Religion as We Know It

Starred review from August 19, 2019
Miles (God: An Autobiography), emeritus professor of religious studies at the University of California at Irvine, asks readers in this shrewd analysis to consider not only religion “as we know it” but also how the definition of the word religion shapes a collective understanding of it. Miles argues that early Christians’ separation of religious adherence from ethnicity and culture was a novel reconceptualization—one that Medieval European Christians, Jews, and Muslims turned into a lens for understanding other religions, even as it distorted them. Secularization and the introduction of new critical fields, such as “Sanskrit Studies,” in the 18th and 19th centuries allowed European and American thinkers to frame a discipline of comparative world religions in which “the religiously unknown and therefore incomparable” could “become known and comparable.” In Miles’s estimation, these frameworks for scholarship established by Western academics were insufficient for understanding many world religions, and he argues that current global standards for scholarship are still based on this limited foundation. Miles also positions the co-operation of Buddhist, Daoist, and Hindu leaders at the 1893 World’s Parliament of Religions as a watershed moment for a scholarship built on these flawed concepts—revealing the dominance of Western conceptions of religion that persists in religious studies. Miles’s provocative thesis is powerful and unsettling. Any student of theology will be enlightened by this deeply satisfying work.

October 1, 2019
Why religion is seen as an activity all its own. Pulitzer Prize winner Miles (Emeritus, English and Religious Studies/Univ. of California, Irvine; God in the Qur'an, 2018, etc.) presents a slim volume drawn from his work as general editor of The Norton Anthology of World Religions. Miles sets out to explain the process by which the West, and then the world, came to see "religion" as a distinct activity which could be observed, categorized, and studied apart from language, culture, and other aspects of society. After an unnecessarily long introduction--at roughly one-fifth the length of the book, the preface wears out its welcome--the author examines the idea of religion, an ill-defined yet universal concept, which he and the Norton Anthology approach through the aspect of practice rather than "belief." He moves on to note that until the advent of Christianity, there was no sense of religion as we understand it today. "Religious" practices could not be divorced from one's culture and/or ethnicity. However, as Christianity took aspects of Judaism and transferred them into a proselytizing, transcultural movement, the Christian faith became something unique. Eventually, Islam would do much the same thing. As Christendom came to dominate Western thought, Europeans increasingly saw other faith traditions from a Christian viewpoint and thus imposed the idea of "religion" on cultures where such forms of practice had hitherto been inseparable from other aspects of life. With time, this view spread and became a worldwide phenomenon. Within this global story, Miles succinctly encapsulates what is essentially the history of religious studies, including particular scholars and authors who made surprisingly vast contributions to the world's understanding of religion. The author's use of his own personal story in this already-small volume is not particular helpful. However, his presentation of a fascinating and rarely understood background to modernity's way of thinking is worth the read. A brief but beneficial guide to where "religion as we know it" comes from.

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November 1, 2019

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Miles (God: A Biography) provides an inquiry into religion in this latest work that attempts to explore its origin. The beginnings of how religion came to distinguish itself from other aspects of human life is succinctly described and explained. In American thought, religion became understood in a pluralistic way; there are many different religions that have some comparability to one another. The perception of religion has changed over time and across societies, explains Miles. The birth of Christianity and break with Judaism pushed a secular assumption in modern thought and practice. Miles uses his advanced knowledge of this subject to pose the question of "what exactly defines religion," arguing that there is no definition that currently is generally accepted. The phrase "as we know it" in the title of this work refers to religion "as we talk about it." Miles attempts to study and analyze the concept of religion, not define it further. VERDICT A challenging discourse into the foundations of religion as a separate idea and topic of study. Scholars and students of theology will benefit most from the thought-provoking concepts presented throughout.--Gary Medina, El Camino Coll., Torrance, CA

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from November 15, 2019
Pulitzer Prize-winner Miles examines how we think and talk about religion, from its uncertain beginnings (or, Miles allows, from its precursors) to 1893, the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago and its subsidiary World's Parliament of Religions, which, he says, opened the twentieth century with new ideas on religious thought. Readers of his God: A Biography (1995) and God in the Qur'an (2018) will not be surprised to learn that the work is an exercise in erudition. Following a preamble and a section asking if religion can be defined (it apparently can and can't), he moves to a lengthy and learned essay about "How Christian Europe Learned to Compare Religions," giving a nod to a seminal work published between 1723 and 1737, Religious Ceremonies and Customs of All the Peoples of the World by Jean Frederic Bernard, illustrated by engraver Bernard Picart. It was the first presentation in one large work of all the religions of the world then known to Europe; further, it solidified the conception of religion as a domain separable from culture and ethnicity. Following this, Miles examines the period 1737-1893. Finally, he concludes the book with what he calls an Unscholarly Postscript, in which he addresses the evolution of his own thought and faith. This is an exceptional work that challenges and rewards careful reading and thought. It belongs in every library.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)