regional identity sometimes proved so tenuous or politically sensitive that it
became impossible to draft the chapter as an undivided whole. As a result, the
chapters on continental East Asia, Latin America, and South and Southeast
Asia are joint productions, subdivided along geopolitical lines. It is unfor-
tunate that some traditions in the study of religions may not be represented,
but that is not for lack of effort.
It seems self-evident that the order of the chapters should avoid the
implication that certain regions are inherently more significant in the study of
religions than others. Although no one can deny that at any given moment in
time scholars in some regions will be more influential than scholars in others,
one should also expect that the relative degree of influence will change. One
wonders, for example, what effect the apparent emergence today of China and
India as economic powers will ultimately have on intellectual activities,
including religious studies. At the same time, scholarly aesthetics requires that
the chapters appear in some order that is not arbitrary or random. The volume
tries to steer a course between these two extremes, randomness on the one
hand, and seeing the temporary prominence of certain regions as inevitable
and permanent on the other. The chapters begin at the eastern shore of the
Atlantic Ocean and move from west to east, against the sun, and from north
to south, ending with Latin America.
In preparing their chapters, each contributor was asked to follow a common
outline:1 The prehistory of the study of religions
2 The emergence of the study of religions
3 The development of the study of religions
a Major ideas and problems
b Key thinkers and texts
c Institutionalization
d Intraregional divisions and interregional connections
e Relations with other fields of study
4 Emerging issues.Each was also given the latitude to modify the outline or abandon it altogether
if that seemed desirable. As one would expect, several authors did just that.
In addition, authors were asked to pay special attention to recent work. For
many regions, such a focus was inevitable. The study of religions did not begin
in full force in these regions until after World War II. At the same time, this
request deserves mention, because during the last few decades the unofficial
canon that guides historical reflection on the study of religions, at least that
which guides such reflection in North America and Europe, has changed
relatively little. For example, the new edition of a fine introduction, Eight
Theories of Religion, written by the US American, Daniel Pals (2006; the earlier8
GREGORY D. ALLES