Why Study Religion? , livre ebook

Baker Publishing Group - C. Muck Terry

Découvre YouScribe en t'inscrivant gratuitement

Je m'inscris

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

114 pages

English

Vous pourrez modifier la taille du texte de cet ouvrage

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

A propos
Informations
Extrait

Description

Why Studying Religion Matters in a Pluralistic ContextThis brief primer explains why Christian students should study religion, how they should go about it, and why it is important in our contemporary, pluralistic context. Senior religion scholar Terry Muck introduces the discipline and explains how it can be approached by Christian students. He explores the contemporary significance of studying religion in a complex, multicultural world and concludes by addressing the skills students must bring to the study of religion in the twenty-first century. Written in accessible prose suitable for undergraduates, this introduction can be used to supplement any standard religion textbook.

Sujets

Philosophie et théologie

Informations

Publié par	Baker Publishing Group
Date de parution	21 juin 2016
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781493404483
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	2 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0576€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
© 2016 by Terry C. Muck
Published by Baker Academic
a division of Baker Publishing Group
P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.bakeracademic.com
Ebook edition created 2016
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
ISBN 978-1-4934-0448-3
Endorsements
“One cannot understand our world today without appreciating the role of religion in global affairs. Drawing upon a rich background in teaching religious studies and interreligious engagement, Terry Muck offers wise, perceptive, and helpful guidance for studying religious traditions. This is a terrific treatment of a crucial subject.”
— Harold Netland , Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
“Why study religion? Senior scholar and statesman Terry Muck answers this question, drawing on his years of teaching, research, and dialogue with diverse religious practitioners. Ideal for classroom use, this well-rounded, practical, and clearly written text is timely in its import as those living in North America must learn to navigate astutely the waters of our vital and volatile religiously plural culture. Highly recommended.”
— Paul Louis Metzger , Multnomah University; author of Connecting Christ: How to Discuss Jesus in a World of Diverse Paths
Dedication
To Frances, whose community I share, whose love I enjoy, who fills my life with grace.
Contents
Cover i
Title Page ii
Copyright Page iii
Endorsements iv
Dedication v
Study Aids ix
Preface xi
Introduction 1
Part 1: Why? 17
1. The Study of Religion 21
2. The Student of Religion 43
Part 2: Why Now? 61
3. Changing Societies: Radical Differentiation 65
4. Complex Individuals: Hybrid Personalities 85
5. Clashing Religions: Contestation, Consilience, Confession 105
Part 3: How? 125
6. The Scholarly Skills: Studying Texts, Collecting Ethnographic Data, Comparing and Contrasting Ideas 129
7. Perspectival Objectivity: From Premodern to Modern to Postmodern 147
8. New Trajectories for the Study of Religion 165
Conclusion 179
Appendix 1: Classic Books in the Study of Religion 187
Appendix 2: Classic Essays in the Study of Religion 189
Appendix 3: Categorizing Religious Traditions: An Assignment 191
Appendix 4: Twelve Guidelines for the Study of Religion 193
Index 199
Back Cover 203
Study Aids
The Religious Studies Family Tree 26
The Chinese Diaspora 34
Christian Religious Studies 56
Religious Differentiation 68
Characteristics of World Religions 89
Characteristics of Indigenous Religion 94
Religion and Violence Exercise 110
Similarities and Differences 141
Doing a Religious Audit 150
Religion and Human Rights Exercise 169
Preface
Why study religion? Because religion is important. While the type and the quality of the religion being practiced certainly influence the rise and fall of explicitly spiritual concerns, both politics and economics are also affected by religious currents. No matter what part of the world we are talking about, no matter what specific religion is under discussion, rest assured that religion is an indispensable part of what is going on. Why is the study of religion important? Because religion helps us to understand the world better. Consequently, this book argues for the importance of studying religion.
Who is this book written for? For students and scholars of religion, especially those living in Western cultures. For those just starting out in their quest to understand religion. For students taking their first course in religion—such as an Introduction to World Religion course, which is regularly offered in colleges, universities, and theological schools. The pages that follow show new students and nascent scholars why it is important to study religion and how to go about this important task.
This book might also serve as a refresher for advanced students who have already taken a few courses in religious studies or for those who have decided to choose religious studies as a vocation. Senior scholars already teaching religious studies to others may even find the book useful. All three of these groups—advanced students, students in doctoral programs in religion, and senior scholars—obviously know more than just a little about the religions of the world and the people who adhere to them. For these readers, this book is a way to step back and see what they know and what they have yet to learn.
