Blurb:

Co-authored with William Arnal, this chapter further explores the basis for an anthropocentric study of religion by arguing that the category religion, as a framework for a non-theological, academic discipline is an ironic term inasmuch as it is most often defined precisely by its theological content (e.g., unique beliefs in the gods). The chapter therefore concludes that there is a futility in perpetual efforts to distinguish the study of religion from theology when theology is understood to set the terms in which the academic field operates.