Religious studies

Religious studies thus draws upon multiple academic disciplines and methodologies including anthropology, sociology, psychology, philosophy, and history of religion.

Religious studies originated in 19th-century Europe, when scholarly and historical analysis of the Bible had flourished, as Hindu and Buddhist sacred texts were first being translated into European languages.

The religious studies scholar Walter Capps described the purpose of the discipline as to provide "training and practice ... in directing and conducting inquiry regarding the subject of religion".

[5] Other scholars take a more unbiased approach and broadly examine the historical interrelationships among all major religious ideologies through history, focusing on shared similarities rather than differences.

[6] Scholars of religion have argued that a study of the subject is useful for individuals because it will provide them with knowledge that is pertinent in inter-personal and professional contexts within an increasingly globalized world.

[8][9][10] The term "religion" originated from the Latin noun religio, that was nominalized from one of three verbs: relegere (to turn to constantly/observe conscientiously); religare (to bind oneself [back]); and reeligere (to choose again).

[15] Causing further complications is the fact that there are various secular world views, such as nationalism and Marxism, which bear many of the same characteristics that are commonly associated with religion, but which rarely consider themselves to be religious.

[16] Conversely, other scholars of religious studies have argued that the discipline should reject the term "religion" altogether and cease trying to define it.

Later, during the Middle Ages, Islamic scholars such as Ibn Hazm (d. 1064 CE) studied Persian, Jewish, Christian, and Indian religions, among others.

The first history of religion was the Treatise on the Religious and Philosophical Sects (1127 CE), written by the Muslim scholar Muhammad al-Shahrastani.

[21] Partridge writes that "by the second half of the twentieth century the study of religion had emerged as a prominent and important field of academic enquiry."

Although philosophy has long been used in evaluation of religious claims (e.g. Augustine and Pelagius's debate concerning original sin), the rise of scholasticism in the eleventh century, which represented "the search for order in intellectual life" (Russell, 170), more fully integrated the Western philosophical tradition (with the introduction of translations of Aristotle) in religious study.

[26] [27] Interreligious studies is an emerging academic field that is focused on interactions among religious groups, including but not limited to interfaith dialogue.

He used his psychoanalytic theory to explain religious beliefs, practices, and rituals, in order to justify the role of religion in the development of human culture.

[31] Whereas the sociology of religion broadly differs from theology in assuming the invalidity of the supernatural, theorists tend to acknowledge socio-cultural reification of religious practise.

[35][36] Specialists have explored themes in western history regarding Christianity and justice and mercy, rule and equity, discipline and love.

(Partridge) The term is first found in the title of the work of the influential philosopher of German Idealism, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, entitled The Phenomenology of Spirit.

In the context of Phenomenology of religion however, the term was first used by Pierre Daniel Chantepie de la Saussaye in his work "Lehrbuch der Religiongeschichte" (1887).

In part due to Husserl's influence, "phenomenology" came to "refer to a method which is more complex and claims rather more for itself than did Chantepie’s mere cataloguing of facts."

(Partridge) Husserl introduced the term "eidetic vision" to describe the ability to observe without "prior beliefs and interpretations" influencing understanding and perception.

His other main conceptual contribution is the idea of the epoche: setting aside metaphysical questions and observing phenomena in and of themselves, without any bias or commitments on the part of the investigator.

There are a number of both theoretical and methodological attitudes common among phenomenologists: source[usurped] Many scholars of religious studies argued that phenomenology was "the distinctive method of the discipline".

An example of a functionalist approach is understanding the dietary restrictions contained in the Pentateuch as having the function of promoting health or providing social identity (i.e. a sense of belonging though common practice).

[48] The concept of lived religion was popularized in the late twentieth century by religious study scholars like Robert A. Orsi and David Hall.

The study of lived religion has come to include a wide range of subject areas as a means of exploring and emphasizing what a religious person does and what they believe.

Western philosophy of religion, as the basic ancestor of modern religious studies, is differentiated from theology and the many Eastern philosophical traditions by generally being written from a third party perspective.

Theology stands in contrast to the philosophy of religion and religious studies in that, generally, the scholar is first and foremost a believer employing both logic and scripture as evidence.

[49] Scholars, such as Jonathan Z. Smith, Timothy Fitzgerald, Talal Asad, Tomoko Masuzawa, Geoffrey A. Oddie, Richard E. King, and Russell T. McCutcheon, have criticized religious studies as a theological project which actually imposes views onto the people it aims to survey.

[51] Timothy Fitzgerald argued in 2000 that the comparative religion of the twentieth century in fact disguised a theological agenda which distorts the practices of societies outside the Western world and interprets them according to Christian norms.

[citation needed] Fitzgerald argues that this theological agenda has not been overcome by more recent efforts in religious studies to move beyond comparative religion.