In addition to the main scriptures of a particular religion, theology often involves the study of the works of recognized theologians who are usually believers of the religion. Thus in principle it is the study of all religions from a viewpoint not isolated within any one of them. village and nad level bring in solidarity and unity among different social segments . For our purposes, we shall examine certain approaches to the study of religions that are based on certain academic disciplines. If religion is a western concept that has been used to shore up the authority of the colonial and sovereign state, through shifting, arbitrary demarcations between religion tradition, culture, reason, and the nation, then scholars should be wary of treating it as a stable, coherent object of academic study. A&C Black, Jan 1, 1999 - Social Science - 286 pages. Smart contemplated these question for many years investigating various religions in the world. Registered office: Creative Tower, Fujairah, PO Box 4422, UAE. 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. It describes, compares, interprets, and explains religion, emphasizing systematic, historically based, and cross-cultural perspectives. 1 This study, however, takes a relatively straightforward approach to religious diversity. Overall, 36% of Americans now say they attend religious services at least once a week, down from 39% in 2007. 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. Items is a space for engagement with insights from the work of the Council and the social sciences. This can often lead to conflicts, including those that arise on religious grounds. Religious studies, also known as the study of religion, is an academic field devoted to research into religious beliefs, behaviors, and institutions. Accordingly, God is just the projected ultimate father image that helps humans deal with their feelings of helplessness and guilt. Some of these theories may be controversial, or questionable, for some people; nonetheless, knowing them broadens our understanding of the meaning and nature of religion. The disaggregated approach does not claim that it captures the fullness of the lived, anthropological reality of religion. 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. Tylor, in his work Primitive Culture (1871), claimed that the essence of religion or the minimum defining property of religion, is the belief in Spiritual Beings, which he called animism. Egalitarian theorists of religious freedom, from this perspective, are right to seek to identify the normative grounds on which certain beliefs and practices call for state protection (or state restraint, in the case of non-establishment). Such struggles were political through and through, and it is impossible to discern any common core or essence to all the world religions, as W. C. Smith pointed out in 1962. Thus, some political ideologies, such as communism and fascism, have been regarded as analogous to religion. Critics have pointed out thatby analogizing religion with individual conscience or conceptions of the goodliberalism reveals its Protestant, individualistic bias, and is unable to capture the fullness of the religious experience. The Immanent Frame publishes interdisciplinary perspectives on religion, secularism, and the public sphere. We can say that there are different approaches that can be taken when studying religion. Other religions are sourced in man's rebellion against God and/or demonic influence. The study of religion emerged as a formal discipline during the 19th century, when the methods and approaches of history, philology, literary criticism, psychology, anthropology, sociology, economics, and other fields were brought to bear on the task of . This approach teaches that there is only one true religion and only one way of salvation. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. To some extent the emphasis on neutral description arises in modern times as a reaction to committed accounts of religion, which were for long the norm and which still exist among those who treat religion from a theological point of view. Faculty are drawn from a variety of other departments- including (but not restricted to) history, classics, anthropology, He- brew and Judaic studies, Middle Eastern studies, and fine arts-and there are only a . 3 Phenomenological. Updates? Thus, the matter of coming to understand the inner side of a religion involves a dialectic between participant observation and dialogical (interpersonal) relationship with the adherents of the other faith. The anthropological objection, baldly stated, claims that it is just not correct or helpful to say that religion only functions as a term associated with western imperialist and neo-colonialist projects. The first European missionaries had thought that the native peoples of the Americas or Africa had no religiononly cultures or superstitions. Once colonized, it was discovered that they did have religion after all. Ascension 120. Will the globalization lead to a kind of universal religion, as prediction might lead, or it will be turned in a lively variety of many different beliefs? Both methods tried to avoid the phenomenological approach. Box No. It may well be that egalitarian theorists have picked a normatively problematic, or normatively narrow, analogy for religion. Sociology is one such approach that this essay will be looking at through its founding fathers Emile Durkheim, Max Weber and Karl Marx. Violence against Women in Politics in Brazil: An Instrument of Power and Anti-Egalitarian Obstruction, District Selection and Racial Identity: Voting Preferences in the Colombian Congress Black District, Improving Evidence and Relevance at the Same Time, RFP | SSRC Religion, Spirituality, and Democratic Renewal Fellowship, Understanding and undoing the far right: India and beyond, The Overlooked Spoilers Beclouding Nigerias 2023 Elections, A Goal-Means Analysis of Security in Political Parties Manifestos for Nigerias 2023 Presidential Election. The law does not describe and regulate the full experience of marriage: the fact that, in law, marriage is a contract does not mean that marriage is, or should be experienced as, a contract. They argue, for example, that exemptions from general laws can be justified on the ground of conscience; and that what the state should not establish are conceptions of the good. The apologetic approaches to the study of religion is pro-religion in that it defends religion and attempts