Includes bibliographical references (pages 287-295) and index.

Addressing a fundamental dilemma in religious studies, this text explores the tension between humanistic and social scientific approaches to thinking and writing about religion. Daniel Gold develops a line of argument that begins with the aesthetics of academic writing in the field.

Print version record.

Acknowledgments; Introduction: Modern Dilemmas in Writing on Religion; Part One: Ambivalent Feelings; 1. Fascinated Scientists and Empathizing Theologians; 2. Finding Middle Grounds; Part Two: The Art of Writing on Religion; 3. A Creative Process; 4. Other Scholars' UFOs; 5. The Religiohistorical Sublime; Part Three: Two Truths; 6. Relating Stories about Religious Traditions; 7. Aesthetic Objects and Objective Knowledge; Part Four: Working Together; 8. Interpreting Anew and Alone: Vision and Succession in Dutch Phenomenology; 9. Explaining Together: The Excitement of Diffusionist Ideas.