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Genealogies of Religion: Discipline and Reasons of Power in Christianity and Islam
In Geneologies of Religion , Talal Asad explores how religion as a historical category emerged in the West and has come to be applied as a universal concept. The idea that religion has undergone a radical change since the Christian Reformation—from totalitarian and socially repressive to private and relatively benign—is a familiar part of the story of secularization. It is often invokved to explain and justify the liberal politics and world view of modernity. And it leads to the view that "politicized religions" threaten both reason and liberty. Asad's essays explore and question all these assumptions. He argues that "religion" is a construction of European modernity, a construction that authorizes—for Westerners and non-Westerners alike—particular forms of "history making."
344 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 1993
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1355 people want to read
About the author
Talal Asad
19 books226 followersTalal Asad (born 1932) is an anthropologist at the City University of New York.
Asad has made important theoretical contributions to Post-Colonialism, Christianity, Islam, and Ritual studies and has recently called for, and initiated, an anthropology of Secularism. Using a genealogical method developed by Friedrich Nietzsche and made prominent by Michel Foucault, Asad "complicates terms of comparison that many anthropologists, theologians, philosophers, and political scientists receive as the unexamined background of thinking, judgment, and action as such. By doing so, he creates clearings, opening new possibilities for communication, connection, and creative invention where opposition or studied indifference prevailed."
Asad has made important theoretical contributions to Post-Colonialism, Christianity, Islam, and Ritual studies and has recently called for, and initiated, an anthropology of Secularism. Using a genealogical method developed by Friedrich Nietzsche and made prominent by Michel Foucault, Asad "complicates terms of comparison that many anthropologists, theologians, philosophers, and political scientists receive as the unexamined background of thinking, judgment, and action as such. By doing so, he creates clearings, opening new possibilities for communication, connection, and creative invention where opposition or studied indifference prevailed."
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
September 30, 2014
Where should I start?
This is one of the most interesting piece I've read. It denies the definition of "religion" as it is rooted on the European historicities and conception. According to Asad, an attempt to define "religion" would fit belief systems to the framework of European conception. It denies the construction of power each belief system have in its cultural practices.
But the most enticing part comes later: where he genealogically traced how religion becomes meaningful for its believers. Asad concludes that it is "practice", and "rituals", that defines religion traditionally. The shift of religion as a personal modes of thought, as something that resides in private sphere, is a "modern" development. Religion was and always had been public - its shifting to the private is what leads us to secularism.
Granted Asad wasn't the first one to develop this but his elaboration is so eloquent. Though sometimes, like others have said, he could be a bit inaccessible.
This is one of the most interesting piece I've read. It denies the definition of "religion" as it is rooted on the European historicities and conception. According to Asad, an attempt to define "religion" would fit belief systems to the framework of European conception. It denies the construction of power each belief system have in its cultural practices.
But the most enticing part comes later: where he genealogically traced how religion becomes meaningful for its believers. Asad concludes that it is "practice", and "rituals", that defines religion traditionally. The shift of religion as a personal modes of thought, as something that resides in private sphere, is a "modern" development. Religion was and always had been public - its shifting to the private is what leads us to secularism.
Granted Asad wasn't the first one to develop this but his elaboration is so eloquent. Though sometimes, like others have said, he could be a bit inaccessible.
June 23, 2015
Perhaps 3.9 stars. Some chapters were dry, but for the most part this was an intellectually exciting and stimulating ride. Asad is always a joy for the mind. I especially loved the Introduction for its confrontation with the naysayers of theory and of capitalism/modernity as dominating forces; the chapter on "Religious Criticism in the Middle East," for its incisive look at modernity, religion, and the state (with healthy dashes of Arendt); and the final chapter on "Ethnography, Literature, and Politics" for the way Asad cut through the Satanic Verses controversy like a kid with a pinata. However, I did feel at some points that Asad made claims without sufficient corroboration, or that he failed to clearly or fully answer issues or questions he tackles. In the end I was fine with this -- what he says is always provocative and interesting, even if certain elements don't feel fully supported (other arguments are air-tight), and the exploratory nature of his writing leaves itself to unanswered questions, which is probably better than Asad BSing answers to questions we don't really understand yet (if ever). I did however harbor some disagreements and concerns about Asad's opinion on "literature" in modernity versus premodern traditions -- related to his line "Life is essentially itself," whereas literature is not a substantial essence/doing. Literature can be a means of re-enchantment, if problematic, and I'm not sure that Asad recognizes this or tackles it to satisfying degree.
May 24, 2017
من أهم ماقرأت هذه السنه ..
يحتاج قراءة ثانية بالورقة والقلم
يحتاج قراءة ثانية بالورقة والقلم
October 9, 2008
Iconoclastic book of its day. Turned Geertz's famous definition of religion on its head, changing the path for the current stream of anthropology of religion. Asad just does great to shake things up, and force us to turn the mirror around on ourselves when operating in our "modern" fashion.
