Open AccessAgnomancy: Conjuring Ignorance, Sustaining Belief
Author(s) -
Jack David Eller
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
socio-historical examination of religion and ministry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2637-7519
pISSN - 2637-7500
DOI - 10.33929/sherm.2020.vol2.no1.07
Subject(s) - ignorance , epistemology , work (physics) , field (mathematics) , environmental ethics , sociology , belief system , political science , philosophy , engineering , mechanical engineering , mathematics , pure mathematics
Recent years have seen an increased interest in the construction and exploitation of ignorance, with the establishment of a field of agnotology (ignorance studies). This effort has focused almost exclusively on governments and corporations, though little or none on religion. After exploring work in agnotology and introducing the concept of agnomancy (the creation or conjuring of ignorance), the present article offers a preliminary application of these perspectives to religion, investigating what light agnotology sheds on religion and when and for what reasons religion engages in agnomancy.