A new science: the discovery of religion in the Age of Reason

Abstract

* Preface Introduction: The Study of Religion as Cultural Criticism I. Paradigm Shift: Exploring the World's Religions * A New World: Religions Unthinkable * A New Science: Explorers of Religions II. Respublica Hebraeorum: Biblical Religion and European Culture *Antiquitates Judaicae: The Early Modern Study of Israelite Religion *Homeros Hebraios: Homer and the Bible at the Origins of European Culture III. From Biblical Philology to the Study of Judaism IV. Biblical Myth, Religious History, and Idolatry * Noah's Sons and the Religious Conquest of the Earth * Idolatry and Its Roots V. Iranian Religions and the Idea of Dualism * The Prophet of Iran and Zoroastrianism * The Birth of Manichaean Studies VI. From Mohammedis Imposturae to the Three Impostors: The Study of Islam and the Enlightenment VII. From China to Rome: The Discovery of Civil Religion * Chinese Atheism and the Querelle des Rites * Enlightenment Perceptions of Roman Religion * Epilogue: From Ritual to Myth * Notes * Acknowledgments * Index of Names * Index of Subjects