Epistemic Injustice and Religious Identity : The Role of Power, Knowledge and Ignorance

The first exploration of epistemic injustice and religious identity in the academic study of religion, focusing on major faith traditions in the context of Western secular society.

Epistemic injustice and epistemologies of ignorance are powerful tools of oppression and marginalization. In naming these phenomena, an interdisciplinary team of scholars expose many of the ways in which religious credibility and intelligibility are linked to social power.

Extending beyond the narrow discourse about Christianity they provide a broader discussion of Judaism and Islam and religious traditions in Africa and East Asia. They connect political, religious and social philosophies with gender studies and theology to offer a range of perspectives. The resulting insights lay the foundations required to recognize how religious traditions perpetuate their own forms of epistemic injustice and facilitate structures of ignorance.

By discussing religion as a site of knowledge production, social relations and political power, this collection confirms that religion is not exempt from epistemic injustice. It reveals the extent that such injustices manifests in academic scholarship about religion. Timely and necessary, it is vital for philosophers of religion looking to understand the complex system of identity power and privilege that surrounds religions today.