Jonathan Z. Smith

"The study of religion requires us to expand our capacity for empathy and imagination."

"What we call 'tradition' is actually ongoing reinterpretation."

"Religious experience is not individual; it is always mediated through communal forms."

"The map is useful precisely because it is not the territory."

"We understand ourselves better by understanding how others understand themselves."

"Religion is not about escaping the world; it is about living meaningfully in the world."

"Every act of understanding is an act of translation across difference."

"The sacred and the secular are not opposites; they are human constructions."

"What appears universal is often only familiar because of our particular perspective."

"Religion teaches us about human creativity and the power of imagination."

"The study of religion must respect both difference and common humanity."

"Ritual is the grammar through which religious communities speak about the sacred."

"We are always already implicated in the interpretive systems we use to understand others."

"Religion provides the stories through which we make sense of our lives."

"The boundary between observer and observed is never as clear as we would like."

"What makes something religious is not its truth value but its function in a life."