<i>Martin Riesebrodt</i> The Promise of Salvation: A Theory of Religion<i>The Promise of Salvation: A Theory of Religion</i>. By Martin Riesebrodt. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2010. Pp. xiv+228. $37.50.
The Promise of Salvation: A Theory of Religion. By Martin Riesebrodt. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2010. Pp xiv + 228. Martin Riesebrodt’s The Promise of Salvation: A Theory of Religion has too many virtues to enumerate in this short review. Yet, there are problems too. This is a well- written, persuasive, and serious piece of work in an area that has attracted more than its share of noisy bloviators. Let me begin then by saying that despite my overall pleasure with Riesebrodt’s work, it seems curiously abstract. A fair rejoinder to my comment would be that theory books – above all – are meant to be just that – ‘abstract.’ But Riesebrodt’s book remains curiously abstract because it remains abstract in places where it might be advised to be less so. While Riesebrodt registers his dissatisfactions, and even a good deal of disdain, for other kinds of theoretical talk about religion, Riesebrodt does not, I shall argue, articulate the problem to which his theory proposes to provide an answer. As Terry Eagleton argued, theorizing arises from becoming aware of those alarming “small bumps on the neck” – “symptoms that all is not well.” Riesebrodt does not, I think, tells us quite enough about what is so ‘unwell’ that we should theorize religion as he wishes us to do. What are those concrete “bumps on the neck” that occasion Riesebrodt’s theorizing? Part of an answer may be first found in Riesebrodt’s understandable irritation for theorizing religion as an intellectual matter – as “a theologically normative system.” Religion would better be theorized as an “institutionalized complex of practices.” (77) The “meaning of religious practices” can only be understood “on the level of institutionalized practices or ‘liturgies’.” (72) Riesebrodt is an “action” guy, not a thought guy.
Read more
1
