Tag: religious studies;
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Not the Best Argument Against Abrahamicism
Hughes, Aaron W. Abrahamic Religions: On the Uses and Abuses of History. Oxford University Press, 2012. [An Installment of the “Read Me” Project.] I agreed with this book as soon as I heard about it. According to the description on the website, the author, Aaron W. Hughes, argues that the notion of the “Abrahamic religions”…
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What is it about Religious People?
Richter, Kent. Religion: A Study in Beauty, Truth, and Goodness Oxford University Press: 2017. [An Installment of the “Read Me” Project.] Here’s why I asked for a textbook for Christmas: because I am always on the lookout for textbooks, and because I had found this one that looked like it might be ideal for Introduction…
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The Sharia as Utopian Discourse?
In the interests of continuing education, I’m taking a class on Sharia and Islamic Law. So far, so fascinating. This explains how I came to read Rumee Ahmed’s Sharia Compliant: A User’s Guide to Hacking Islamic Law (Stanford University Press, 2019), or rather, the introduction and the first chapter of that book. Except that now…
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A Big Fat Lie About Postmodernism
A year or two ago I took a course online about debunking popular misconceptions about things. What you are NOT supposed to do, when debunking a popular misconception, is start with the popular misconception, and then say that it’s incorrect. What will stick in people’s heads if you do that is the misconception. Research has…
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Irrelevant?
It’s commonplace in academic religious studies to take a “phenomenological” approach to the study of religion. This is an example: The academic study of religion requires the courage and compassion to empathetically understand the diverse worldviews of others and the willingness to learn from each. Its goal is not to show one religion is ‘right’…
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Noticing Social Constructionism
Social constructionism is on my mind. In part because I’m working on the class that starts in May. I’ve learned from experience that it helps to explain, right from the start, that I come at things from a social constructionist point of view. College freshmen don’t necessarily share that perspective. And because I’ve learned recently…
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Religion Question
Everyone knows that religion has no satisfactory definition. Nevertheless, most people know what they recognize as religion, know what they mean by “a religious person,” etc. What people typically recognize includes “official” religiosity – ritual practice, sacred texts, ordained positions, etc. If that were all there was to religion, though, religion would look a lot…
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Epistemological Question
Wanted: help with contemporary epistemology! I think that the popular “correspondence” theory of truth has been more or less abandoned in thoughtful circles these days, replaced by things like “coherence” theories, assessed by criteria like “comprehensiveness.” I think I understand that, although I’m no expert. I think I partially understand the notion of “warranted true…
Matters of Interpretation 