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Reading for Thursday:William James
Today: Religious study vs
academic study Brief history of
Religion and its study
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What is religious studies?
Separating Religion FromTheology in AmericanUniversities
Engel (1962) Schempp (1963) decisions
Religious study of religion vsacademic study of religion
Cultivating different virtues On Truth claims
And Yet why is it ol to teachBuddhist mediation and
notprayer?
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Thesis thirteen When one permits those whom onestudies to define
the terms in which
they will be understood, suspends one'sinterest in the temporal
and contingent,or fails to distinguish between "truths",
"truth-claims", and "regimes of truth",one has ceased to function
as historian
or scholar.
In that moment, a variety of roles areavailable: some perfectly
respectable
(amanuensis, collector, friend and
advocate), and some less appealing(cheerleader, voyeur, retailer
of importgoods).
None, however, should be confused
with scholarship.
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Key moments in the history of Religion KEY: Religion is not a
timeless humanquest In early Christian writings
careful, scrupulous observation, fullof awe
Augustine (4 th C. CE) Post-Augustine
a state of life bound by monasticvows Oxford English Dictionary
(1200)
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Three rivingForces
Our modern concept ofreligion
1. Reformationthinking
2. Scientificnaturalism
3. The negotiationof difference1. Wars of
religion
2. The NewWorld
3. worldreligions
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Summarizing Religion Religion In significant respects, then,
themodern notion of religion is a Europeanand North American, and
particularly,protestant, attempt to negotiate
diversity.
Modern Notion Protestant Negotiate Diversity
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Reformation Martin Luther (1483-1546)
!
95 Theses! How am I justified?
! On Faith and Works (1519) You must get used to the idea that
it is
one thing to do the works of the law andquite another to fulfill
it ! That is why faithalone makes someone just and fulfillsthe law;
it is faith that brings the HolySpirit through the merits of
Christ. TheSpirit, in turn, renders the heart gladand free, as the
law demands. Thengood works proceed from faith itself.Martin
Luther
Faith and the personalrelationship with the sacred
(especially post 1950)
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Natural religion and the ordering of the world Descartes
(1596-1650)
Higher Biblical Criticism
David Humes critique of miracles andthe argument by design
Natural v. Revealed Religion Religion as an intuition of the
Universe as awhole and of Oneself as part of it
Schleiermacher(1799)
The Enlightenment Religion: a gang of ruthless zealots,intent
upon aggrandizing themselves, no
matter what cost to social peace. Gibbon
Social Scientific Study of religion World Religions Beliefs and
Practices
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Religion outside Europe Columbus, the apocalypse, and
the restoration of Jerusalem
The Requirement (1510)
God our Lord gave charge [of all peoples] toone man named St.
Peter, so that he was lordand superior of all the men of the
world
We will not compel you to turn Christians. With the help of God,
I will enter forcefully
against you, and I will make war everywhereand I will take your
wives and children,and I will make them slavesand I will take
your goods, and I will do to you all the eviland damages that a
lord may do to vassals.
Debates of Las Casas andSeplveda, or the origin ofHuman
rights