April 4, 2011
Albeit powerful and eloquent, Asad becomes inaccessible at times. The essays in the category of Translations and Archaism would not seem relevant to most of the readers without catching up with some of the references and background study on diversified topics. The last two essays and the one on Pain and Truth are excellent expositions.
You want to give it a try, take time and read it with patience; read again some of the parts and it'll make your day.
You want to give it a try, take time and read it with patience; read again some of the parts and it'll make your day.
July 4, 2021
Asad is remarkable. This book felt a bit looser than Asad's later work that I've read (like SECULAR TRANSLATIONS, which is definitely foreshadowed here), but still makes some fascinating arguments and interventions, written clearly, if densely packed with references to various anthropologists and other scholars of religion. The early chapters and the final two on Rushdie felt like the most accessible, though the book as a whole is absolutely worth your time if you are interested in the scholarly study of religion and how it came to be, and some alternative ways of thinking about the creation of the category of religion.
November 7, 2018
Difficult read, but improved upon further readings, which I definitely would not have done if it wasn't assigned material.
June 8, 2023
A classic of social anthropology and the study of religion. Concise, clear, and thought-provoking.
September 22, 2012
I guess one of things I- fed up with postmodernism as I am- liked in Tala Asad's Genealogy is his reassertion of the the big narrative of "how power established itself," as opposed to the celebration, indeed the exaggeration, of human agency and the decentered subject that we are bombarded with with the age f the "death of big narrative".
I am selective here but one deep idea that I needed, and in fact was looking for in reading this book, is this idea of religion as contextualized in history and as "modern historical object."
I have always argued, from my rather humble and obscured coin, that religion participates in this overarching process of secularization, and I, partially, found a comrade in Asad's book. I recommend it for those who are interested.
I am selective here but one deep idea that I needed, and in fact was looking for in reading this book, is this idea of religion as contextualized in history and as "modern historical object."
I have always argued, from my rather humble and obscured coin, that religion participates in this overarching process of secularization, and I, partially, found a comrade in Asad's book. I recommend it for those who are interested.
December 20, 2023
Wow, he sees so clearly and writes so clearly - the sort of clarity I also hope to achieve some day!
September 7, 2024
كتاب ممتاز جداً ، مترابط الأفكار دقيق العبارة
صدق المثل القائل : ابن الوز عوام
الكتاب يحتاج قراءة ثانية وربما ثالثة وجزئية كتابه في الطقوس ممتازه
صدق المثل القائل : ابن الوز عوام
الكتاب يحتاج قراءة ثانية وربما ثالثة وجزئية كتابه في الطقوس ممتازه
November 28, 2023
Notes from a presentation I recently gave on Asad:
Biography:
o Saudi born, but was raised in British India
o In mid-1950s Asad moved to United Kingdom to begin undergraduate studies
o In 1959 received BA in Anthropology from University of Edinburgh
o In 1968 received BLitt and PhD in Cultural Anthropology from Oxford University
o While at Oxford was advised by E. E. Evans Pritchard
Mary Douglas was also (briefly) advised by Pritchard
o For more on his biography, refer to this interview
Academic Positions:
o In early 1970s was Lecturer in Social Anthropology at Khartoum University in Sudan
o From mid 1970s through 1989 was Lecturer at Hull University in England
o 1989-1995 was graduate faculty at the New School for Social Research
o 1995-1998 Faculty at John Hopkins
o In 1998 became Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at the City University of New York, Graduate Center
Notable publications:
o Anthropology and Colonial Encounter (1973)
o Genealogies of Religion (1993)
o Formations of the Secular (2003)
o On Suicide Bombing (2007)
o Is Critique Secular? Blasphemy, Injury, and Free Speech (2007), co-authored with Wendy Brown, Judith Butler, and Saba Mahmood
o Secular Translations: Nation-State, Modern Self, and Calculative Reason (2018)
Note on Method:
o Heavily influenced by the genealogical methods of Michel Foucault and the philosophy of language put forth by the latter Ludwig Wittgenstein
o In short, Asad does not offer essentialist understandings of secularism, Christianity, or Islam, but rather traces how each of these are ‘discursive traditions’ that create and cultivate a certain subject through institutional power and practices of discipline
