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A History of Religion in 51/2 Objects: Bringing the Spiritual to Its Senses by S. Brent Plate
elizbiz's review against another edition
2.0
The title and premise are incredibly enticing to a reader interested in history, religion, and material culture; however, the organization of ideas and execution of the overall concept come up short in Plate's book.
Rather than a focused, cohesive thesis in each "object" chapter, the absolute abundance of examples overwhelmed the argument to the point of obscuration and often lacked in critical analysis. I found the historical and cultural examples fascinating at first, but then quickly became encumbered by them. The transitions between disparate examples were often sparse, and if existent, they often felt unawkward and reaching. This was most prominently displayed in the repetitive use of etymology which attempted to link words to their lightly similar Latin roots and jumping starkly across cultural and temporal boundaries. It is quite important for scholars such as Plate who do comparative work to draw these parallels across time and continents, but in excess and without equal parts of analysis, the argument and purpose in this book became muddied. The writing came off more as an undergraduate term paper rather than a published work.
However, on a positive note, there were some lovely moments of artful analysis and intriguing historical origins. As for the analyses, the best of Plate's writing was found in the use of sound in various modalities of religious experience within the Drums chapter. This chapter was hands-down my favorite out of all 5 1/2. The scale was tipped more heavily with analysis over endless examples, which likely played a significant factor in my interest. As for the most interesting history lessons, the Bread chapter earned the gold medal. I expected a chapter entrenched in transubstantiation and challah, but I was delightfully surprised to learn of the radically religious origins of the Graham cracker and many major cereal companies. Although I found some of the musings unrelated to the overall argument of the chapter, I was nonetheless entertained with this fresh knowledge.
Rather than a focused, cohesive thesis in each "object" chapter, the absolute abundance of examples overwhelmed the argument to the point of obscuration and often lacked in critical analysis. I found the historical and cultural examples fascinating at first, but then quickly became encumbered by them. The transitions between disparate examples were often sparse, and if existent, they often felt unawkward and reaching. This was most prominently displayed in the repetitive use of etymology which attempted to link words to their lightly similar Latin roots and jumping starkly across cultural and temporal boundaries. It is quite important for scholars such as Plate who do comparative work to draw these parallels across time and continents, but in excess and without equal parts of analysis, the argument and purpose in this book became muddied. The writing came off more as an undergraduate term paper rather than a published work.
However, on a positive note, there were some lovely moments of artful analysis and intriguing historical origins. As for the analyses, the best of Plate's writing was found in the use of sound in various modalities of religious experience within the Drums chapter. This chapter was hands-down my favorite out of all 5 1/2. The scale was tipped more heavily with analysis over endless examples, which likely played a significant factor in my interest. As for the most interesting history lessons, the Bread chapter earned the gold medal. I expected a chapter entrenched in transubstantiation and challah, but I was delightfully surprised to learn of the radically religious origins of the Graham cracker and many major cereal companies. Although I found some of the musings unrelated to the overall argument of the chapter, I was nonetheless entertained with this fresh knowledge.
oldmusty772's review against another edition
3.0
This book was for a class I took. Well-written and interesting.
stanleysbird's review against another edition
Read for The Arts & The Human Spirit for Winter 2021.
aidads's review against another edition
1.0
reading this for a religion class in college. there were too many examples and did not love how it was organized. feels like a lot of filler was put in here. also i was very bored.