What Is Religion?

What Is Religion? PDF

Author: Aaron W. Hughes

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2021

Total Pages: 385

ISBN-13: 0190064978

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Controversies over how to define the word religion have persisted for decades. It is a term of art and of academic study, but also one of governance, technologies, and of networks; it is a concept whose diversity is often its own worst enemy. Religion is as much a fuzzy set of conceptualizations and generalizations about a range of human activities as it is an authorizing system of persons, ideas, and practices. What is Religion?: Debating the Academic Study of Religion invites readers to eavesdrop on scholarly debates over the limits of, and uses for, a word commonly used but infrequently defined in a precise manner. This volume takes the temperature of the modern field of Religious Studies by inviting a diverse group of scholars to offer their own substantive contribution that builds on the shared opening prompt, Religion is.... Their essays document the current state of the field and its various sub-fields, assess the progress that has been made over the past generation, and propose new directions for future work. Seventeen of the international field's leading scholars show how they work with each other's definition, or, sometimes, the lack of a definition. Of interest to students, scholars, and general readers alike, What is Religion? will provoke debate and provide insights into the state of the field.

The Proper Study of Religion After Jonathan Z. Smith

The Proper Study of Religion After Jonathan Z. Smith PDF

Author: Sam D. Gill

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2021-02-24

Total Pages: 283

ISBN-13: 0197527221

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In The Proper Study of Religion, Sam Gill charts an innovative course of development for the academic study of religion by engaging the legacy of Jonathan Z. Smith, Gill's teacher and mentor for fifty years. Building on Smith's foundational legacy through creative encounters, Gill explores an extensive range of absorbing topics including: comparison as essential to academic technique and to human knowledge itself; play, philosophically understood, as a coredynamic of Smith's entire program; the relationship of academic document-based studies to the sensory-rich real world of religions; and self-moving as providing a biological and philosophical foundation on which to develop and expand upon a proper academic study of religion.

The Study of Religion

The Study of Religion PDF

Author: George D. Chryssides

Publisher: A&C Black

Published: 2013-12-05

Total Pages: 393

ISBN-13: 1472567323

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This updated textbook unravels the complex issues related to methodology and theory in the study of religion. It equips students with the knowledge needed for the academic study of religion, explaining the history of the methodology, including ideas of key theorists, and discusses key issues in the field, such as gender, phenomenology, and the insider/outsider discourse. Updated throughout, additional material includes: -New chapter on colonialism and post-colonialism -New chapter on insider/outsider discourse -Coverage of 'cyber-religion' and the internet as a research tool in religious studies Study and classroom features in each chapter include: -Chapter outlines -Case studies -Boxed key concepts -Discussion questions -Chapter bibliographies The text is illustrated throughout with 35 images, and extra resources can be found online, including additional coverage of 'levels of religion'.

Failure and Nerve in the Academic Study of Religion

Failure and Nerve in the Academic Study of Religion PDF

Author: William E. Arnal

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2014-09-11

Total Pages: 270

ISBN-13: 1317543955

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Failure and Nerve in the Academic Study of Religion presents a provocative critique of the unwillingness of modern scholars to publically distinguish research into comparative religion from confessional studies written within denominationally-affiliated institutions. The book offers the 19th Century founders of the study of religion as a bracing corrective to contemporary timidity. The issue was analysed and documented by Wiebe a quarter of a century ago. Here, marking Wiebe's work, a wide range of contributors reassess the methodology and ambition of contemporary religious research. The book argues that conceptualizing religion as part of the world of human action and experience is the first requirement of the study of religion.

Introduction to the Study of Religion

Introduction to the Study of Religion PDF

Author: Hillary P. Rodrigues

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2008-08-20

Total Pages: 193

ISBN-13: 1134132131

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Why do people study religion? How have they studied it in the past? How do we study religion today? Is the academic study of religion the same as religious education? These and many other questions are addressed in this engaging introduction to the discipline of religious studies, written by two experienced university teachers. The authors have crafted this book to familiarize novice students with key concepts and terminology in the study of religion. More advanced students will find a varied array of theoretical perspectives and methodological approaches to the field. Topics include: definitions of religion perspectives in the study and teaching of religion how religion began to be studied: traditional perspectives – philosophical and theological how people experience religion: perspectives in the study of religious consciousness and perception – phenomenological and psychological studying religion within communities: Social and cultural perspectives – anthropological, sociological, political and economic judging religion: critical perspectives –feminist approaches, the interaction of popular literature and religion contextual perspectives – historical and comparative. The book encourages students to think critically about the theories and methods presented. Students will find arguments for the strengths and limitations of these approaches, understand connections among religious studies and other intellectual movements, and develop their own ideas of how they might want to go about the study of religion. Summary boxes, a timeline, a glossary and other pedagogic aids help students grasp key concepts, along with a companion website at www.sastor.com.

