A Review of Sergei Shtyrkov, Religiya, ili Uzy blagochestiya [Religion: The Bonds of Piety]. St Petersburg: European University at St Petersburg Press, 2021, 172 pp. (Azbuka ponyatiy [ABC of Concepts])

Abstract

The book provides an overview of the modern academic discussion of the content and limits of the applicability of the concept of “religion”. The author demonstrates the historical features of the concept of “religion” in Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and Modernity. The book introduces the reader to modern critical theory of the concept of “religion” and illustrates its current consensus with various historical cases. The author pays attention to the problem of the genesis of the concepts of “religion” and “religions” within the framework of classical religious studies of the late 19th century. The review focuses on the axioms of modern constructivism, points out their importance for the recent debate on the limits and purpose of humanities-oriented knowledge, and offers a critique of the most radical constructivist assertions.