Religious Studies Programs Research Articles

Contextualization of Religious Studies and of religious phenomena

The present paper provides a case study from the University of Bayreuth, Germany, describing the changes in the Religious Studies program as a response to institutional pressures, and emphasizing interdisciplinary collaboration in the context of Cultural Studies as a perspective for the future development of Religious Studies as a discipline and as a field of studies.

Introductory essay. Crisis and creativity: opportunities and threats in the global study of religion\\s

This article introduces the themes and articles of a special symposium on new directions in the organizational structures and pedagogical emphases of religious studies programs around the world. The thematic focus of this symposium is the range of ways that specific religious studies departments and programs have recently experienced dramatic changes, whether in response to financial, administrative, and other external pressures (‘crisis’) or as a proactive step, aiming at greater student success or manifesting an innovative vision of the nature and function of the discipline (‘creativity’). The authors begin by addressing the nature and status of the study of religion\\s as an academic discipline. They then discuss some of challenges that it faces in light of economic and political pressures.

Editor's Note

Editor's Note

A Future for Theological Education in Religious Studies?

My contention in this paper is that both religious studies programs or departments in universities and separate theological colleges can be academically enriched by having systematic and historical theology taught in both contexts. Early attempts to keep ‘‘religion’’ in university courses untainted by ‘‘theology’’ have failed. In my view, it is better to teach theology consciously, comparatively, and self-critically than covertly, one-sidedly, and archaically. Also, theological seminaries can only benefit from insights into theological topics and disciplines generated by their treatment in the more broadly multi-disciplinary and less sectarian ambience of university-based research. If theological thinking is an important component in the history of a religious tradition, that tradition cannot fairly be taught without including this part of it. Yet those of us who pioneered in establishing departments of religion or religious studies fifty years ago generally played down this element in our own education. We were struggling to differentiate fully accredited university courses on religious issues from offshoots of campus ministries, especially in colleges which had until very recently required students to take sometimes pass/fail courses on Christian apologetics under the rubric of ‘‘Religious Knowledge.’’ Since many of us had taken different undergraduate majors, then been trained professionally in divinity schools and ordained, we had to convince skeptics that we were not just there as advocates or propagandists for our own traditional forms of theism. 2 Part of the push to establish new undergraduate departments came from religious alumni/ae concerned with the secular, linguistic turn being taken by younger members of philosophy departments, which previously had allowed courses on metaphysics with theological content. English departments, honouring Northrop Frye on ‘‘The Bible as Literature,’’ were happy to have that taught by biblical scholars. Because of the Korean War, there was revived interest in courses on ‘‘Asian religions.’’ Consequently, typical tripartite programs on ‘‘religion’’ evolved consisting of courses on the Bible, on non-Christian religions, and on problems and theories concerning religious topics. Since there were fewer specialists than openings, many of us had to teach sections of

