The Insider/Outsider Problem in the Study of Religion: A Reader

by Russell T. McCutcheon

Thirty classic and contemporary readings - from such writers as Kant, Hume, Schleiermacher, and Otto, to Ninian Smart, Mircea Eliade, Karen McCarthy-Brown, and Wendy Doniger.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0826481469
• ISBN13: 9780826481467
• Release Date: March 1999
• Publisher: Continuum
• Length: 416 Pages
• Weight: 1.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.6" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

McCutcheon's "General Introduction" to The Insider/Outsider Problem

This is only a comment on Russell T. McCutcheon's "General Introduction" which I find to be an excellent piece of writing. Addressing the insider/outsider problem, McCutcheon articulates four positions which have been taken on the issue of understanding or explaining religious experience. McCutcheon's brief (10 pages) analysis of the methods and theories used to understand/explain religious experience from both an insider and an outsider perspective is crafted elegantly, like a tale, taking you along point by point convincingly showing the benefits (and liabilities) of each, and then producing a still more complex way of approaching the issue. This introduction is an excellent entré for serious students of religion who are exploring their own quests to understand what theories and methodologies they seek to employ for their further study of religion. It is written clearly and simply and raises a host of superb questions.