Before Religion: A history of a modern
concept
Brent Nongbri
Yale £25
(978-0-300-15416-0)
Church Times Bookshop £22.50 (use code
CT559)
THERE is a very high chance that as a reader of this
esteemed paper you will be described by others as "religious" - as
a person who practises a "religion" called Christianity. There are
a number of reasons why you may feel uncomfortable with that label:
the fact that it is a generic description might be one (religion as
opposed to Christianity); and the implication that "it" involves a
sphere of activity separable from the rest of life (social,
political, and economic) might be another.
Profound discomfort with the concept or category of
"religion" is very well established among scholars, be they
anthropologists, historians, or theologians. So Nongbri's argument
that, before the 16th century, cultures, nations, and ethnicities
did not "have a religion", but rather had customs, rules, laws, and
rituals, is not new. Nevertheless, given that volumes continue to
be produced onThe Religion of the. . . - Incas, Greeks, Manichees,
Hindus: just insert a name - there remains a real need for clear
and closely argued books such asBefore Religion.
The real strength of Nongbri's contribution lies in
the attention that he pays to texts and to the business of
translation, and his breadth of knowledge of the ancient world. In
carefully presented chapters, he documents the ways in which modern
scholars have inserted "religion" into their translations of Greek,
Roman, and Arabic texts, or have attempted to identify the birth of
something that can be distinctively identified as a "religion" in
the ancient
world.
He then proceeds to consider the ways in which
Christians categorised "others" in the pre-modern period with a
heretic/idolater model, giving way to the fourfold distinction that
included Jews, Mohammedans, and pagans (all considered to be deeply
flawed Christians), as well as proper Christians.
The key historical moment for Nongbri comes in the
17th century with the advent of Deism, and political thinkers such
as John Locke. Here a shift, which comes to see religion as an
inward persuasion of the mind, and Churches as voluntary
organisations, provides the foundation for a world in which
Christianity is no longer the pinnacle of true and genuine
worship, but one manifestation of religion among others.
I have a couple of observations to make. At the
outset, the reader is asked to accept Nongbri's account of what
constitutes the modern concept of religion; a fuller justification
would certainly have been helpful. Similarly, the implications of
his thesis are not drawn out with the utmost clarity.
Nevertheless, this is a fascinating book, which makes
its points with well-worked examples, such as the 18th-century
account of the "Religion of the Hottentots" (described as being
very akin to that of the Jews), or the irresistible tale of St
Josaphat, canonised, with his friend Barlaam, by Pope Gregory XIII
in 1580.
Not only was the tale of Josaphat clearly a Christian
reworking of the legendary biography of the Buddha: it came from
India by way of an Arabic version in which Josaphat was portrayed
as a Muslim mystic - pre-modern "religion" at its most
creative.
The Revd Duncan Dormor is the Dean and President
of St John's College, Cambridge.