Histories of Religious Pluralism

ISSN: 2632-3257

This new book series will show that a critical understanding of religious pluralism in the past is of vital significance to debates about identity, diversity, and co-existence in the present. Studies will focus on using a historical perspective to address one of three key themes in the period between 1500 and 2000 CE: intra-religious pluralism; inter-religious pluralism; or, religion, secularism, and the nation state. Within this frame of reference, constructive contrasts between a wide range of foci, approaches, and viewpoints will be keenly encouraged. The series will champion established lines of research in political, social, cultural, and gendered histories of religious pluralism – e.g. studies on liberty, persecution, and toleration – whilst also encouraging novel ways of transcending a scholarly discourse which is dominated by ideologies and methodologies derived from the social sciences – e.g. by studies on the theological and literary dimensions of conflict, cohesion, and community. The series will embrace scholarship on subjects from any part of the world. European and extra-European perspectives that complement traditional Anglo-American thinking are particularly welcome. As the ‘global turn’ continues to energize new types of enquiry, the series will also seek to advance studies of indigenous and displaced religious groups. With this scope there is a reflexive acknowledgement that the rationale for and defining concepts of the series are grounded in a ‘western’ intellectual tradition; however, this should serve as a challenge to prospective authors to pioneer new dialogues between ‘western’ and ‘non-western’ approaches and foci, or even surpass the dichotomy altogether. An emphasis will be given to promoting the best research of early career scholars from around the world, whilst also giving more established academics the opportunity to develop their multimedia policy-orientated work – e.g. podcasts, blogs, talks, press briefings, reports for thinktanks, governments, and public agencies etc. – into a book that would engage peers and students alike. In association with Cambridge Institute on Religion and International Studies

3 publications

Art and Thought / Art et pensée

If the past is continually retold in the present, as Walter Benjamin suggests, what can critical perspectives reveal and what do they obscure about the history of our modern time? Art and Thought: Histories of the Avant-Garde revisits and reconceptualises the histories of modernism, avant-gardism and postmodernism. Volumes in the series will each offer a critical perspective developed in response to specific cultural artefacts and their qualities. They will engage with literary, artistic and theoretical works, from the past as well as the present, and explore the interactions between literature, visual art, film and music, including the livre d’artiste. The series showcases work by new as well as established scholars, whether monographs, single- or multi-authored collections of essays, and new editions of salient or neglected primary texts in English or French, including original aesthetic works. Writing on translation as well as in translation is welcome. Walter Benjamin nous rappelle que le passé se dit au présent. Dans quelle mesure la pensée critique permet-elle d’illuminer notre histoire ? La collection Art et pensée : histoires des avant-gardes se propose de penser à nouveaux frais les problématiques liant les esthétiques de la modernité, de l’avant-garde et du postmoderne. Chaque volume répondra aux qualités ponctuelles d'objets esthétiques et culturels considérés par une perspective critique propre. Des œuvres de littérature, d’art et de réflexion y seront abordées, qui souligneront les rapports intimes de l’écriture, du visuel, de la musique, du cinéma. Les livres d’artistes ne seront pas oubliés. La collection présentera, en langue française ou anglaise, le travail critique de chercheurs établis ou en début de carrière. Elle offrira à ses lecteurs des monographies, des collections d’essais, des volumes collectifs, et des éditions nouvelles d’œuvres marquantes ou jusqu’à présent négligées, y compris les œuvres littéraires et esthétiques. Les œuvres en traduction nouvelle tout comme les travaux sur la traduction même seront vivement accueillis.

8 publications