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Slandering the Sacred

Blasphemy Law and Religious Affect in Colonial India
By J. Barton Scott
Series: Class 200: New Studies in Religion
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Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Slandering the Sacred explores the history of global secularism and political emotions by examining the colonial origins of blasphemy law. Focusing on Section 295A of the Indian Penal Code enacted in 1927, J. Barton Scott reveals how this British imperial law shaped ideas about religion, free speech, and offence in a globalised world. The book challenges dominant Western narratives by situating blasphemy laws in their imperial context and breaking down traditional boundaries between the secular and sacred, public and private.
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Format: Hardback
$18899
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

Ideal for readers interested in religion, colonial history, law, and the politics of free speech. Scholars and students of secularism, South Asian studies, and legal history will find this a compelling and thought-provoking read.

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Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

A history of global secularism and political feeling through colonial blasphemy law.

Why is religion today so often associated with giving and taking offence? To answer this question, Slandering the Sacred invites us to consider how colonial infrastructures shaped our globalised world.

Through the origin and afterlives of a 1927 British imperial law (Section 295A of the Indian Penal Code), J.οΏ½goes on a globe-trotting narrative about secularism, empire, insult, and outrage. Decentring white martyrs to free thought, his story calls for new histories of blasphemy that return these thinkers to their imperial context.

It dismantles the cultural boundaries of the West, and transgresses the borders between the secular and the sacred as well as the public and the private.

Series: Class 200: New Studies in Religion

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Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Praised for its rich historical insight, the book is described as an "elegant and imaginative" study that re-centres India within the history of secularism and blasphemy laws, cutting through contemporary debates about religion and free speech. Reviewers highlight its gripping analysis of colonial laws regulating speech and emotion, emphasising the complex intersections between law, religion, and empire.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780226824888

Publisher: The University of Chicago Press

Format: Hardback

Date Published: 05 April 2023

Country: United States

Imprint: University of Chicago Press

Illustration: 15 halftones

Audience: Professional and scholarly

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 36.0mm

Width: 152.0mm

Height: 229.0mm

Weight: 513g

Pages: 272

Collections

Education & Reference J. Barton Scott Non-Fiction Religion & Spirituality Series: Class 200: New Studies in Religion

About the Author

J. Barton Scott is associate professor of historical studies and the study of religion at the University of Toronto. He is author of Spiritual Despots: Modern Hinduism and the Genealogies of Self-Rule, also published by the University of Chicago Press.

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