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Fetishizing Tradition: Desire and Reinvention in Buddhist and Christian Narratives
Fetishizing Tradition Desire and Reinvention in Buddhist and Christian Narratives Author:Alan Cole This innovative work documents the literary gesture that fetishizes tradition, making long-standing religious traditions appear present and available through the reading experience. Taking as examples Paul s Letter to the Romans, the Gospel of Mark, the "S tra on the Land of Bliss" ("Sukh vat vy ha"), and the "Platform S tra of the Sixth Patriar... more »ch" ("Liuzu tanjing"), Alan Cole shows how these texts invite readers into the fantasy that they can leave behind tradition s established rites, rituals, sacrifices, institutions, and festivals in order to take up just the text and its narrative as the key to salvation. Ironically, then, one s salvation is determined by how one receives the (new) message of salvation. Crucial to making these more virtual forms of tradition appear plausible is the reconstruction of tradition s truth-fathers God or the Buddha, as the case may be so that they appear to endorse the legitimacy of these new ways of being traditional. Relying on a wide body of critical theory, this book presents an intriguing way to rethink key elements in Christian and Buddhist thought."« less