Writing History, Constructing Religion presents a much-needed interdisciplinary exploration of the significance of debates among historians, scholars of religion and cultural theorists over the 'nature' of history to the study of religion

Contents: Part I Introduction: Writing history, constructing religion, James G. Crossley and Christian Karner; Defining religion, James G. Crossley; Postmodernism and the study of religions, Christian Karner. Part II Writing History, Constructing Religion: On 'religion': speeches to its cultural despisers, Philip Goodchild; Postmodernism before and after: the fate of secularization, Alan Aldridge; The crisis of representation in Islamic studies, Hugh Goddard; Living yesterday in today and tomorrow: Meskhetian Turks in southern Russia, Kathryn Tomlinson; Who's afraid of Jesus Christ? Some comments on attempts to write a life of Jesus, Maurice Casey; History from the margins: the death of John the Baptist, James G. Crossley; 'If Isaac could speak...': redefining sacrifice, Maria Varsam; Ideological 'destructuring' in myth, history and memory, Seth Kunin; Writing Hindutva history, constructing nationalist religion, Christian Karner. Index.

James G. Crossley, Christian Karner