February 2014
Religions of Iran: Pool Theory as a Non-normative Approach
by Richard Foltz (Concordia University, Centre for Iranian Studies)
In Religions of Iran: From Prehistory to the Present, Richard Foltz seeks to understand the diversity of Iranian religious history by applying “Pool Theory,” which “posits that religion/culture is best understood not in terms of essential features, but as a set of possibilities within a recognizable framework, or ‘pool.’ (xiii).” From Foltz’s book, we feature his methodological discussion and two chapters, “Mithra and Mithraism” and “Two Kurdish Sects: The Yezidis and the Yaresan.”
Read Religions of Iran.
Endnotes for the book can be found here.
Read the invited responses by:
Carlo G. Cereti (Sapienza–University of Rome); and
Eszter Spät (Central European University).
**The selections from Religions of Iran: From Prehistory to the Present are presented with the kind permission of the publisher, Oneworld Publications. © Richard Foltz 2013.