The words student and scholar are connected to each other. In certain situations, they can be used as terms of progression; at some point, a student who studies and learns becomes a scholar who researches and teaches. In this book, I prefer to see student and scholar as synonyms rather than terms of position or rank. Better yet, they can be modifiers of each other: student-scholars and scholar-students. Scholars never stop studying and learning. Students, even very new ones, do research. What’s more, students teach; those of us who have taught religious studies are forever learning from those in our classes. A student can be a scholar, and a scholar is forever a student.
Why did I write this book? I love religious studies. Last year I retired after teaching religious studies for a quarter of a century. My little corner of the religious studies vineyard was teaching theological students to understand religions other than Christianity. I specialized in Buddhism, especially Theravada Buddhism and Buddhist-Christian interactions. I taught courses at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Asbury Theological Seminary, and Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary—many courses, hundreds of students—and I experienced a great deal of enjoyment and satisfaction doing so. I hope that a sense of that enjoyment and satisfaction comes through on the pages that follow.
To whom am I grateful? To my colleagues at Austin Seminary, Asbury Seminary, and Louisville Seminary. To my students at those schools. To interlocutors and friends in the Society for Buddhist Christian Studies. To religious studies scholars long past and present, who have taught me through both word and deed. And to Frances. I am blessed.
Terry Muck Wood Hill, August 2015
Introduction
If this book is to adequately answer the question of its title, Why Study Religion? , it is essential to begin with a simple and clear statement of what religion is. Unfortunately, there is nothing simple or clear about defining religion. 1 The definition of religion and/or a religion is a contentious topic. For the purposes of this book, however, religion is defined as a set of human practices that provides for its adherents answers to four questions:
What is the ideal state of life?
What has gone wrong?
What can put things right?
How should we then live?
This kind of definition (which I will refer to as the Four-Question Definition) is useful when one is trying to describe the boundaries and purposes of human behavior operating in the religious mode. What do I mean by “religious mode”? When humans ask and answer ultimate questions having to do with both the real and perceived shortcomings of life and the eradication of those shortcomings, they are being religious. They are in religious mode. The story related to these questions and answers—the beliefs that story engenders and the everyday virtues the story encourages—is a person’s religion.
This kind of definition helps us to identify what both groups and individuals consider their religion to be. 2 It is designed to include the extraordinary variety of explicit human religious traditions (e.g., Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Confucianism, etc.) as well as implicit religious intuitions (i.e., ways of being and living that may not be recognized as religious systems, per se, but function as such in people’s lives). 3
One semester, after giving a lecture that included the Four-Question Definition for religion and its rationale, a member of the class came up to me and said, “According to your definition of religion, at this point in my life, Alcoholics Anonymous is functioning as my religion.” Together, we considered his statement. His life was consumed with his out-of-control drinking, even though he knew that sobriety was the ideal state. Unfortunately, his addiction to alcohol prevented him from achieving the ideal. Attending AA meetings and getting support from other similarly afflicted group members was a way to help him work toward that goal. A twelve-step program of spiritual and character development set out in some detail how he needed to live his life in order to be sober. For him, AA was his implicit religion.
To be sure, AA is not recognized as a religious tradition in the same way that Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, and others are. The differences are obvious. Alcoholics Anonymous is a relatively new movement, founded in 1935 by Bill Wilson and Bob Smith. 4 While it does not claim to be a religion, it can be an effective way to increase human flourishing among a population of people who have often given up hope of finding any kind of enduring meaning. The advantage of a definition of religion that can include both explicit and implicit religion is its focus on what religions really do. At their best, religions provide meaning in the swelter of meaninglessness in which most of us live; religions provide hope to the hopeless. This way of defining religion is strong because it gives as wide a scope as possible to what might be considered religious among the global human population.
Other Types of Definitions of Religion: Research Definitions
The Four-Question Definition of religion is, however, not the best way to define religion