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This is the first ever comprehensive English-language survey of Zoroastrianism, one of the oldest living religions
* Evenly divided into five thematic sections beginning with an introduction to Zoroaster/Zarathustra and concluding with the intersections of Zoroastrianism and other religions
* Reflects the global nature of Zoroastrian studies with contributions from 34 international authorities from 10 countries
* Presents Zoroastrianism as a cluster of dynamic historical and contextualized phenomena, reflecting the current trend to move away from textual essentialism in the study of religion
List of contents
Notes on Contributors ix
Acknowledgments xi
Aims and Scope xiii
A Note on Transcriptions xix
Abbreviations xxiii
Introduction: Scholarship on Zoroastrianism 1
Michael Stausberg and Yuhan Sohrab-Dinshaw Vevaina
Part I Zarathustra Revisited 19
1 Zarathustra's Time and Homeland: Geographical Perspectives 21
Frantz Grenet
2 Zarathustra's Time and Homeland: Linguistic Perspectives 31
Almut Hintze
3 Interpretations of Zarathustra and the Gat has 39 a The Gat has 39
Helmut Humbach
b The Gathas, Said to Be of Zarathustra 44
Jean Kellens
c Dimensions of the Gathas as Poetry 51
Martin Schwartz
d The Gathas as Myth and Ritual 59
Prods Oktor Skjærvø
4 Zarathustra: Post-Gathic Trajectories 69
Michael Stausberg
Part II Periods, Regions, and Contexts 83
5 Religion and Politics in Pre-Islamic Iran 85
Albert de Jong
6 Zoroastrianism under Islamic Rule 103
Touraj Daryaee
7 Armenian and Georgian Zoroastrianism 119
Albert de Jong
8 Zoroastrianism in Central Asia 129
Frantz Grenet
9 Zoroastrianism in the Far East 147
Takeshi Aoki
10 The Parsis 157
John R. Hinnells
11 Zoroastrians in Modern Iran 173
Michael Stausberg
12 The Zoroastrian Diaspora 191
John R. Hinnells
Part III Structures, Discourses, and Dimensions 209
13 Theologies and Hermeneutics 211
Yuhan Sohrab-Dinshaw Vevaina
14 Cosmologies and Astrology 235
Antonio Panaino
15 Myths, Legends, Eschatologies 259
Carlo G. Cereti
16 Gender 273
Jenny Rose
17 Law in Pre-Modern Zoroastrianism 289
Maria Macuch
18 Law and Modern Zoroastrians 299
Mitra Sharafi
Part IV Practices and Sites 313
19 Ethics 315
Alberto Cantera
20 Prayer 333
Firoze M. Kotwal and Philip G. Kreyenbroek
21 Purity and Pollution / The Body 345
Alan V. Williams
22 Rituals 363
Michael Stausberg and Ramiyar P. Karanjia
23 Festivals and the Calendar 379
Jenny Rose
24 Religious Sites and Physical Structures 393
Jamsheed K. Choksy
Part V Intersections 407
25 Early India and Iran 409
Prods Oktor Skjærvø
26 Judaism 423
Yaakov Elman and Shai Secunda
27 The Classical World 437
Martin L. West
28 From Mithetara to Roman Mithras 451
Richard L. Gordon
29 Christianity 457
Marco Frenschkowski
30 Manichaeism in Iran 477
Manfred Hutter
31 Islam 491
Shaul Shaked
32 The Yezidi and Yarsan Traditions 499
Philip G. Kreyenbroek
33 The Baha'1 Faith 505
Moojan Momen
Part VI Primary Sources 517
34 Primary Sources: Avestan and Pahlavi 519
Miguel Ángel Andrés-Toledo
35 Primary Sources: New Persian 529
Daniel J. Sheffield
36 Primary Sources: Gujarati 543
Daniel J. Sheffield
Bibliography 555
Index of People, Places, and Topics 629
Index Locorum 655
About the author
Michael Stausberg is Professor of Religion at the University of Bergen and a member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. His books in English include
Religion and Tourism: Crossroads, Destinations, and Encounters (2011),
Zarathustra and Zoroastrianism (2008), and as editor or co-editor
Defining Magic (2013),
The Routledge Handbook of Research Methods in the Study of Religions (2011),
Contemporary Theories of Religion (2009) and
Theorizing Rituals (2 vols., 2006/2007). Dr. Stausberg has published widely on Zarathustra and Zoroastrianism in German; he is co-editor, with Steven Engler, of the journal
Religion.
Yuhan Sohrab-Dinshaw Vevaina is a Lecturer in Religious Studies at Stanford University. After completing his Ph.D. in 2007 at Harvard University, he served as Postdoctoral Fellow in the Undergraduate Core Curriculum and as the Lecturer on Old Iranian in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations. Dr. Vevaina is the author of several articles in peer-reviewed journals and edited volumes and in 2010 he received a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities, U.S.A. He is currently working on a book project on Zoroastrian hermeneutics in Late Antiquity.
Summary
This is the first ever comprehensive English-language survey of Zoroastrianism, one of the oldest living religions
* Evenly divided into five thematic sections beginning with an introduction to Zoroaster/Zarathustra and concluding with the intersections of Zoroastrianism and other religions
* Reflects the global nature of Zoroastrian studies with contributions from 34 international authorities from 10 countries
* Presents Zoroastrianism as a cluster of dynamic historical and contextualized phenomena, reflecting the current trend to move away from textual essentialism in the study of religion
