Product Information
The Language of Disenchantment explores how Protestant ideas about language influenced British colonial attitudes toward Hinduism and proposals for the reform of that tradition. Protestant literalism, mediated by a new textual ecomy of the printed book, inspired colonial critiques of Indian mythological, ritual, linguistic, and legal traditions. Central to these developments was the transposition of the Christian opposition between motheism and polytheism or idolatry into the domain of language. Polemics against verbal idolatry - including the elevation of a scriptural can over heathenish custom, the attack on the personifications of mythological language, and the critique of vain repetitions in prayers and magic spells - previously applied to Catholic and sectarian practices in Britain were w applied by colonialists to Indian linguistic practices. As a remedy for these diseases of language, the British attempted to standardize and codify Hindu traditions as a step toward both Anglicization and Christianization. The colonial understanding of a perfect language as the fulfillment of the motheistic ideal echoed earlier Christian myths according to which the Gospel had replaced the obscure discourses of pagan oracles and Jewish ritual. By recovering the historical roots of the British re-ordering of South Asian discourses in Protestantism, Yelle challenges representations of colonialism, and of the modernity that it ushered in, as simply rational or secular.Product Identifiers
PublisherOxford University Press Inc
ISBN-100199925011
ISBN-139780199925018
eBay Product ID (ePID)129173974
Additional Product Features
Place of PublicationNew York
Spine22mm
First Published2012
Series TitleAar Reflection and Theory in the Study of Religion
Author BiographyRobert A. Yelle is Assistant Professor in the Department of History and the Helen Hardin Honors Program at the University of Memphis. He received a Ph.D. in the History of Religions from the University of Chicago. A former Guggenheim Fellow, he is the author of Explaining the Mantras and The Semiotics of Religion, and co-author of After Secular Law.
FormatPaperback
LanguageEnglish
Author(s)Robert A. Yelle
Date of Publication23/10/2012
SubjectChristian History & Denominations
ImprintOxford University Press Inc
Country of PublicationUnited States
GenreChristian History & Denominations