In my opinion, the study of different approaches to the study and comprehension of religions is indeed an exciting and important topic. 300 Cadman Plaza West 15th Floor Brooklyn, NY 11201 USA It has emerged as the single most important means of communication for those interested in critical approaches to the study of religion. Certain attempts at a functionalist definition of religion, such as that of the German American theologian Paul Tillich (18861965), who defined religion in terms of human beings ultimate concern, would leave the way open to count these ideologies as proper objects of the study of religion (Tillich himself called them quasi-religions). d.) the impossibility of studying other cultures' religions. Among the many faiths represented here are Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Sikhism, Buddhism, and Jainism. Smart contemplated these question for many years investigating various religions in the world. Not surprisingly perhaps, the work of those scholars who have most influenced the critical religion school, such as Asad and Mahmood, explicitly aims to provide a thick anthropological description of the complexity and diversity of religious experienceit brings out, for example, the distinctive modes of Muslim religious subjectivity. Freud viewed religion negatively. She is the Director of UCLs Religion and Political Theory Centre. To a large extent and outside the main trend in social science, these approaches were mostly oriented toward meaning, symbolism, language and discourse.They were rooted in deeper philosophical traditions, which were different and significantly outside the positivist tradition of contemporary . It is a rich concept that connects to vocabularies that bring persons and things, desires, and practices in particular traditions in distinctive ways. 5 Evangelical Christian. So the starting point of the disaggregation strategy is to accept that, as religion is indeed not a thing but a term of art (it has different meanings in different contexts), different dimensions of it will be appropriated in different ways in different disciplines. On the other hand, some view it as a way of purifying religion from the idolatry or worship of human-made objects. It is a childish illusion for, as Freud remarked, religion originates in the helplessness and anxiety of childhood and early manhood (quoted in Merkur 2005,166). Chapter 1 in the (Peter Connolly,pp1-2Approche to the Study of Religion,Biddles L.T.D.) Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). a creation of capitalism, for Weber it is the other way roundcapitalism is largely due to religion, more specifically, the Calvinist religion. The works of both Sri Aurobindo and Ninian Smart shows two drastic and completely different approaches to religion. J.F. The modern sovereign state is grounded in a distinctive political theology that mobilizes the structural categories of metaphysics and theology to bolster and consolidate the higher identity of secular citizenship. the myths of a religion. As we examine the different disciplinal approaches to the study of religion, we shall briefly touch on some of the external theories of religion. Fall 2005. The first is that religion is (as Daniel Dubuisson once wrote) the Wests most characteristic concept, around which it has established and developed its identity. There is a deep and significant continuity between the Christian defense of the true religion and the nineteenth-century invention of world religions. The universalism of the concept masked an internally hierarchical classificatory scheme, which, as Tomoko Mazuzawa has shown, was crafted within the crucible of the missionary and colonial encounter. Approaches to Studying Religion (three courses): Three courses, one in each area, covering more than one major religious tradition; level II or level III courses may be used to fulfill this requirement; a general education course in . For the last four decades universities and schools have been acting in response to a constant, steady demand for courses upon the study of religion. Your email address will not be published. As to the first sense, one of the challenges to the student of religion is the problem of evoking its inner, individual side, which is not observable in any straightforward way. These questions within Smarts Classifactory account would help to define a religion. If your specific country is not listed, please select the UK version of the site, as this is best suited to international visitors. In other words it is a fair and full study of all religions" (Whaling, 2006, "Theory and methods in religious studies: Contemporary approaches to the . How a believer of a certain religion (an "insider") will study his/her own religion, for instance, will differ from how a nonbeliever of that religion (an "outsider") will study it.Their motivations and methods will be different. The belief in the soul as something separate from the body though residing in the body resulted from dealing with certain biological questions such as those concerning the difference between a living body and a dead one; the causes of waking, sleep, trance, disease, and death; and the origin of dreams and visions involving human images. The Practical and ritual dimensions (BBC.Religion). The word anthropology means science of human beings or humanity. Human health risk assessment of chemical mixtures is complex due to the almost infinite number of possible combinations of chemicals to which people are exposed to on a daily basis. (Peter Connolly,pp1-2Approche to the Study of Religion,Biddles L.T.D.) We may conclude saying that maybe religions will never combine in to one global faith ,but we do think that the society is moving towards a global ideology that have a space for religion and identify the contributions of the diverse ethnicity and traditions and bring a new way in helping us to work together for the support of human values and spirituality. Anthropology of religion, on the other hand, explores the ways religious practices are embedded in specific forms of sociality, regimes of power, historical struggles, and modes of production (Lambek 2008, 5). Talal Asad and Saba Mahmood have shown, for instance, that liberal secularism requires individual beliefnot communal observance, rituals or embodied pietyto be taken as the essence of religiosity. Evolutionary Approaches. For our purposes, we shall examine certain approaches to the study of religions that are based on certain academic disciplines. But because they wanted to know who would eventually be saved and enter heaven, they thought that financial success was one good indicator. (Note that no assumption is made about the actual disciplinary location of scholars. This idea led Calvinists to