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to grasp the ineffable. While summary ren- ablesecularization hypothesis. It iswithin this
ders this minisermon cryptic, its message is context that Benson Saler’s book comes as a
important for us and deserves to be read in timely and useful addition to current discus-
full. sions on the topic.
The concluding argument, that the conver- Saler’s intention in this work is threefold
sion narratives transform unarticulated per- first, drawing on a wide body of literature
sonal issues into canonical language, is co- concerning the formation and status of ana-
gent, though limited. The limitation stems lytical categories, he argues for the utility and
from the emphasis on either personal con- necessity of such categories for transcultural
flicts or linguistic expression of them rather research, directing extensive discussion to
than on the informants’ own interpretations, the issue of ethnocentrism. Secondly, he ad-
theories (or theologies) of their conversion. dresses the particular category “religion” as
While not grossly reductionist, the analysis conceptualizedby anthropologists,providing
does emphasize that the driving force of con- a thorough and critical review of the various
version for these informants is emotional con- attempts made to arrive at an adequate defi-
flict (as opposed to spiritual forces that, as nition. His careful exploration of the theo-
evangelical Christians, the informants them- retical problems and analytical weaknesses
selves would presumablyemphasize).The lin- incurred in these formulations constitutes
guistic analysis is telling but by its very mi- the most significant contribution of the vol-
crolevel tends to treat the subject as speci- ume. Lastly, Salerfollows up his criticalreview
men, dissecting rather than giving voice. In by suggesting an alternative approach to
short, despite the fascinating insights of this thinking about religion, one combining
sophisticated analysis, it is insufficient to c a p Wittgenstein’s notion of “family resem-
ture the phenomenology of conversion. Con- blances” with recent work in prototype the-
version appears to draw the convert into an ory. As I discuss below, it is in regard to this
entirely different experientialworld one not last goal that Saler’s book is least successful.
only speaks in a different language, one lives Followingan introduction in which he out-
in a different world. None of us, including lines the issues and approaches central to the
Stromberg and the converts themselves, have argument, Saler dedicates the first two chap
succeeded in grasping this transformation, ters to exploring-and contesting--some of
much less explaining it, to those of us who are the claims of those skeptical about the utility
not converts. The best we can do is translate of a definition of religion, his refutation of
that reality for converts into our own reality these claims grounded primarily in pragmatic
as commentators. Stromberg’s effort is concerns of anthropological research. Chap
among the best: thoughtful, discerning, s o ters 3 and 4 discuss what Saler terms “ m o n e
phisticated, and empirically careful-a wor- thetic definitions,”those which stipulate “one
thy modern heir ofJames, even Saul/Paul. or more distinguishing features that must be
present if something is to be recognized as
pertaining to the class conceptualized and
Conceptualizing Religion: Immanent An- bounded by the definition” (p. 87). Consid-
thropologists, Transcendent Natives, and erable emphasis is placed on the problem of
Unbounded Categories. Benson Saler. New boundaries, that is, the extent to which most
York E. J. Brill, 1993. 292 pp. definitions of religion suffer from being
either too inclusive, subsuming too vast a
range of human activity (e.g., vegetarianism,
CHARLES
HIRSCHKIND communism), or too exclusive, with only
New Schoolfo7 Social Research Christianity, Islam, andJudaism satisfying the
criteria of membership.
Once considered a topic fated for progres Saler’s alternative approach, discussed in
sive irrelevance, an object of historical and the last three chapters, is constructed on the
anthropological interest at best, religion has idea of “familyresemblances”:specifically, he
reemerged in recent years to become again argues that the term religion can be more
central to contemporary political processes usefully employed to designate “a compli-
around the globe. While this renewal has cated network of similaritiesoverlapping and
been subject to a variety of analyses and ex- crisscrossing”(p. 160), without any single fea-
planations, these writings have rarely stepped ture necessarily being common to all cases.
back to question the concept of religion itself, Much as the members of a family may share
a concept founded on the same historical and a variety of different characteristicieye
conceptual ground as the increasingly unten- color, build, face shap-o also those phe-
990 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [96,1994]