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by Charles H. Long (Editor)
Charles H. Long is one of the most influential and pioneering scholars in the study of religion from the past 50 years. This is the first comprehensive collection of his writings, edited by Long himself, and contains 38 pieces, including both published and previously unpublished articles, lectures, an interview, and two book reviews. The foreword is provided by Jennifer Reid, a former student of Long. The collection is divided into four thematic parts: America and the Study of Religion; Theory and Method in the Study of Religion; African American Religion in the United States; Kindling, Embers and Sparks.
Long's introduction provides much-awaited insight into his reflections on his work, expanding on questions that remained unanswered in his classic and influential text, Significations: Signs, Symbols and Images in the Interpretation of Images (1986). In particular, the new introductory essay explores the significance of "ellipses", that which is omitted, the projected spaces of the Other in the study of religion.
Considered the preeminent founder and advocate of the study of Black Religion, Long was exploring religion and colonialism and the importance of Afro-American religion as early as the 1960s and early 1970s, and this collection of his thinking - which moves across the formations of religious studies, African diasporic studies, and social and cultural theory - is a must-have addition for any institutional or personal library.
Author Biography
Charles H. Long was Emeritus Professor of Religious Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, USA. He was the author of Significations: Signs, Symbols, and Images in the Interpretation of Religion (1986). Over a long career, Long held professorial positions at the University of Chicago, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Duke University, and Syracuse University. In addition, he served as a visiting professor at Tsukuba University in Japan, the University of Queensland in Australia, and Capetown University in South Africa.
