Religion: From Babylon to Jonestown
A propos de l'auteur
Jonathan Z. Smith is perhaps the leading theorist working in the study of religions today; he is also a scholar who specializes in Hellenistic and late Antique religions. Trained at Yale University, where he wrote a thesis examining the methods employed in James G. Frazer's mammoth classic, The afficher plus Golden Bough, Smith has been particularly interested in using the ideas and methods of sociology and anthropology to study religions. Through unrelenting criticism and detailed historical investigations, he has called into question many of the conclusions that an older generation of scholars had reached. His acumen has been directed particularly at the work of Mircea Eliade, who was for years Smith's colleague at the University of Chicago. His recent book, Drudgery Divine, aims to expose the sectarian purposes that led Protestant historians to isolate "primitive Christianity" from its contexts in ancient religions, an expose that Smith's own background in Judaism makes him ideally suited to carry out. As a theorist, Smith emphasizes the active role of intellection in all scholarly enterprises. He insists that the aim of religious studies is distinct from that of religions ("map is not territory"), that "religion" is a category "imagined" by Western scholars to accomplish certain academic purposes, and that theoretical questions and purposes should explicitly guide all investigations. For example, Smith states that when scholars compare religions, their immediate concern should not be with finding similarities that pervade a large body of data (cp. Eliade), nor should it be to determine who borrowed what from whom (historical diffusion). Instead, the purpose of comparison is to identify individual differences that assume significance because they elucidate specific theoretical issues. Smith's distinction between locative religions---religions that pertain to specific places---and utopian ones---religions that have broken their bonds with place---is especially helpful in considering the history of religions in the Hellenistic and late Antique periods. Smith's work is itself too recent to have been the subject of a scholarly monograph, but readers will find Smith's influence extending widely through the study of ancient religions. Those who want critical assessments may wish to consult book review indexes. (Bowker Author Biography) afficher moins
Crédit image: University of Chicago
Séries
Œuvres de Jonathan Z. Smith
Drudgery Divine: On the Comparison of Early Christianities and the Religions of Late Antiquity (1990) 106 exemplaires
The Social Description of Early Christianity 1 exemplaire
The HarperCollins Dictionary of Religion 1 exemplaire
Journal of the American Academy of Religion (Volume LVIII Number One, Spring 1990) (1990) 1 exemplaire
Å finne sted Rommets dimensjon i religiøse ritualer 1 exemplaire
Oeuvres associées
Prayer, Magic, and the Stars in the Ancient and Late Antique World (2003) — Contributeur — 60 exemplaires
Religious syncretism in antiquity : essays in conversation with Geo Widengren (1975) — Contributeur — 12 exemplaires
Religions in Antiquity: Essays in Memory of Erwin Ramsdell Goodenough (1970) — Contributeur — 5 exemplaires
Étiqueté
Partage des connaissances
- Nom canonique
- Smith, Jonathan Z.
- Nom légal
- Smith, Jonathan Zittell
- Autres noms
- Smith, J. Z.
- Date de naissance
- 1938-11-21
- Date de décès
- 2017-12-30
- Sexe
- male
- Nationalité
- USA
- Lieu de naissance
- New York, New York, USA
- Lieu du décès
- Chicago, Illinois, USA
- Cause du décès
- lung cancer
- Lieux de résidence
- Chicago, Illinois, USA
- Études
- Haverford College (BA|1960)
Yale University (BD|MA|M.Phil|Ph.D|1969) - Professions
- historian (religion)
Robert O. Anderson Distinguished Service Professor of the Humanities (University of Chicago) - Organisations
- University of Chicago
Dartmouth College
University of California, Santa Barbara
Society of Biblical Literature
North American Association for the Study of Religion - Prix et distinctions
- American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2000)
International Association for the History of Religions (2013)
Membres
Critiques
Prix et récompenses
Vous aimerez peut-être aussi
Auteurs associés
Statistiques
- Œuvres
- 11
- Aussi par
- 6
- Membres
- 479
- Popularité
- #51,492
- Évaluation
- 4.0
- Critiques
- 4
- ISBN
- 15