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1st Edition

Seeing Through Religion An Introduction to the Study of Religion and Religions

By Nathan McGovern Copyright 2026

324 Pages 20 B/W Illustrations

by Routledge

324 Pages 20 B/W Illustrations

by Routledge

324 Pages 20 B/W Illustrations

by Routledge

Also available as eBook on:

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Description

Seeing Through Religion is a cutting-edge textbook designed to help students in their study and research of the world's religious traditions. Providing the tools to learn this valuable subject theoretically, McGovern argues that religion isn’t a thing out there in the world; it’s the glasses on your face through which you see the world, shaped by Western history and, in particular,... Read more

Table of Contents

Preface

PART I: REALIZE YOU ARE WEARING GLASSES

1. What Is Religion?

2. Colonialism and the Two Faces of Orientalism

PART II: TAKE THE GLASSES OFF

3. Islam: Does Fear Imply Difference?

4. Buddhism: A Philosophy or a Religion?

5. Hinduism: A Polytheistic or a Monotheistic Religion?

6. Chinese Religion: What Is It, and Where Can We Find It?

7. Indian Religions: How Can One Religion “Include” Another?

8. Tibetan Buddhism: Is It Still Buddhism?

9. Judaism: A Religion or an Ethnicity?

10. Indigenous Traditions: What Gets Counted as a Religion?

11. Secularism: Can We Put Religion in a Box?

PART III: LEARN HOW THE GLASSES WORK

12. You Are Martin Luther

13. How the Glasses Work

14. Christianity: Does It Look Different with the Glasses Off?

For Further Reading
Index

Author(s)

Biography

Nathan McGovern is Professor in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, USA.

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