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In his book Why Study Religion? ethicist and philosopher Richard B. Miller criticizes the discipline of religious studies for being negligent about the fundamental goal of its academic pursuits. In this review essay, the authors challenge Miller's diagnosis by arguing that scholars of religion do share a common goal and that the state of affairs bemoaned by Miller is healthier than he admits. The essay raises doubts concerning his selection of six "methodologies" that supposedly represent the field and it challenges Miller's interpretation of Jonathan Z. Smith's famous comparative analysis of the Jonestown massacre. The essay proposes a different distinction between goals and values in research and critically reviews the four goals/values proposed by Miller, three of which appear to represent business as usual. The essay argues that Miller's proposed teleology is suspicious, not as innovative as he seems to think, and maybe even a retrogression. Finally, the essay faults Miller's undertheorized conception of religion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Legacy, Life and Work of Geo Widengren and the Study of the History of Religions after World War II , editor Göran Larsson, illuminates the scholarly career of Geo Widengren and the development of the Study of Religion. We can learn from his example to pursue historical and comparative studies, develop philological competence, and create bold theories. However, Widengren's philological approach sometimes led to what can be labelled the philological fallacy, too much faith in the importance of mastery of languages at the cost of more critical and self-critical views. Philological and historical skills should be supplemented with theoretical awareness and an adequate methodology. In The Legacy we learn about how academic culture was built in the last century, how it operated, and we also understand why it was altered. It had in addition been interesting to hear more about female scholars in Widengren's milieu. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the practice of weeping in Pachomian monasticism as a performance of absolute devotion. Theories about radical religion and approaches to emotions are used as a theoretical lens. Pachomian sources show a religious society in the making. Its emotional practices, including weeping, reflect a form of total devotion toward the divine, the monastic father, and the religious group. The article looks into how weeping was performed, what its scales were, in which ways it reflected religious excellence, and what sort of emotional regime it supported. Weeping interacted with a hierarchical organization and an authoritarian leadership intent on control. Leadership issues were set in a context of intense weeping, founded on the submission of the monastic son to the monastic father and on the son's total devotion to the monastic father and the divine. In the monastic story world, weeping and tears are strong textual signals and a pull factor in radical religion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]