Feeling Religion

"Framed by a theoretically rich introduction, this distinctive collection offers a diverse and engaging range of perspectives on the relationships between emotion and religion. Its insights and innovations into the historical and contemporary entwinement of affect, spirituality, and secularism offer important contributions to religious studies, while its interdisciplinary scope will make it of interest to those working in sociology, history, philosophy, cultural studies, anthropology, music, and literature." - Carolyn Pedwell, author of Affective Relations: The Transnational Politics of Empathy

"John Corrigan is our doyen of the study of religion and emotion. Here he has gathered together a true A-team of scholars to query and explore once again the intricate webs of bodies, desires, histories, genetics, politics, rituals, and beliefs that constitute what we so banally call religious 'emotion' or 'feeling.' The result is a cutting-edge series of powerful lessons in how foolish it is to separate cognition and emotion, biology and culture, universalism and constructivism, 'peptides and Easterides' in our quest to comparatively and critically understand religion and emotion. And the strongest message of the book? That we can understand." - Jeffrey J. Kripal, author of Secret Body: Erotic and Esoteric Currents in the History of Religions

"This collection of essays shows how and why the study of emotions needs the study of religion. Characterized by the methodological and geocultural diversity that makes up the field, Feeling Religion puts affect theory and cognitive science in conversation with older theoretical—and theological—approaches. The result is a challenging set of arguments focused on concepts at the heart of the humanities—subjectivity, embodiment, and even the human—that call for re-thinking and re-feeling what it is to critically study religion and emotion." - Pamela E. Klassen, author of Spirits of Protestantism: Medicine, Healing, and Liberal Christianity

"[Feeling Religion] challenges not only those theories of religion that would treat religion primarily as a matter of propositional belief, but also those that would prioritize constructing theoretical edifices that would separate the scholar from the object of his or her research." - Joshua S. Lupo, Reading Religion

"Feeling Religion is an excellent response to a need over the past centuries for a thorough and scholarly investigation of the relationship between emotion and religion. . . . This superbly edited work has done more than provide incisive scholarly knowledge about emotion in religion." - John-Okoria Ibhakewanlan, Theological Studies

“... This imaginative collection of essays should be recommended reading for all students of contemporary theories of emotion.” - Phyllis Mack, Church History

“‘How Do We Study Religion and Emotion?’ This question stands at the outset of Feeling Religion. It is an invitation for readers to think through the methods applied in the various contributions to this collection and map their differences and similarities. The question certainly deserves scholarly attention.” - Lorenz Trein, Religious Studies Review