Contributors List of Images Preface and Acknowledgements INTRODUCTION Destabilizing the Sacred: A Critical History of Religions Hugh B. Urban and Greg Johnson PART I. MYTH AND NARRATIVE 1. (Mythical) Battles in Medieval Scandinavia: Battle Narratives and the Construction of Society Nicolas Meylan 2. Myth, Third Rome, and the Uses of Ressentiment: An Essay in Myth Criticism Ivan Strenski 3. How the Arthashastra and the Kamasutra Got Away With Their Critiques of Dharma Wendy Doniger 4. Authority Apart from Truth: Superhero Comic Book Stories as Myth Kevin Wanner 5. Myths and Utopias, Critics and Caretakers: In Defense of Revisionist History Stefan Arvidsson PART II. RITUAL AND PRACTICE 6. Ritual, Advocacy, and Authority: The Challenge of Being an Irreverent Witness Greg Johnson 7. Death, Nationalism, and Sacrifice: Ritual, Violence, Politics, and Tourism in Northeast India Hugh B. Urban 8. Becoming Zarathustra Jean Kellens PART III. GENDER AND SEXUALITY 9. Where Men are Knights and Women are Princesses: Gender Ideology in Brazil's Valley of the Dawn Kelly E. Hayes 10. Straightening Out the Gods' Gender Kathleen Self 11. Norn, Vampire, Female Christ: Myth and Myth-Making in Sweden's First Feminist Novel Stefanie von Schnurbein PART IV. POWER, POLITICS, AND THE POLITICS OF SCHOLARSHIP 12. Historicizing the Elephant in the Room Russell T. McCutcheon 13. What is Religion? Between Christocentric Paradigm and Anthropological Relativism Claude Calame 14. Rereading Charlie Hebdo: Of Irreverence and Laïcité S. Romi Mukherjee Afterword: An Interview with Bruce Lincoln on Religion, Comparison, and the Politics of Scholarship Index

"... these provocative essays constitute a fine, thoughtful, and original treatment. Summing up: Recommended" -- CHOICE "Bruce Lincoln's razor-sharp, lightning strike essays are a pleasure to read and re-read... s. Irreverence and the Sacred is therefore required reading for all those who take Lincoln's vision of the history of religions seriously." -- Brian Collins, Ohio University, Religious Studies Review "Irreverence and the Sacred offers fresh perspectives on one of the most influential theorists in religious studies. The book also contains deeply self-conscious explorations of how scholars of religion approach their work; the authors describe the processes they use in specific projects and the dilemmas they have faced while conducting their research. On occasion authors in this volume even express regret that perhaps they could have approached particular projects differently. This process of self-description and reflection on the part of the authors unifies this book far more than any field of study or response to specific writings of Lincoln. It is the insight into this grappling on how to best conduct scholarly work and the application of religious studies theory to such a wide variety of subjects that make this such an immensely valuable resource." -- Melody Everest, Reading Religion "Using Bruce Lincoln's work as a compass, the contributors to this volume eschew a feel-good approach to religious studies. Rather than focus on meaningless categories such as 'the sacred,' they encourage us to reflect on the mundane nature of religion. The results are challenging, provocative, and often irreverent. The editors are to be congratulated for continuing to push the boundaries of the field in important and controversial directions."--Aaron W. Hughes, Philip S. Bernstein Professor of Religion and Classics, University of Rochester "While Bruce Lincoln's scholarship has established him as a leading figure in religious studies, the field remains in desperate need of scholars pressing and applying the kind of approach Lincoln advocates. His mode of and ideas on historiography provoke as much as they influence, and the field would be better if scholarsDLeven in their critiquesDLtook seriously the questions and issues thinkers like Lincoln continue to pose for our academic work. That is exactly what this collection delivers."--K. Merinda Simmons, Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies, Department of Religious Studies, University of Alabama "Bruce Lincoln's voice is one of the most important on the critical end of the academic study of religion; no one I know of has done more than he to theorize and adapt neo-Marxist or Marxian approaches to the subject matter of our field. The volume does an excellent job of surveying his major works, extending Lincoln's work to a new data set, demonstrating its usefulness, or offering criticisms of his work, demonstrating how his approach might be modified so as to be more sophisticated than it already is."--Craig Martin, Associate Professor of Religious Studies, St. Thomas Aquinas College

Selling point: The first book to critically engage the work of Bruce Lincoln and its impact on the field of Religious Studies Selling point: Features a diverse array of internationally renowned scholars

Hugh B. Urban is a professor of religious studies and South Asian studies in the Department of Comparative Studies at Ohio State University. He is the author of nine books, including The Church of Scientology: A History of a New Religion (2011) and Zorba the Buddha: Sex, Spirituality and Capitalism in the Global Osho Movement (2016). Greg Johnson is Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Director of the Center for Native American and Indigenous Studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He is the author of Sacred Claims: Repatriation and Living Tradition and co-editor of Handbook of Indigenous Religion(s) (2017).

Selling point: The first book to critically engage the work of Bruce Lincoln and its impact on the field of Religious Studies Selling point: Features a diverse array of internationally renowned scholars