Beyond the Classics?

"Taking stock from time to time of where a field has been and where it appears to be going can heighten self-consciousness about the meaning and purpose of the quiry. It can also help to identify blind alleys which are being diligently but fruitlessly pursued. And it can help to clarify goals and provide new direction for their achievement. "Such stocktaking of the scientific study of religion is the purpose of this book. It doesn't aspire to dissect and evaluate all that the field encompasses, but to discover what has happened over the course of fifty to a hundred years to the ideas, theories, and insights contributed by the classical writers in the field. What has been their fate? How much do they continue to be the last word and in what ways have they been altered, extended, and elaborated upon by subsequent work? In effect, are we beyond the classics in the scientific study of religion or still mostly in the middle of them?"-from the Introduction.