Seeking Common Ground Between Medical Humanities and Basic Sciences

Letters to the Editor Psychiatry Encompasses Much More Than Clinical Neuroscience To the Editor: We commend the efforts of Reynolds and colleagues 1 to achieve “the reintegration of undergraduate and graduate medical education in psychiatry and neurology under the rubric of clinical neuroscience.” As supervisors and teachers of psychiatry residents, we also agree with those authors that “psychiatry is grounded in clinical neuroscience” and that our residents need a “deeper understanding of genetics, pathophysiology, functional neuroanatomy and neuropsychopharmacology.” However, we believe psychiatry is grounded in much more than clinical neuroscience, and that Reynolds and colleagues have given short shrift to the philosophical, social, psychological, and humanistic foundations of psychiatry. Indeed, though we proceed from different premises than do Healy and Mangin, 2 we agree with their comment that psychiatry “need[s] more, rather than less, philosophy and psychology within the discipline.” One of us (R.P.) has coined the term encephiatrics to encompass a broad-based, pluralistic discipline that incorporates not only the clinical neurosciences but also elements of philosophy, literature, and the world’s spiritual traditions. 3 We do not regard these substantive disciplines as mere elective “frills” in psychiatric education; rather, we believe that residents in psychiatry should be exposed to the humanities and social sciences as an integral and required part of their training. Indeed, the psychiatry residency program at SUNY Upstate Medical University is now developing a “humanities track” for residents who wish to concentrate their studies in this area. We also believe that fostering competency in providing cognitive-behavioral, interpersonal, psychodynamic, and other forms of “talk therapy” must remain a central focus in a resident’s education, so that all aspects of a patient’s illness may be addressed comprehensively and compassionately. In our view, these points were not adequately stressed by Reynolds and colleagues. Ghaemi 4 argued that the pluralism of psychiatrist and philosopher Karl Jaspers “has still failed to be adequately appreciated by the psychiatric profession.” We fully agree. To put it in clinical terms, “The clinician who can instantiate the neurobiology of serotonin in the context of the existential dilemma of the patient . . . has a far better chance of preventing suicide than one who is entrapped in a solitary paradigm.” 5 Ronald Pies, MD Department of Psychiatry, SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, New York, and Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts; (ronpies@massmed.org). Cynthia M.A. Geppert, MD, PhD, MPH Department of Psychiatry and Religious Studies Program, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Psychiatry Encompasses Much More Than Clinical Neuroscience

To the Editor: We commend the efforts of Reynolds and colleagues1 to achieve “the reintegration of undergraduate and graduate medical education in psychiatry and neurology under the rubric of clinical neuroscience.” As supervisors and teachers of psychiatry residents, we also agree with those authors that “psychiatry is grounded in clinical neuroscience” and that our residents need a “deeper understanding of genetics, pathophysiology, functional neuroanatomy and neuropsychopharmacology.” However, we believe psychiatry is grounded in much more than clinical neuroscience, and that Reynolds and colleagues have given short shrift to the philosophical, social, psychological, and humanistic foundations of psychiatry. Indeed, though we proceed from different premises than do Healy and Mangin,2 we agree with their comment that psychiatry “need[s] more, rather than less, philosophy and psychology within the discipline.” One of us (R.P.) has coined the term encephiatrics to encompass a broad-based, pluralistic discipline that incorporates not only the clinical neurosciences but also elements of philosophy, literature, and the world’s spiritual traditions.3 We do not regard these substantive disciplines as mere elective “frills” in psychiatric education; rather, we believe that residents in psychiatry should be exposed to the humanities and social sciences as an integral and required part of their training. Indeed, the psychiatry residency program at SUNY Upstate Medical University is now developing a “humanities track” for residents who wish to concentrate their studies in this area. We also believe that fostering competency in providing cognitive-behavioral, interpersonal, psychodynamic, and other forms of “talk therapy” must remain a central focus in a resident’s education, so that all aspects of a patient’s illness may be addressed comprehensively and compassionately. In our view, these points were not adequately stressed by Reynolds and colleagues. Ghaemi4 argued that the pluralism of psychiatrist and philosopher Karl Jaspers “has still failed to be adequately appreciated by the psychiatric profession.” We fully agree. To put it in clinical terms, “The clinician who can instantiate the neurobiology of serotonin in the context of the existential dilemma of the patient … has a far better chance of preventing suicide than one who is entrapped in a solitary paradigm.”5 Ronald Pies, MD Department of Psychiatry, SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, New York, and Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts; ([email protected]). Cynthia M.A. Geppert, MD, PhD, MPH Department of Psychiatry and Religious Studies Program, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Religious Studies Collections and Information Literacy: A Snapshot of a University Library

Academic library collections are maintained to support programs and research at their home institutions. Information literacy, the formal instruction in the use of library resources, has become one of the essential programs in higher education. There is little research that shows how collection development, information literacy, and religious studies programs can be coordinated to produce successful partnerships. The authors, coordinators of Information Literacy and Collection Development, examined the religion collection, including purchase, usage, and circulation statistics. Information literacy courses in relation to the religious studies program were also investigated. After analyzing this data, the authors identified challenges, as they exist at their home institution, which includes a deficiency in both the religion collection and information literacy classes taught for the religious studies program. The authors conclude that much work is needed to advance successful collaborations between libraries and the religious studies departments, and academic librarians will need to examine their own religion collections to address similar challenges.

