Why Do Religious Forms Matter?

In Why Do Religious Forms Matter?, Pooyan Tamimi Arab **reflects on the Early Modern roots and contemporary relevance of a materialist perspective on the politics of religious diversity.

Taking as a starting point the insight that religions manifest in myriad sensible formsin architecture, in images, in the use of objects in rituals, and in distinctive ways of speakingTamimi Arab traces to Spinoza the material-religion approach prevalent in anthropology and religious studies. It is in Locke's political philosophy, however, that forms are tied to tolerationunderstood as a neutrally applied civil rightwhich Tamimi Arab discusses through contemporary case studies of mosque construction, amplified calls to prayer, and the right to ritual slaughter. Going beyond the Enlightenment criticism and toleration of religions, the book concludes with an inclusive reading of Rawls's ideal of public reason, which assumes forms of discoursereligious and non-religiousto always be several. Religious forms thus turn out to be indispensable to liberal democracy itself.

Combines (art) history, anthropology, and religious studies with political philosophy Employs the material-religion approach to interpret Spinoza, Locke, and Rawls Written in an accessible style for students and specialists alike

Autorentext
Pooyan Tamimi Arab is Assistant Professor of religious studies at Utrecht University. He is a board member of the Amsterdam Spinoza Circle and member of the Young Academy of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Klappentext

In Why Do Religious Forms Matter?, Pooyan Tamimi Arab reflects on the Early Modern roots and contemporary relevance of a materialist perspective on the politics of religious diversity.
Taking as a starting point the insight that religions manifest in myriad sensible forms-in architecture, in images, in the use of objects in rituals, and in distinctive ways of speaking-Tamimi Arab traces to Spinoza the material-religion approach prevalent in anthropology and religious studies. It is in Locke's political philosophy, however, that forms are tied to toleration-understood as a neutrally applied civil right-which Tamimi Arab discusses through contemporary case studies of mosque construction, amplified calls to prayer, and the right to ritual slaughter.Going beyond the Enlightenment criticism and toleration of religions, the book concludes with an inclusive reading of Rawls's ideal of public reason, which assumes forms of discourse-religious and non-religious-to always be several. Religious forms thus turn out to be indispensable to liberal democracy itself.

Inhalt
Chapter 1: Introduction: What Is a Religious Form?.- Chapter 2: Spinoza: Arch-Father of the Material-Religion Approach.- Chapter 3: Locke: Equal Rights to Toleration Today.- Chapter 4: Rawls: Religious Forms and Public Reason.- Chapter 5: Coda: Why Abstraction Matters.