Re-thinking religious pluralism

Abstract

The main aim of this chapter is to make proposals for new and robust ways of conceptualising and investigating the wide variety of phenomena that fall under the heading of religious pluralism. Drawing on the growing body of literature about pluralism and diversity in numerous academic disciplines, the chapter seeks to make the case that religious pluralism and religious diversity merit careful consideration at a time of rapid change in many societies, cultures and religions. In particular, the argument is that these phenomena give rise to complex issues that require greater conceptual clarity than is evident in much of the relevant literature. The first proposal is to keep normative pluralism analytically separate from empirical diversity in studies of religion. The second is to place discussions of religious pluralism and religious diversity in the political, legal and cultural contexts in which they occur. And the third is to examine in detail the uses to which individual actors, organisations and institutions put religious diversity in everyday social settings and interactions. In combination, these three proposals promise to throw fresh light on religious pluralism and religious diversity both as objects of analysis and as features of social scientific discourses.