The Decline of the Secular University

The basic thesis of this provocative and important book is twofold. On the one hand, it is that colleges and universities should not just teach about religion but should also allow distinctive religious perspectives and arguments to be a significant part of academic curricula and of discussions about educational outlooks, meanings, and values in academic communities. On the other hand, the author's thesis is that secularism should not just be assumed as the underlying and pervasive outlook of colleges and universities, but that secularism itself should be taught about, just as religion is now taught about (e.g., in religious studies programs or history courses), in order critically to identify and analyze secularism's own basic assumptions about the nature of reality and the character of responsible human life in the world. Failure in this task means that students are simply being indoctrinated into secularist views without being given opportunity clearly to recognize them as such or to bring them under critical scrutiny.

Religion, education, and the American experience: reflections on religion and American public life

Education in America - public and private, from the elementary to the university level - is the subject of urgent, ongoing debates. School vouchers, home schooling, prayer in the classrooms, sex education in the schools, and evolution versus creationism are just a few of the touchstones and flashpoints that have ignited a national concerning the role of religion in U.S. educational institutions. The ten major essays assembled here emerged from a series of conferences conducted by the Public Religion Project at the University of Chicago Divinity School, funded by a grant from The Pew Charitable Trust. Written by recognized leaders in the fields of education and religion, the essays address such issues as the role of religious studies programs in tax-supported public universities; the evolving role of the university chaplain; the impact of religious doctrine on literary scholarship and the natural sciences; the college president as a spiritual leader; the secularization of private colleges whose foundations rest in the spiritual mission of a specific church or denomination and, conversely, the obligations, if any, of colleges that have maintained distinct denominational identities toward pluralistic outreach and openness; and an examination of the home schooling movement. A true dialogue designed to inspire readers to rethink, argue, act, and continually converse on the subject, Religion, Education, and the American Experience will appeal to educators, college and university administrators, and boards of trustees, as well as academic libraries and scholars of education and religious studies.

Immigration, Exodus, and Exile: Academic Theology and Higher Education

Recently scholars of religion have disputed whether theology properly belongs to the study of religion in institutions of higher education (McCutcheon 1997a, 1997b; Cady 1998; Brown and Cady forthcoming). At the same time, religious authorities have increasingly censored the work of theologians in seminaries and church‐related schools; witness the loyalty oaths required of scholars in religious studies programs at some Protestant denominationally related colleges and the Catholic Church's recent stand expressed by Ex Cordae Ecclessiae. Both scholars who would exclude theology as a field from the study of religion and ecclesiastical authorities who would censor it fail to acknowledge the emergence of academic theology as a field that does not depend on institutional religious affiliation or personal confession of faith, a field that by its nature does depend for its continued existence on academic freedom. This article suggests a working definition of academic theology and then poses three questions: What might studying different kinds of theology academically teach us about religion? How, properly speaking, is theology as performed in a non‐sectarian environment now a nomad wandering within the formal study of religion? What are the implications of this shift in status for how academic theologians teach? The article is a revision of the inaugural address, by the same title, given for the Margaret W. Harmon professorship in Christian Theology and Culture at Macalester College, Saint Paul, Minnesota, November 18, 1999.

Use of ethnographic material in the course "Religious studies"

The traditional religious studies program, which focuses primarily on the history of religion and the church, finding out the features of religion as a spiritual phenomenon and a cultural phenomenon does not always provide an opportunity to fully realize the teaching and educational tasks of the subject. Students will soon master the philosophical and methodological principles of discipline rather than mastering material that would meet the needs of the modern national revival of the Ukrainian people. It is known that the impudent sources of the history of our people by the political will of the uninvited people both from the East and from the West continue to distort the ethnogenesis of Ukrainian society, the origins of its spirituality, the identity of Kyiv Christianity, the idea of ​​a national Church, and others.