Critical Thinking and the Academic Study of Religion

Critical Thinking and the Academic Study of Religion PDF

Author: Richard Penaskovic

Publisher: South Florida Studies in the H

Published: 1997

Total Pages: 212

ISBN-13:

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Originally Published by Scholars Press Now Available from Duke University Press This work responds to a renewed emphasis on teaching in the academy. Written from the perspective of a classroom teacher, it is a practical application of the principles behind the critical thinking movement to the study of religion. Emphasizing that the acquisition of critical thinking depends less on what is taught than on how it is taught, the author presents concrete examples from his own experience to illustrate a student-centered approach to teaching. By demonstrating how the study of religion contributes to the development of critical thinking--through the acquistion of problem-solving, decision-making, and metacognitive skills--Penaskovic suggests its value to a broader liberal arts curriculum as well. Both a theoretical view of critical thinking and a nuts-and-bolts manual on how it can be used and assessed in the classroom, this work will challenge new and veteran teachers alike to reexamine and renew what the do in the classroom.

The Science of Religion: A Defence

The Science of Religion: A Defence PDF

Author: Donald Wiebe

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2018-10-16

Total Pages: 352

ISBN-13: 9004385061

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The Science of Religion: A Defence offers a brilliant overview of Donald Wiebe’s contributions on methodology in the academic study of religion, of the development of his thinking over time, and of his intellectual commitment to 'a science of religion'.

Theory and Method in the Study of Religion

Theory and Method in the Study of Religion PDF

Author:

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2013-09-26

Total Pages: 314

ISBN-13: 9004257578

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Theory and Method are two words that cause considerable consternation in the academic study of religion. Although everyone claims to be aware of and to engage them, the fact of the matter is that they remain poorly understood. Some see the terms as irritants that get in the way of data interpretation and translation. Others may invoke them sporadically to appear in vogue but then return quickly and myopically to their material and with little concern for the larger issues that such terms raise. To contribute to these debates, the present volume reproduces select articles from Method and Theory in the Study of Religion (MTSR) from the first 25 volumes of the journal, and allows a group of younger scholars to introduce and review them, asking if the issues raised are still relevant to the field. Contributors include: Matt Sheedy, Robert A. Segal, James B. Apple, Neil McMullin, Rebekka King, Russell McCutcheon, Craig Martin, Donal Wiebe, Emma Cohen, Robert N. McCauley, E. Thomas Lawson, Steven Engler, Mark Q. Gardiner, Bruce Lincoln, Sarah E. Rollens, Burton Mack, Yasmin Merchant, Herb Bergh, Jennifer Hall, Darlene Juschka, Ella Paldam, and Armin Geertz.

NVMEN, the Academic Study of Religion, and the IAHR

NVMEN, the Academic Study of Religion, and the IAHR PDF

Author: Tim Jensen

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2015-11-24

Total Pages: 428

ISBN-13: 9004308466

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Nvmen publishes papers representing the most recent scholarship in all areas of the history of religions ranging from antiquity to contemporary history. It covers a diversity of geographical regions and religions of the past as well as of the present. The approach of the journal to the study of religion is strictly non-confessional. While the emphasis lies on empirical, source-based research, typical contributions also address issues that have a wider historical or comparative significance for the advancement of the discipline. Numen also publishes papers that discuss important theoretical innovations in the study of religion and reflective studies on the history of the discipline. Brill is proud to present this special volume of articles compiled to celebrate the occasion of the 60th anniversary of NVMEN: International Review for the History of Religions in 2014. The articles in this volume have been selected under the auspices of the International Association for the History of Religions (IAHR), and reflect critically on the past, present, and future of NVMEN, the IAHR and the study of the History of Religions.

The University Gets Religion

The University Gets Religion PDF

Author: Darryl G. Hart

Publisher:

Published: 1999

Total Pages: 344

ISBN-13:

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"The first sustained history of the academic study of religion at American universities, The University Gets Religion: Religious Studies in American Higher Education is a timely book that explores the present-day implications of religious studies' Protestant past."--BOOK JACKET.