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Redeeming Anthropology: A Theological Critique of a Modern Science

Online ISBN:
9780191837715
Print ISBN:
9780198796435
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
Book

Redeeming Anthropology: A Theological Critique of a Modern Science

Khaled Furani
Khaled Furani
Associate Professor, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Tel Aviv University
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Published online:
24 October 2019
Published in print:
5 September 2019
Online ISBN:
9780191837715
Print ISBN:
9780198796435
Publisher:
Oxford University Press

Abstract

Anthropologists have invariably engaged in their discipline as a form of redemption, whether to escape from social restriction, nourish their souls, reform their home polities, or vindicate “the natives.” This book explores how in pursuit of a secular science sired by the Enlightenment, adherents to a “faith in mankind” have variably rejected and embraced theology, albeit in concealed and contradictory ways. Mining principally the personal and biographical register from the American, British, and French anthropological traditions, it argues that despite manifold efforts to the contrary, theological sediments remain in this disciplining discipline. Rather than continuing to forget, deny, and sequester it, theology can serve as a mirror of introspection—a source of critique offering invaluable tools for revitalization—for thinking anew not only anthropology’s study of others’ cultures, but also its very own reason.

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