A collection of essays by some of today's leading academics on the sometimes contentious relationship between religious studies and theology.Theology and religious studies co-exist in the majority of departments in higher education institutions, yet there has been very little debate or discussion on how these two disciplines relate to one another in this context and on a more general level. This new collection of essays aims to redress the balance and to add to fruitful discussion in this area.Including essays by some of today's leading academics on the sometimes contentious relationship between religious studies - or the study of religions - and theology, this volume is international in scope, with contributions from scholars from the UK, USA, South Africa, Netherlands, Sweden and Iran. Many of the essays offer a contextualised account of the evolving relationship between the disciplines. The contributors address such issues as the place of theology within today's universities; the problem of clashing methodologies in theology and religious studies; the possibility for a 'theological religious studies'; approaching the study of religions without theology; interdisciplinary approaches for bridging the theology/religious studies divide; and the place of biblical studies in the theology/religious studies debate.This groundbreaking new series offers original reflections on theory and method in the study of religions, and demonstrates new approaches to the way religious traditions are studied and presented.Studies published under its auspices look to clarify the role and place of Religious Studies in the academy, but not in a purely theoretical manner. Each study will demonstrate its theoretical aspects by applying them to the actual study of religions, often in the form of frontier research.

Author Biography

D.L. Bird is Subject Coordinator for Theology for the Subject Centre for Philosophical and Religious Studies, University of Leeds, UK. She is co-editor (with Yvonne Sherwood) of Bodies in Question: Gender, Religion, Text (Ashgate 2005) and associate editor with David Jasper and George Newlands of Believing in the Text (Peter Lang 2004). Simon G. Smith is Associate Director of the Subject Centre for Philosophical and Religious Studies, University of Leeds, UK.