Friday, January 13, 2023
Religion
Brent Nongbri, Before Religion: A History of a Modern
Concept (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2013), p. 156:
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I have had the good fortune of presenting portions of this work to audiences who have pondered this difficult question with me. On one of those occasions, the historian Edwin Judge suggested a three-step procedure to follow when one encounters the word "religion" in a translation of an ancient text. First, cross out the word whenever it occurs. Next, find a copy of the text in question in its original language and see what word (if any) is being translated as "religion." Third, come up with a different translation: "It almost doesn't matter what. Anything besides 'religion'!"
