Messing Around with Introductory Religion Courses in Canada

Abstract

This is a story about the challenges and virtues of messiness for scholarship and teaching in academia generally, and Religious Studies in particular. It begins when I was first hired to teach Introduction to the Study of Religion at the University of Toronto Mississauga. It continues with a discussion of research into how introductory religion courses are taught in Canada, and reflection on that research – which includes examples of student learning from a world religions summer course I have taught in Hong Kong since 2012. It ends with a consideration of the ways in which messiness has been a key component of Michel Desjardins’ own scholarship and teaching.