Description: What scholars of religion have come to know as the insider/outsider problem is perhaps the most crucial theoretical and methodological issue that today confronts the student of human behaviour and culture. An insider approach is one that examines a particular religion by a practitioner or advocate - an insider - of that religion. An outsider approach is one undertaken by a "neutral" observer. The former values greater insight, and the latter greater objectivity. This anthology collects and introduces twenty-eight classics and contemporary readings - from such writers as Karen McCarthy Brown, Wendy Doniger-O'Flaherty, Mircea Eliade, Immanuel Kant, Rudolf Otto and Ninian Smart - that investigate the ways in which scholars of religion have grappled with the relations between studying, practising and advocating. Moving from influential readings in linguistics and anthropology, the volume's thematically arranged chapters introduce readers to the strengths and weaknesses of several popular options in addressing the insider/outsider problem.

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