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What is Religious Studies?
Religious Studies is the academic study of religion. As religions are complex systems, the study of religion draws on many other disciplines: history, philosophy, psychology, literary studies, anthropology, aesthetics, archaeology, sociology, and so on. Each of these other disciplines can be helpful, depending on the area of religion under consideration: for example, psychology can help us understand religious experiences, archaeology can help us understand the lives of ancient peoples, philosophy can aid in our comprehension of religious doctrines, and sociology can help us interpret religious beliefs and practices in our own time. To study religion is not the same as being religious. The American philosopher William James, in The Varieties of Religious Experience, said that the difference between the theory and the practice of religion is like the difference between a menu and a four-square meal; that is, the scholar does not achieve the same level of experience as the believer does and thereby misses out on something. But this is question is much disputed and many scholars think that critical distance is essential in coming to understand a religion. However, despite their many and varied beliefs, what scholars of religion normally share is a willingness to try to approach each religion in as un-biased a manner as possible. The technical term for this method of understanding religion is phenomenology (which comes from the Greek word for 'appearance'); scholars of religion generally attempt to approach religion phenomenologically, that is, they do not judge the doctrines or practices of the religion as true or false, but try to describe and understand the religious worldview as accurately as possible. The same outlook is normally expected of students of religious studies. |