The Relational Structure of Discourse

The Case of Religion and Science

Series: 

A groundbreaking framework for discourse analysis, this book reveals how concepts originate and evolve through relational structures. Focusing on the long-contested terrain between religion and science, it introduces relationality analysis, a method to track how meaning emerges through differentiation and likening. Why is Buddhism “scientific”? How did quantum physics become “mystical”? Through detailed case studies, this book maps how relational constructs of opposition, nonopposition, identity, and representation drive discursive change. By shifting the question from what terms mean to how they mean, it offers a bold, post-postmodern theory of knowledge construction that reshapes how we understand language and meaning making.
Copyright Year:
2026
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Published
ISBN:
978-90-04-76106-3
Publication:
27 May 2026
Hardback
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Published
ISBN:
978-90-04-68652-6
Publication:
18 Jun 2026
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Laura J. Vollmer, Ph.D., is a freelance editor and prolific independent scholar of religion. She is the founder of relational discourse analysis and pioneered a new field of study in Toward a Historiography of Dreams(Poligrafi, 2023).
Acknowledgments
Preface

1 Relational Theory and Method: a New Discourse-Analytical Framework
 1 Meaning Is Multifarious: the Problem and the Aim
 2 The Pros and Cons of a Discursive Approach
 3 The Theory of Relationalism
 4 Methodology: Relationality Analysis
 5 The Structure of Discursive Change and the Relational Model
 6 The Relational Model and the Problem of Definition

2 Religion-Science Mutual Exclusivity: the Relational Birth
 1 From Religion-Science Entanglement to Science as “Not Religion”
 2 Scientific Knowledge as “Not Religious Knowledge”
 3 The Prehistory of Science as “Not the History of Religion”
 4 The History of Science as “Not the History of Religion”
 5 The Scientific Enterprise as “Not Religious”
 6 The Scientific Profession as “Not Religious”
 7 Conflict as the Materialization of Mutual Exclusivity
 8 Exclusive Science: Signifiers of Science as “Not Religion”
 9 Reflections on Mutual Exclusivity

3 The Scientification of Religion: the Case of the Science of Religion
 1 Religion as a “Scientific Object”
 2 Knowledge of Religion as “Natural”
 3 History of Religion as “Natural”
 4 The Objective and Subjective Enterprises of Religion as “Natural”
 5 Religion “Localized” in the Brain
 6 Religion Negated: Signifiers of Scientification
 7 From Mutual Exclusivity to Scientification

4 The Religionization of Science: the Case of the Religion of Scientism
 1 Scientism as “Religion”
 2 Scientification as the “Religion of Scientism”
 3 History of Science as the Social Evolution of Religion
 4 The Scientistic Enterprise as “Religious”
 5 Scientistic Knowledge as “Religious”
 6 The Scientistic Profession as “Religious”
 7 From Mutual Exclusivity to Religionization

5 Religion-Science Inclusivity: the Case of the Religion of Science Reformation
 1 Inclusivity as “Not Mutual Exclusivity”
 2 Exclusivity Negated
 3 The Religion of Science Reformation
 4 The Religion of Science as “Not Reductive”
 5 The Religion of Science as “True” Religion and Science
 6 Religion-Science Dichotomies as “Complementarities”
 7 From Mutual Exclusivity and Identity to Inclusivity and Back Again

6 The Scientificity of Religion: the Case of Modern Buddhism
 1 Buddhism as “Scientific”
 2 History of “Science” in Buddhism
 3 Buddhist Knowledge as “Scientific”
 4 The Buddhist Enterprise as “Scientific”
 5 From Inclusivity to Scientificity to Mutual Exclusivity

7 The Religiosity of Science: the Case of Quantum Mysticism
 1 Science as “Religious”
 2 History of “Religion” in Quantum Physics
 3 Scientific Knowledge as “Religious”
 4 The Scientific Enterprise as “Religious”
 5 From Inclusivity to Religiosity to Mutual Exclusivity

8 Reflections on Relationalism: toward Post-postmodern Knowledge
 1 Relations as a Conceptual Map
 2 Relationality Analysis in Perspective
 3 Future Directions for Research
 4 Final Remarks
References
Index
This book is intended for specialists and specialized institutions in the fields of epistemology, discourse analysis, sociology and history of knowledge, religion-science history, intellectual history, and religious studies.
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