engage in activities that would increase their wealth, paving the way for the development of capitalism. Religious rituals are behaviors or practices that are either required or expected of the members of a particular group, such as bar mitzvah or confession of sins (Barkan and Greenwood 2003). Free resources to assist you with your university studies! document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Social Science Research Council From the belief in human souls grew the belief in other spirits, like those that inhabit nature and those venerated as gods. In the literature, lived religion is treated variously as a term, a concept, an approach, and a field of studyor all of these. And the best- known scholar of comparative religion of the last generation was Mircea Eliade (1907-1986), whose studies included the concepts of sacred space and mythic time, and the sacredness of nature (Paden 2005, 215). Manifestations of the sacred. The dominant sense in which the contemporary study of religion is understood is the descriptive sense. Is Sri Aurobindo truly internal when we have the community of Auroville and a culture around him? Which of these four approaches do you take in your everyday life, and why? Here you can choose which regional hub you wish to view, providing you with the most relevant information we have for your specific region. Aquinas is famous for his five proofs for the existence of God: his arguments from causation, motion, necessity, design, and degrees of protection. Sociologists are primarily interested in examining the effects of religion on society. Ascension 120. Nigerias 2023 Elections: Which Way Democracy? 2.Religious studies has a bigger scope because it analyzes the different world religions. describing how religion is experienced by practitioners. The term phenomenology also refers to the attempt to devise a typology, or classification, of religious phenomenareligious activities, beliefs, and institutions. Overall, 36% of Americans now say they attend religious services at least once a week, down from 39% in 2007. The Essay Writing ExpertsUK Essay Experts. Learn about sociologists . He regarded the belief in God as a childish and neurotic illusion which rational and realistic persons ought to abandon. As a belief system, religion shapes what people think and how they see the world. It may perhaps intensify your religious experience. Do you have a 2:1 degree or higher? Psychology is the study of human and animal behavior and how thinking processes operate. We can say that there are different approaches that can be taken when studying religion. Disclaimer: This is an example of a student written essay.Click here for sample essays written by our professional writers. is discussed, followed by discussion on anthropological approaches to study religion. Bonferroni correction compensates for multiple . Religion-making involved singling out certain social activities and cultural practices as religious and de-politicizing them (see Hinduism in India). These (and others) are all legitimate uses of the concept of religion. Hence, we also have Jewish theology (and Jewish theologians) and Islamic theology (and Islamic theologians). Three famous psychologists who examined and analyzed religious phenomena psychologically were William James, Sigmund Freud, and Carl Jung. The idea is that one who experiences financial success is blessed and is thus favored by God. Second, secular modernity is itself rooted in a distinctive Protestant anthropology, the ethos of which neatly maps onto a modern liberal subjectivity that encourages the individual to cultivate the autonomy and discipline required to relate to her beliefs and ends in the right way. The SSRC is an independent, international, nonprofit organization. A standard line of criticism against this egalitarian strategy has been to argue that it rests on a contested understanding of religion. Conversely, theological claims may imply something about the history of a religion. A theory of religion may be internal or external. During his time, Marx observed that the capitalists, in their pursuit of profits, eventually exploited the workers. Since becoming aware of our unconscious makes us a whole person (a fully realized Self), religion is thus seen by Jung as something positive (Merkur 2005, 177). Sullivan demonstrates that religion is too complex, too comprehensive, and too multi-faceted to be adequately captured by the law of the liberal state. Morgan, Sue. Its object is not personal, although is a necessary condition of the yoga. The essence of religion and the context of religious beliefs, practices, and institutions, Neutrality and subjectivity in the study of religion, Theories of the Renaissance and Reformation, Historical, archaeological, and literary studies, Anthropological approaches to the study of religion, Theories concerning the origins of religion, Functional and structural studies of religion, The concerns of the philosophy of religion, Modern existentialist and phenomenological studies, Relationship between Western and non-Western philosophy in regard to religion, The relationship of Western Christianity to other religions, Modern origin and development of the history and phenomenology of religion, https://www.britannica.com/topic/study-of-religion. The adherent of a faith is no doubt authoritative as to his own experience, but what of the communal significance of the rites and institutions in which the adherent participates? Religion is also studied within cultural geography, which studies how cultural processes spread. It also depends heavily on the motives the researcher brings to his or her investigation of religious or worldview issues. If you need assistance with writing your essay, our professional essay writing service is here to help! Nor does the origin of a concept in itself discredit its uses: the concept may well have been forged in the crucible of missionary and colonial encounters, but its meanings and uses have further proliferated in non-colonial and post-colonial settings, in ways that escaped, distorted, and subverted the original discourse. For example, a religious (or spiritual) approach to cancer treatment can be more effective than a secular approach (Croucher & Harris, 2012), religious attendance promotes healthier living, and people with HIV/AIDS often turn to religion for comfort as well. Both methods tried to avoid the phenomenological approach. APPROACHES TO THE STUDY OF RELIGION 109 like, the students were asked to read Marx, Freud, Durkheim. "The notion that such a study is the objective and comparative study of religion. The only appropriate scholarly stance towards this object is one that is critical and skeptical. Continuum International publishing group .2006. Is it possible to understand a faith without holding it? The academic study of religion is an inherently interdisciplinary field, incorporating textual studies of the world's sacred texts, language studies, art, history, philosophy, anthropology, politics, economics, sociology, psychology, comparative literature and literary studies, cultural studies, gender and ethnic studies, legal studies, and . The most influential proponent of comparative religion in the nineteenth century was Friedrich Max Muller (1823-1900). Most of the major thinkers recognized in this area are also those recognized in the sociology of religion like Durkheim and Weber. The journal is a very significant endeavor since, until we launched it, there was no journal in the study of religion that has focused exclusively on developing a critical approach. There are two main reasons for this suspicion. Attempts have been made to find a distinctive ingredient in all religions, such as the numinous, or spiritual, experience, the contrast between the sacred and the profane, and the belief in one or more gods. 3.Theology requires its learners to have some degree of faith whereas religious studies does not . 47. Ninian Smarts approach to religion is described in his academic literature as a completely new way to the thinking of religion. The study of the religious notions of primitive people arose within the context of evolutionary theory. Religion is both a fascinating and an essential subject of study. First of all we have to say that both, Smart and Aurobindo have not defined religion from objective point of view but rather to determine religion in terms of its own value. To export a reference to this article please select a referencing stye below: If you are the original writer of this essay and no longer wish to have your work published on UKEssays.com then please: Our academic writing and marking services can help you! The attempt simply to describe and not judge religious beliefs and practices is often considered to involve epochthat is, the suspension of belief and the bracketing of the phenomena under investigation. This distinction depends to some extent upon taking a projectionist view of religion as a human product. Although there is still no agreement on this issue, the frontier between traditional religions and modern political ideologies remains a promising topic of study. 1 Review. This decline is accompanied by a rise in the share of U.S. adults who say they seldom or never attend religious services (from 27% in 2007 to 30% in 2014). The Hijab Controversy in Political Philosophy (Oxford University Press 2008). T here are many ways of studying religions. Here religion involves subjectivity in the sense of individual experience. Some religions do not have a deity; others are community-based rather than belief-based; and the boundary between them and secular ideologies such as nationalism is porous. But it is necessary to be clear about what objectivity and subjectivity in religion mean. These studies suggest the significance of religion in health communication and in our . This course introduces students to the variety of academic approaches to the study of religion and to the procedures and sources used in writing academic papers in religious studies. Thus, the bracketing means forgetting about beliefs of ones own that might endorse or conflict with what is being investigated. In this lesson, we will discuss the difference between the scientific and the religious approach and will look at some examples of each. Thus, when William James describes religion as. In this post, I briefly set out three distinct approaches to the study of religion: criticizing religion, upholding religion, and disaggregating religion. Second, however, we may ask whether the normative analogy used by egalitarian theorists of religious freedom is the right one. The term fundamentalism can be used in very different religious contexts and texts to describe the devotion and strict loyalty to a set of principles or ideas. Thus, some political ideologies, such as communism and fascism, have been regarded as analogous to religion. Sensory experience. Approaches to the Study of Religions. a complex continuum of resemblances and differences, Hindutva and the shared scripts of the global right, Normalizing nationalism through social media in transnational Jain communities. How would a strategy of disaggregating religion help here? Still another difference is that while theology limits itself to its own internal theory of religion (its own account for its origins and functions), religious studies considers external theories of religion (accounts of the origins and functions of religion by other academic disciplines). Religion can be said to be subjective in at least two senses. In the Australian context, the interdisciplinary pedagogy that defines global studies is gaining wider acceptance as a coherent and necessary approach to the study of global change. Emile Durkheim (1858-1917) defines religion as "a unified system of beliefs and The idea of epoch is borrowed from the philosophy of the German thinker Edmund Husserl (18591938), the father of phenomenology, and the procedure is regarded as central to the phenomenology of religion. In the last quarter of the 20th century, four approaches to cultural studies drew growing attention. Psychology of religion involves the application of psychological methods and interpretive frameworks to religious institutions, as well as to individuals of all religious or noreligious persuasions. These philosophical issues include, among many others, whether we can adequately prove the existence of God, reconcile the existence of evil with the existence of a God who is wholly good and all-powerful, reconcile Gods omniscience (the power to know everything) and foreknowledge (the power to know future events) with human freedom, explain the nature of miracles, determine the meaningfulness of religious language (how religious linguistic expressions acquire their meanings), and many others. These different approaches disagree about the essence of religion, but all three camps operate within a shared account of the human. This idea led Calvinists to engage in activities that would increase their wealth, paving the way for the development of capitalism. 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And skeptical is Sri Aurobindo truly internal when we have the community of Auroville and a culture him. Purifying religion from the idolatry or worship of human-made objects shall examine certain approaches to religion assist you your! Of capitalism distinction depends to some extent upon taking a projectionist view of religion, Biddles L.T.D. 109,!
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