Abstract
Peter Moore is a scholar of religion, having taught religious studies at the University of Kent (England) for over forty years. In Reinventing Religion: Beyond Belief and Scepticism, Moore challenges existing approaches to the study of religion and, in their place, offers an anthropocentric view of religion and the religious experience.
The book consists of an introduction, twelve essay chapters, and an epilogue. Chapter 1 offers a critical review of existing definitions of religion. Chapter 2 is a direct challenge to the understanding of religion as belief. Chapter 3 is an analysis of the practice of religion through the instrumental, performative, and demonstrative functions of ritual. Chapter 4 is Moore’s critique of literalist interpretations of religion. Chapter 5 focuses on the role of experience in the analysis of religion. Chapter 6 considers the sources, and role, of religious authority. Chapter 7 argues against the assumption that religion is a necessary precondition for morality. Chapter 8 offers a reading of idolatry as an unexamined commitment to the totality of an idea, text, figure, and/or institution. Chapter 9 reflects on the tendency to read religion as either an expression of a particular cultural context or the metaphysical unity behind all phenomenological particularities. Chapter 10 addresses the broader goals of religion in its role as a ‘world view’ (185). Chapter 11 critiques the common assumptions in the analysis of religious disillusionment. In chapter 12, Moore makes the case for ‘reinventing’ (209) religion as centering on the human person. The human response to the transcendent is the emanating core, and human flourishing is the goal, of this anthropocentric view.
Moore shows his scholarly expertise through his interdisciplinary analyses and robust dialogue with a wide range of scholars in the field. Unfortunately, there are points in the book where Moore’s critical analyses are clearly imbalanced. For example, in chapter 2, Moore offers no critical engagement with a defense for the view of religion as belief. However, this view is reasonable when one recognizes that the historical developments of some religions are interwoven with the development of creedal (belief) statements. Moore’s analysis would have been strengthened by noting aspects of this view that can offer insight into new approaches to the study of religion.
Despite this critique, Reinventing Religion offers valuable contributions to the study of religion through its engagement with a broad range of issues in the field. The breadth of scope, and accessibility of language, means that it would serve well as an introductory text, among others, for those seeking to develop expert knowledge in this academic field.