Visiting Associate Professor of Religious Studies S. Brent Plate recently published Key Terms in Material Religion, his eighth edited book. The volume includes 37 short essays on key terms that are shaping the rapidly growing field of material religion. It was published by Bloomsbury Academic (London).
Prominent scholars from around the world contributed creative takes on terms such as “Body,” “Belief,” “Magic,” “Media,” “Sacred” and “Sound.” Each entry is accompanied by a color image, and the essays work with case studies that elaborate broader theoretical interests.
In addition to editing the collection, Plate also wrote the introduction and contributed chapters on “Screen” and “Words.”
Mieke Bal of the University of Amsterdam said, “The essays are succinct but substantial; the topics relevant; the authors the best around. I wish more fields produced books like this.”
According to Michael Stausberg of the University of Bergen, “Over the past decade or so, material religion has solidified into one of the most productive discursive spaces within the study of religions. By assembling a stimulating series of vivid entries on obvious and less obvious keywords, this volume displays the many handy affordances of this analytical screen.”
Plate discussed the process of putting the book together in an online interview on the “Religion in American History” blog.
