The idea of an anthropology of Christianity: On the work of Talad Asad

Gil Anidjar, Dept of Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures (MEALAC), Columbia University. What does it mean to refer to an individual, a period or an area as "religious"? What work -- overt or covert -- does the word "religion" do in its historical and contemporary usage? Focusing on knowledge, sensibilities and power, Talal Asad has offered a consistent and scrutinizing exploration of the uses and abuses of the concept of religion. Attempting to retrace his steps, this paper will argue that Asad's work has major consequences for an understanding of the concept, if it is one, of "Christianity" and, by extension, "Islam." Gil Anidjar is author of "The Jew, the Arab: A History of the Enemy" (Stanford University Press, 2003) and "Semites: Race, Religion, Literature" (Stanford U. Press, pub. date October 15, 2007).