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This volume addresses the relation between religion and things. That relation has long been conceived in antagonistic terms, privileging spirit above matter, belief above ritual and objects, meaning above form, and “inward” contemplation above “outward” action. Taking materiality seriously, this volume uses as a starting point the insight that religion necessarily requires some kind of incarnation, through which the beyond to which it refers becomes accessible.

How do things matter in religious discourse and practice? How are we to account for the value or devaluation, the appraisal or contestation, of things within particular religious perspectives? Focusing on different kinds of things that matter for religion, including sacred artifacts, images, bodily fluids, sites, and electronic media, this volume offers a wide-ranging set of multidisciplinary studies that combine detailed analysis and critical reflection.

About the editors

is professor of Religious Studies at Utrecht ľ�ϸ���Ӱ��. Dick Houtman is Professor of Cultural Sociology at the Centre for Rotterdam Cultural Sociology (CROCUS) at Erasmus ľ�ϸ���Ӱ�� Rotterdam.

• Title:
• Author(s): Dick Houtman and Birgit Meyer (eds.)
• ISBN: 9780823239450 (hardcover), 9780823239467 (paperback)
• Publisher: 2012, Fordham ľ�ϸ���Ӱ�� Press