The Category “Religion” in Recent Publications—Again

Abstract Replacing a chapter in the first edition that demonstrated how, even in the later twentieth century, much scholarship also presupposed the discourse on religion that has been critiqued throughout this book, this chapter instead documents how, thirty years later, clear shifts are now occurring in the scholarly literature, where the category “religion” is coming to be seen more ironically, as itself being a cultural and historical artifact, suggesting that critiques of the sui generis discourse, though still remaining marginal to the field, have had an effect. An example of such an alternative way of practicing the field is offered: the study of “religion” in the case of recent Japanese history and politics.