Faith and Morals in the Modern United States, 1865-Present

Faith and Morals in the United States, 1865-Present John T. McGreevy (bio) Easter parades. Voodou. Women joining a Lubavitcher sect. Mormon underwear. Passover dishes. Prayers to St. Jude. Snake handlers. 1 The temptation when scanning the topics listed above is to dismiss them as an odd, even bizarre, grouping—a collection of exotica that surely rests on more substantive work on religion and the modern United States. This temptation should be resisted. Investigations of these topics are part of arguably the most creative body of work in the field, certainly for the twentieth century. Its hallmarks include the use of personal observation and interviews to supplement archival sources, resistance to separation of the sacred and the profane, and a tendency to sidestep defining what religion is in favor of investigating how religion works. Its practitioners typically work outside of history departments, usually in religious studies programs or divinity schools. 2 The contrast between the energy displayed by this relatively new literature and the pleas for recognition issued by more traditional historians of American religion is intriguing. 3 Pity for scholars interested in religion is in one sense misplaced, since few, if any, fields have received as much support over the past fifteen years. During that time two major foundations, the Lilly Foundation and the Pew Charitable Trusts, have sponsored a variety of projects (some ongoing) on topics as diverse as women and American Protestantism, Latino Catholicism, lived religion, mainline Protestantism, congregations, the material culture of American religion, and religion and higher education. The Louisville Institute for the Study of Protestantism and American Culture, the Princeton Center for the Study of American Religion and the Pew program in American religious history (centered at Yale) have contributed a series of dissertation fellowships and research grants, and next year Notre Dame’s Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism begins a major research project on twentieth century Catholicism. Much of this new work has yet to emerge from the academic pipeline but it is already obvious, as the editors of one forthcoming collection of essays point out, that both the volume and the quality are unprecedented. Indeed the [End Page 239] volume is such that an essay of this length inevitably refers to a tiny proportion of worthy projects. 4 But is anybody listening? What remains surprising is the minimal effect these projects have had on textbook accounts of modern America, or even on surveys of the literature. The problem would seem not to be anti-religious bias, since a massive literature now analyzes the ways in which religious beliefs intersected with the American revolution, and religious ideas are now understood as central to antebellum reform and the collapse of the second party system in the 1850s. 5 Nonetheless, after 1865 paths diverge. Complaints about exclusion inevitably strike a petulant tone, but it is noteworthy that historians of the most religious nation in the industrial world understand their country’s immediate past with little reference to religion. Discussion of religion and politics in the twentieth century remains largely the province of sociologists and political scientists, a phenomenon especially marked in the still impoverished literature on American conservatism. 6 Labor historians sometimes move from the plant to the neighborhood saloon in their search for class consciousness, without glancing at one of the most impressive products of working-class collective action—churches and parochial schools. (It is only fair to add that religious historians are often blind to the class dimensions of religious experience.) Historians of popular culture prefer close readings of Leave it to Beaver to analyses of televangelism. Paul Tillich’s writings had an important influence on Martin Luther King, Jr., 1960s student activists, Erik Erickson, and Alfred Barr, the first director of the Museum of Modern Art, but this does not mean that most Americanists interested in the twentieth century could identify the émigré theologian. 7 The National Standards for History for elementary and high school teachers (which generally seem to me fair and useful) reflect the implicit judgment of historians on this point: after 1865 religion enters the national story only with William Jennings Bryan at the Scopes trial and Jerry Falwell at Republican rallies. Occasionally, religion is added...