o Asad’s method entails that the scholar of religion should:
o Not look for an overarching form or essence to religion or politics
o Understand how religious traditions draw their legitimacy, power, and meaning from history
o Not necessarily trace structural analogies or historical connections between religion and politics, but study how each tradition of religion and politics unstably articulates itself through distinct practices and embodied concepts
o Examine how the partiality of Western discourses on religion and secularism are informed by celebratory accounts of Western geopolitical history
o Brief example of this method:
o French Secularism and the Veil (Asad published this piece and this piece on the topic)
o The headscarf worn by French Muslim women was taken to be a religious sign that conflicted with the secularity and secular institutions of the French Republic
Biography:
o Saudi born, but was raised in British India
o In mid-1950s Asad moved to United Kingdom to begin undergraduate studies
o In 1959 received BA in Anthropology from University of Edinburgh
o In 1968 received BLitt and PhD in Cultural Anthropology from Oxford University
o While at Oxford was advised by E. E. Evans Pritchard
Mary Douglas was also (briefly) advised by Pritchard
o For more on his biography, refer to this interview
Academic Positions:
o In early 1970s was Lecturer in Social Anthropology at Khartoum University in Sudan
o From mid 1970s through 1989 was Lecturer at Hull University in England
o 1989-1995 was graduate faculty at the New School for Social Research
o 1995-1998 Faculty at John Hopkins
o In 1998 became Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at the City University of New York, Graduate Center
Notable publications:
o Anthropology and Colonial Encounter (1973)
o Genealogies of Religion (1993)
o Formations of the Secular (2003)
o On Suicide Bombing (2007)
o Is Critique Secular? Blasphemy, Injury, and Free Speech (2007), co-authored with Wendy Brown, Judith Butler, and Saba Mahmood
o Secular Translations: Nation-State, Modern Self, and Calculative Reason (2018)
Note on Method:
o Heavily influenced by the genealogical methods of Michel Foucault and the philosophy of language put forth by the latter Ludwig Wittgenstein
o In short, Asad does not offer essentialist understandings of secularism, Christianity, or Islam, but rather traces how each of these are ‘discursive traditions’ that create and cultivate a certain subject through institutional power and practices of discipline
o Asad’s method entails that the scholar of religion should:
o Not look for an overarching form or essence to religion or politics
o Understand how religious traditions draw their legitimacy, power, and meaning from history
o Not necessarily trace structural analogies or historical connections between religion and politics, but study how each tradition of religion and politics unstably articulates itself through distinct practices and embodied concepts
o Examine how the partiality of Western discourses on religion and secularism are informed by celebratory accounts of Western geopolitical history
o Brief example of this method:
o French Secularism and the Veil (Asad published this piece and this piece on the topic)
o The headscarf worn by French Muslim women was taken to be a religious sign that conflicted with the secularity and secular institutions of the French Republic
March 9, 2022
القراءة لبعض المؤلفين تعطيك نمط تفكير في تفكيك الأفكار وتحليها وليس مجرد معلومات تأخذها وتذهب. أتوقع هذه السمة فُقدت في المعاصرين وحتى في الدراسات الأكاديمية. لكني وجدتها في كتب طلال اسد!
طلال أسد يثير الأسئلة ولايقدم أجوبة. فهنا يسأل لماذا القتل والتعذيب باسم الدين يثير حساسيات العالمانية بينما نفس الفعل ذاته عندما يطبق باسم الأمة العالمانية لايثير ذات الحساسيات؟ فهذا سؤال جوهري في الكتاب لكن لم يقدم طلال أسد إجابة كعادته.
يذكر في مقدمة الكتاب عن إعلان مارشل سالنز Marshall Sahlins في بداية محاضرته التي ألقاها ضمن سلسلة محاضرات رادگیف براون Radcliffe - Brown ) عن عزمه على الانضمام إلى جوقة الأنثروبولوجيين الذين يقفون ضد الفكرة القائلة إن توسع الراسمالية الغربية لتشمل العالم بأسره ، أو ما يوصف بالنظام العالمي ، قد حول الشعوب المستعمرة المنتمية إلى الأطراف إلى ممثل سلبي للفعل في تاريخها ولم تكن هي الفاعل فيه ، وأن هذا التوسع قد حول ثقافات هذه الشعوب ، عبر الاقتصادية غير المتكافئة ، إلى بضاعة مزورة " . ثم يستطرد به الحديث عن ذلك النص ونقد سالنز لإرك ولف Eric Wolf حتى يبدي رأيه بنوع من التفصيل الممل -كعادة الانثروبولوجية المعاصرة الحرجة في إبداء أي رأي- ليطرح سؤال آخر وهو ألم تأكل الرأسمالية المجتعات التي دخلتها وجعلتها تدور حول فلكها؟
ربما الحديث عن ثنائية الدين والعالمانية يجرنا لطرح نقطة جوهرية عن (ماهو الدين؟) الذي حتى يشار عادة بأنه لازال في" صلب العالمانية" هذه نقطة جوهرية صراحةً لم يفصل فيها كثيرا�� طلال أسد.
