Concise Encyclopedia of Language and Religion

The Concise Encyclopedia of Language and Religion provides the specialist and the general reader with accurate, up-to-date information on every aspect of the crucial interface between language and religion. Easy access to material in over 320 articles by scholars in many fields is provided both in a clear thematic arrangement, and by means of a comprehensive and detailed general index. Discussion of many topics including the creation of special sacred scripts, religious calligraphy, and the use of religious symbols in meditation, magic and elsewhere, is enriched and elucidated by illustrations, diagrams and tables. The Concise Encyclopedia of Language and Religion brings together articles and bibliographic entries drawn from the award-winning Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, all of which have been revised and updated appropriately. These articles are supplemented by a large number of completely new contributions, one of which is an extensive 12,500 word article on 'Basic Concepts and Terms in Linguistics', making this volume accessible to a wide audience.

Provisional contents: Part and selected chapter headings: General Introduction - Language and Religion. Language in the Context of Particular Religions. African indigenous religions. Celtic religion. Hinduism. Judaism. Quakerism. Zoroastrianism. Sacred Texts and Translations. Bible. Book of Mormon. Talmud. Religious Languages and Scripts. Arabic. Coptic. Gothic. Sanskrit. Yiddish. Special Language Uses. Archaism. Hymns. Mysticism. Parable. Beliefs about Language. Babel. Fundamentalism. Taboo words. Religion and the Study of Language. Arab and Persian phonetics. Hebrew grammarians. Plato and his predecessors. Biographies. R. Ascham, W. Benjamin, M. Daly, J. Huss, J. Lacan, E. Nida, G. Postel, Ulfilas, L. Wittgenstein. Glossary. Transcriptional Conventions.