Conservative Government and Support for the Religious Institution in Singapore: An Uneasy Alliance

During the 1 980s various conservative governments tried to strengthen the public role of religion. This is understandable, given that there are affinities between political conservatism and religion. The argument developed in this paper is that when conservatives act in support of religion unforeseen problems develop that lead the conservatives to withdraw their support. The case of Singapore is considered in detail. In 1982, a conservative government passed a law requiring all secondary students to study a religion; in 1989, the same government effectively terminated the religious studies program. The reasons for this change of heart are analyzed. The article concludes with a discussion of which reasons may be peculiar to Singapore or Chinese societies generally and which reasons are likely to trouble any conservative government. During the 1980s conservative political parties in control of governments sought to strengthen the social role of religion. In the United States, Republican leaders courted the Christian right (Tamney and Johnson, 1987). In England, Thatcher's government passed an educational reform act meant to halt the decline in the prominence of Christianity by requiring, among other things, Christian worship services in most schools (Cox and Cairns, 1989). In Singapore, an avowedly secular government passed a law requiring all secondary students to study a religion. These examples suggest that during the last decade conservative governments welcomed alliances with the religious institution. However, in this article I argue that even conservative governments are not likely to stay with policies that reinforce the public influence of religion. After discussing the nature of political conservatism and its affinities with religion, the

Victorian Anthropology

Journal Article Victorian Anthropology Get access Victorian Anthropology. By George W. Stocking. New York. Free Press, 1987. 429 pages. $27.50. Malinowski, Riverss, Benedict and Others: Essays on Culture and Personality. Edited by George W. Stocking. History of Anthropology, Vol. 4. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1986. 257 pages, $25.00. Robert A. Segal Robert A. Segal Robert A.Segal is Professor in the Religious Studies Program, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803. Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Volume LVIII, Issue 3, Fall 1990, Pages 469–478, https://doi.org/10.1093/jaarel/LVIII.3.469 Published: 01 October 1990

SANCTUARY

International Review of MissionVolume 73, Issue 292 p. 486-490 SANCTUARY Renny Golden, Renny Golden Renny Golden taught in the Women's Religious Studies Program at Harvard Divinity School and is co-author, with Sheila Collins, of a book of poetry called Struggle Is a Name for Hope (West End Press, 1982). Michael McConnell is a United Church of Christ Minister at Wellington Avenue Church. Both Golden and McConnell are members of the Chicago Religious Task Force on Central America, the national organizers for the Sanctuary Movement.Search for more papers by this authorMichael McConnell, Michael McConnell Renny Golden taught in the Women's Religious Studies Program at Harvard Divinity School and is co-author, with Sheila Collins, of a book of poetry called Struggle Is a Name for Hope (West End Press, 1982). Michael McConnell is a United Church of Christ Minister at Wellington Avenue Church. Both Golden and McConnell are members of the Chicago Religious Task Force on Central America, the national organizers for the Sanctuary Movement.Search for more papers by this author Renny Golden, Renny Golden Renny Golden taught in the Women's Religious Studies Program at Harvard Divinity School and is co-author, with Sheila Collins, of a book of poetry called Struggle Is a Name for Hope (West End Press, 1982). Michael McConnell is a United Church of Christ Minister at Wellington Avenue Church. Both Golden and McConnell are members of the Chicago Religious Task Force on Central America, the national organizers for the Sanctuary Movement.Search for more papers by this authorMichael McConnell, Michael McConnell Renny Golden taught in the Women's Religious Studies Program at Harvard Divinity School and is co-author, with Sheila Collins, of a book of poetry called Struggle Is a Name for Hope (West End Press, 1982). Michael McConnell is a United Church of Christ Minister at Wellington Avenue Church. Both Golden and McConnell are members of the Chicago Religious Task Force on Central America, the national organizers for the Sanctuary Movement.Search for more papers by this author First published: October 1984 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1758-6631.1984.tb03304.xCitations: 1 AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume73, Issue292October 1984Pages 486-490 RelatedInformation

Religious Studies in the Community College

Religious Studies in the Community College