to prove that religion is true, right, or good. Ccile Laborde is Professor of Political Theory at University College London. Its object is not personal, although is a necessary condition of the yoga. This is a legitimate perspective from the standpoint of faith. These (and others) are all legitimate uses of the concept of religion. Particularly, this study used an interdisciplinary approach, that is, a combination of religious and social approaches. The final approach to world religions is exclusivism. Our academic experts are ready and waiting to assist with any writing project you may have. Each perspective uniquely conceptualizes society, social . (Scott London ,the future of religion an Interview with Ninian Smart June 1999 issue ofThe Witnessmagazine. ) Aurobindo did not just stick to an immanental experience of a divine being but that there must be transcendence within the individuals life which is seen in Auroville with a lived approach to ones faith rather like that which is common within Charismatic and Evangelical Churches. Even if an inventory of kinds of belief and practice could be gathered so as to provide a typical profile of what counts as religion, some scholars would maintain that the differences between religions are more significant than their similarities. Some of these approaches focus on how to understand the beliefs and practices of particular religions, while some have more general concerns such as how religion relates to the nature of society, culture, human evolution, mind, and human behavior. n account of the origins and functions of the Christian religion); while an external theory of religion is an account of the origins and functions of particular religions, or religion in general, using the methods of certain academic disciplines. 1 Review. by Cristina Echeverri-Pineda and Mateo Villamizar-Chaparro. by Ccile Laborde February 5, 2014. 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). Even this cursory summary of this first approach is, I hope, sufficient to convey the force and depth of the critique of religion. First, the practice of religion involves inner experiences and sentiments, such as feelings of God guiding the life of the devotee. In fact, the religions of civilized races evolved from the animism of the lower races. Religion is both a fascinating and an essential subject of study. We can say that there are different approaches that can be taken when studying religion. Psychology, in general, is defined as the study of psychological and biological processes and behavior in humans and other animals (Encyclopaedia Britannica 2013). The disaggregating approach helps us answer this critique. describing how religion is experienced by practitioners. The stress on the distinction between the descriptive and normative approaches is becoming more frequent among scholars of religion. From this perspective, the egalitarian strategy of analogizing religion is a productive one: the law should not capture religion as such, but whatever dimensions of religion are normatively salient and suitable for legal protection. 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 civilized races. So he is proposing a mystical goal and from his yogic teachings he guides,shows and achieves that. APPROACHES TO THE STUDY OF RELIGION WILLIAM E. ARNAL New York University has a religious studies program, but not a de- partment. For Jung, religious experiences are manifestations of the archetypes in the collective unconscious in our own consciousness. There are religions, however, in which even worship rituals are not central. Some of these theories may be controversial, or questionable, for some people; nonetheless, knowing them broadens our understanding of the meaning and nature of religion. We can confirm that the method of study that Smart used in his approach comprehend both external and internal analysis of religion, characterized by phenomenological perspectives. 2 Psychological. London and New York, 1999. For a Christian, Christ is the only way of salvation and the Bible is the only source of saving revelation today. But because they wanted to know who would eventually be saved and enter heaven, they thought that financial success was one good indicator. 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. Although I cannot make the full case here, I sketch a preliminary defense of the third approach, in the context of recent debates in political theory. Geographers study religions and their development based on the role that geography intersects with other important social components within a human geographic approach. Furthermore, if theology studies a particular religion always from the inside, religious studies study different religions mostly from the outside. In this post, I briefly set out three distinct approaches to the study of religion: criticizing religion, upholding religion, and disaggregating religion. The implications of the first approach have been resisted in many quarters. We're here to answer any questions you have about our services. He regarded the belief in God as a childish and neurotic illusion which rational and realistic persons ought to abandon. Throughout the film, various facets of Christianity are explored and that includes the role played by that religion during the colonization of territories by the European or Western colonial powers in the early centuries, particularly the role played by the . Approaches to the Study of Religion. It studies religion in relation to other social institutions and compares religious beliefs and practices across cultures. develop an informed understanding of the diversity of world religions. It may perhaps intensify your religious experience. 3.7 Robert Marrett and Animatism. 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). Significance is reported at the p < .10 level. This means, among others, that the philosophy of religion justifies claims by the strength and coherence of arguments. What may be the way forward in the teaching and definition of religion is to accept the singularity of each religion and each individuals faith and seek ways in which they can be accommodated within a safe international environment that moves away from empirical definitions. The Essay Writing ExpertsUK Essay Experts. Another reason is that questions about the origins and functions of religion have often been conflated with questions about the truth of religion, and this has led to controversies that tend to hinder the development of common concepts, methodologies, and problems. Free resources to assist you with your university studies! No consensus among scholars concerning the best way to study religion has developed, however. It looks at the percentage of each country's population that belongs to eight major religious groups, as of 2010. Depending on the researcher's perspective, it is approached in various and often quite different ways. Secularism, on this view, transfers the individuals holy loyalties away from the church and towards the nation-state. Contact. She is the Director of UCLs Religion and Political Theory Centre. Each of these approaches can be applied to the study of religious diversity. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of UKEssays.com. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. Aquinas is famous for his five proofs for the existence of God: his arguments from causation, motion, necessity, design, and degrees of protection. For instance, Christian theologians explain the doctrines of Christianity, and their works constitute Christian theology. Which concept of religionif anydo we need in the law of the liberal democratic state? The interrelations of the various disciplines in relation to religion as an area of . Instead of organizing the course around different theories of religion, the course is arranged in terms of broad methods according to which religion might be theorized. The term phenomenology refers first to the attempt to describe religious phenomena in a way that brings out the beliefs and attitudes of the adherents of the religion under investigation but without either endorsing or rejecting the beliefs and attitudes. 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 .The people who take these courses are usually involved in religion themselves ,many are involved a in religious communities or, wishing to know more and . 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). How can we best identify and protect the normative values which historically have underpinned freedom of religion, non-establishment and the like? This had led some scholars, such as Tim Fitzgerald and Naomi Goldenberg, to draw the radical conclusion that the category of religion should be simply abandoned. (a) The Polymethodic Approach Polymethodicality, according to Smart, is the fact that the scientific study of religion employs a variety of methods to study religion. This idea led Calvinists to engage in activities that would increase their wealth, paving the way for the development of capitalism. According to William Cavanaughs provocative thesis, the fact that Christianity is construed as a religion, whereas nationalism is not, ensures that the Christians public and lethal loyalty belongs to the nation-state. 47. Is it possible to understand a faith without holding it? During his time, Marx observed that the capitalists, in their pursuit of profits, eventually exploited the workers. 10. 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. This is an important critique, which draws on what I have called the first (critical) and the second (anthropological) approach to religion. Religious fundamentalism is the approach of those religious groups that look for the literal interpretation of original religious texts or books believing that teachings obtained from . He also introduced a broad program and methodology of comparing religions, which included principles like gaining knowledge of others through their own writings, grouping religions according to their regional, linguistic contexts, and avoiding the common distortion of comparing the positive aspects of one religion with the negative aspects of another (Paden 2005, 212-213). Besides their evolutionary assumption about religion, the followers of evolutionary theory show overwhelming Eurocentric biases. 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. 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. Here religion involves subjectivity in the sense of individual experience. Forte geertz symbols rituals and faith based behavior nov 8 14 ppt But objections have been brought against all these attempts, either because the rich variety of religions makes it easy to find counterexamples or because the element cited as central is in some religions peripheral. A criticism of Aurobindos view may be seen that it seeks to remain within religion itself, similar to that of Smart as they both emphasise the importance of the experience of religion, a personal contact with God or Gods, however within Marxism we can see a move away from this religious experience. Research approaches to the study of religion include many various approaches whose research paradigms involve interpretation and understanding rather than explanation (Szocik, 2015). foster a respectful awareness of the significance of the beliefs and practices for the faith member. The study of the religious notions of primitive people arose within the context of evolutionary theory. The other sense of the subjectivity of religion is properly a matter for theology and the philosophy of religion. 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. The word anthropology means science of human beings or humanity. Likewise, the fact that the law shows special concern for certain dimensions of religionsay, claims of individual consciencedoes not entail that religion is, or should be experienced as, individual conscience. 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). Describe a friend, acquaintance, or relative whose approach to religion is different than yours. In this . To a great extent, the meanings now attached to the terms religion and religions have tended to promote the study of religion in order to understand the world in which we live rather than as part of a desire for personal religious self-fulfillment. Conflict sometimes arises because the committed point of view is likely to begin from a more conservative stance, accepting at face value the scriptural accounts of events, whereas the secular historian may be more skeptical, especially of records of miraculous events. We pick out, from the complex notion of religion that we have inherited, distinct elements and values that democratic law has good reason to protect. Accordingly, Calvinists believed in predestination, the view that God has already decided on who will enter heaven or not. Marrett (1866-1943) was, similar to Tylor, an anthropologist who studied religion and who adopted the evolutionary approach.