Sense and Senselessness in Religion: Reflections on Creation of the Sacred

Author: Wasserstrom S.M.

Source: Religion, Volume 30, Number 3, July 2000 , pp. 273-281(9)

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Abstract:

Creation of the Sacred posits that ‘religion makes sense’. In so doing, it underestimates ‘the negative’. Its emphasis on the scientific basis for tradition, here called ‘scientistic traditionalism’, underestimates the role of critique and the function of dissent in the dialectics of tradition-building. For this reason, it also cannot ‘make sense’ of monotheism, which, in its many traditions, positions itself in opposition to mere biological imperatives. Copyright 2000 Academic Press

Language: English

Document Type: Research article

Affiliations: Department of Religion, Reed College, Portland, OR, 97202, U.S.A.

Publication date: 2000-07-01