1st Edition
The Routledge Handbook of Language and Religion
The Routledge Handbook of Language and Religion is the first ever comprehensive collection of research on religion and language, with over 35 authors from 15 countries, presenting a range of linguistic and discourse analytic research on religion and belief in different discourse contexts.
The contributions show the importance of studying language and religion and for bringing together work in this area across sub-disciplines, languages, cultures, and geographical boundaries. The Handbook focuses on three major topics: Religious and Sacred Language, Institutional Discourse, and Religious Identity and Community. Scholars from a variety of different disciplinary backgrounds investigate these topics using a range of linguistic perspectives including Cognitive Linguistics, Discourse Analysis, Sociolinguistics, Pragmatics, and Conversation Analysis. The data analysed in these chapters come from a variety of religious backgrounds and national contexts. Linguistic data from all the major world religions are included, with sacred texts, conversational data, and institutional texts included for analysis.
The Handbook is intended to be useful for readers from different subdisciplines within linguistics, but also to researchers working in other disciplines including philosophy, theology, and sociology. Each chapter gives both a template for research approaches and suggestions for future research and will inspire readers at every stage of their career.
List of Figures
List of Tables
List of Contributors
Foreword - Paul Chilton
- Language and Religion - Stephen Pihlaja & Helen Ringrow
- The Learning of Sacred languages - Bene Bassetti
- Sacred Languages and Power - Brian P. Bennett
- Digital Media and the Sacred - Nevfel Boz & Zehra Erşahin
- Metaphors and Gestures in Prayers in Islam - Manar El-Wahsh
- Arabic Language and Representations of the Ethnic Other - Mohamed Hassan
- Secular Functions of Religious Expressions - Marwan Jarrah & Sharif Alghazo
- Symbols and Icons in Buddhist Worship - Charles M. Mueller
- Religious Language in Literature - Clara Neary
- Language, Religion, and the Digital World - Stephen Pihlaja
- Variation of Language in Religious Texts - Svitlana Shurma & Wei-lun Lu
- Religion, Literature, and the Secondary Classroom - Furzeen Ahmed
- Religious Greeting Messages as a Genre of Institutional Communication - Melanie Barbato
- News Media Representations of Religion - Gavin Brookes, Isobelle Clarke, & Tony McEnery
- Pandemic Sermon Rhetoric and Evangelism - Clint D. Bryan
- Language Policies and Religious Practice - Anthony J. Liddicoat
- Politeness in Religious Discourse - Marzena Makuchowska
- Religion in the Discourse of Abortion - Helen Ringrow & Simon Statham
- Religious Oratory and Language Online - Fiona Rossette-Crake
- Catholicism and Social Media - Andre Joseph Theng
- Religion, Identity, and Second Language - Amal Alhamazany
- Selling English in an Islamic Society - Samar Alkhalil
- Narratives and Religious Identity - Iman Abdulrahman Almulla
- Jewish Languages and American Jewishness - Anastasia Badder & Sharon Avni
- Multilanguaging in Interreligious Encounters - Linda Sauer Bredvik
- Ritual Language, Ritual Community - Manel Herat
- Religious Identity in Discourse - Kate Power
- Conversion Narratives - Kumaran Rajandran
- Cognitive Metaphor and Religion - Peter Richardson
- Religious Ritual and Language in the Local Community - Andrey Rosowsky
Part One - Religious & Sacred Language
Part Two - Institutional Discourse
Part Three - Religious Identity & Community
Index
Biography
Stephen Pihlaja lives and teaches in Birmingham (UK). He is the author of several books on talk about religion, including Talk about Faith: how debate and conversation shape belief (2021). He is interested in how people talk about and understand their own beliefs in diverse contexts.
Helen Ringrow researches gender and religion, particularly in online contexts. She is author of The Language of Cosmetics Advertising (2016) and co-editor of Contemporary Media Stylistics (2020).