طلال أسد يثير الأسئلة ولايقدم أجوبة. فهنا يسأل لماذا القتل والتعذيب باسم الدين يثير حساسيات العالمانية بينما نفس الفعل ذاته عندما يطبق باسم الأمة العالمانية لايثير ذات الحساسيات؟ فهذا سؤال جوهري في الكتاب لكن لم يقدم طلال أسد إجابة كعادته.
يذكر في مقدمة الكتاب عن إعلان مارشل سالنز Marshall Sahlins في بداية محاضرته التي ألقاها ضمن سلسلة محاضرات رادگیف براون Radcliffe - Brown ) عن عزمه على الانضمام إلى جوقة الأنثروبولوجيين الذين يقفون ضد الفكرة القائلة إن توسع الراسمالية الغربية لتشمل العالم بأسره ، أو ما يوصف بالنظام العالمي ، قد حول الشعوب المستعمرة المنتمية إلى الأطراف إلى ممثل سلبي للفعل في تاريخها ولم تكن هي الفاعل فيه ، وأن هذا التوسع قد حول ثقافات هذه الشعوب ، عبر الاقتصادية غير المتكافئة ، إلى بضاعة مزورة " . ثم يستطرد به الحديث عن ذلك النص ونقد سالنز لإرك ولف Eric Wolf حتى يبدي رأيه بنوع من التفصيل الممل -كعادة الانثروبولوجية المعاصرة الحرجة في إبداء أي رأي- ليطرح سؤال آخر وهو ألم تأكل الرأسمالية المجتعات التي دخلتها وجعلتها تدور حول فلكها؟
ربما الحديث عن ثنائية الدين والعالمانية يجرنا لطرح نقطة جوهرية عن (ماهو الدين؟) الذي حتى يشار عادة بأنه لازال في" صلب العالمانية" هذه نقطة جوهرية صراحةً لم يفصل فيها كثيرا�� طلال أسد.
April 10, 2025
Jag är ärligt sagt inte imponerad. Boken är välgjord i termer av väl påläst, men författaren förefaller mig göra saker lätt för sig när han kontrasterar Kants kritik i religionstermer men lydnad i politiska termer med maktkritik och religionsföljsamhet i saudi. Det ignorerar 800 år av tvåsvärdslära, innan Kant, där lydnad är betingad av hedervärt beteende ovanifrån. Det ignorerar Kants diskussioner om plikten att lyda sitt samvete, och den nyansering han gör när samvete och lag går emot varandra. Liksom den inkluderade polemiken, förstår jag att denna bok kommer att sälja, för den är lättfattlig, men den är inte av speciellt hög kvalitet. Åtminstone inte i de delar jag faktiskt kan något om - diskursen i Saudi vågar jag inte uttala mig om.
July 15, 2017
The information in the book is truly great. The Rushdie stuff toward the end feels forced in relation to the larger project, but it's still interesting.
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September 1, 2022This was interesting but I'm sure I would have gotten a lot more out of it if I was actually on academic.
June 18, 2023
Good book, basically its tell me that religion is construction of (european) modernity. Self discipline is a must, and the only way to have better control is through organized discipline.
November 2, 2025
Hes so based omg never go bald
May 27, 2015
I'd read bits and pieces of Genealogies of Religion a few years ago, but I decided to buy and read the whole book. I bought it on NOOK, which for some reason isn't one of the editions here.
Anyway, this is a modern classic in Religious Studies. Asad, himself, is a Saudi-born anthropologist who has studied and taught for most of his life in Britain and the US. The chapters seem to be collections of his writings more than a well-formed whole, which means that not every chapter addresses the overall theme of the genealogy of religion as effectively.
Religion is viewed from the perspective of how human beings use (and sometimes) abuse and resist power and authority. I find this perspective freeing as compared to the perspectives of Eliade and Otto in seeing religions as always relating to the sacred. Asad places religion as human cultural endeavour that concerns how people interact and jostle for position in society.
I should add that Asad is not easy reading!
Anyway, this is a modern classic in Religious Studies. Asad, himself, is a Saudi-born anthropologist who has studied and taught for most of his life in Britain and the US. The chapters seem to be collections of his writings more than a well-formed whole, which means that not every chapter addresses the overall theme of the genealogy of religion as effectively.
Religion is viewed from the perspective of how human beings use (and sometimes) abuse and resist power and authority. I find this perspective freeing as compared to the perspectives of Eliade and Otto in seeing religions as always relating to the sacred. Asad places religion as human cultural endeavour that concerns how people interact and jostle for position in society.
I should add that Asad is not easy reading!
November 16, 2017
This is a good, but, at times, difficult book. The book is divided into 4 sections, each composed of 2 essays: Genealogies, Archaisms, Translations, Polemics.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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January 15, 2017this book is very interesting for reading
thanks a lot of
thanks a lot of
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews