Study of Religion Flashcards
What are according to Rodrigues and Harding in ‘Introduction to the study of religion’ the two main reasons for the lack of agreement among scholars?
The two main reasons are that definitions are
1. ‘too narrowly’ (from perspective of the researcher’s own
background, for example does not take into account that there are religions without scriptures) or
2. ‘too broadly’ (include ‘religions’ which do not refer to
agents beyond the immediately visible world) defined
For a comparative study of religion, religions have been classified and internally divided in different ways, e.g. based on religious traditions or on geographical regions (West vs East). Rodrigues and Harding propose to compare religion by seven categories which may be found in most religions, past and present: which ones?
besides religious traditions or geo- political regions:
1. sciptures (high or sacred regard for a certain text or texts)
2. myths (stories that are told)
3. rituals
4. core beliefs
5. ethical teachings
6. religious specialists
7. study of symbols and symbolism
Early theorists like Tylor and Frazer were above all interested in the origins and evolutionary development of religion. Would you agree with the statement that their approach was strongly value-laden? Why or why not?
Which fundamental difference of approach can you detect between religious studies scholars and phenomenologists?
fundamental difference of approach between religious studies scholars and phenomenologists is that phenomenologists view religion as its own unique category, in that it “cannot completely be explained by or reduced to its socio-economic, psychological, or cultural dimensions.” This reduction would miss the key religious aspect. – interdisciplinary, but then as its own discipline sort of?
What are the 8 dimensions of religion?
- Doctrinal or philosophical dimension
- Ritual dimension
- Mythic or narrative dimension
- Experiential or emotional dimension
- Ethical or moral dimension
- Social or organizational dimension
- Material or artistic dimension
- Political dimension
What are the disciplines of study of religion?
- theology
- anthropology
- sociology
- history
- archaeology
Why does theory matter?
- as a form of self-reflective exercise, to become aware of one’s
own implicit assumptions or prejudices (cf. R&H p.4) - to better understand the writings of ancient historians and
archaeologists dealing with religion and identify the schools of
thought they subscribe to or are impacted by
What is ‘value-laden’?
descriptions are judgmental and dismissive
Characteristics Evolutionism
- inspired by ideas of evolution in geology and biology
- cultural and religious evolution of human society
Who was Edward Taylor?
- evolutionism
- 3 stages of religion: anism -> polytheism -> monotheism (no longer tenable)
- value-laden, Eurocentric view
typical of western colonialism
with Christianity as culmination
point of development - one-sided emphasis on belief as
the essential component
Who was James Frazer?
- evolutionism
- first anthropologist of the world
- Collected and compared ethnographic data, esp. on myth and ritual
- Influential treatment of evolutionary
relationship between magic, religion and
science (not tenable)
Who was Emile Durkheim?
- Functionalism
- tries to explain the nature of religion
- ‘sacred’ and ‘profane’: the same thing
that in one society is sacred, is in
another profane -> nothing
intrinsically ‘sacred’
Who was Claude Levi Strauss?
- Structuralism
- Found structural similarities in themes and
values embodied in myths from different
cultures, widely separated in time and space - Central notion: binary oppositions (Methodologically ground-breaking
study; no longer main-stream)
Who was Victor Turner?
- structuralism
- rites of passage
- concept of ‘liminality’ (overgangsfase)
- Separation - liminal period - integration
- Laid the groundwork for what later
became Performance studies (which
now feeds back into ‘Lived religion’) (Still very inspiring study)
Who was Clifford Geertz
- Symbolic or interpretive anthropology
- Task: try to decipher what symbols mean to the
insiders of the culture under study - ‘thick description’ (not just behavior but context as well)
- always start thinking with the ‘native’
categories and only then compare them with
categories of our own for understanding:
(translation of conceptual categories)
