Routledge Handbook of Language and Religion

<p><i>The Routledge Handbook of Language and Religion </i>is the first ever comprehensive collection of research on religion and language with over 35 authors from 15 countries presenting a range of linguistic and discourse analytic research on religion and belief in different discourse contexts. </p><p>The contributions show the importance of studying language and religion and for bringing together work in this area across sub-disciplines languages cultures and geographical boundaries. The <i>Handbook </i>focuses on three major topics: Religious and Sacred Language Institutional Discourse and Religious Identity and Community. Scholars from a variety of different disciplinary backgrounds investigate these topics using a range of linguistic perspectives including Cognitive Linguistics Discourse Analysis Sociolinguistics Pragmatics and Conversation Analysis. The data analysed in these chapters come from a variety of religious backgrounds and national contexts. Linguistic data from all the major world religions are included with sacred texts conversational data and institutional texts included for analysis.</p><p>The <i>Handbook </i>is intended to be useful for readers from different subdisciplines within linguistics but also to researchers working in other disciplines including philosophy theology and sociology. Each chapter gives both a template for research approaches and suggestions for future research and will inspire readers at every stage of their career.</p>