Challenging the Religious Studies Canon: Karl Barth's Theory of Religion

1995 ◽  
Vol 75 (4) ◽  
pp. 473-486 ◽  
Author(s):  
Garrett Green
Keyword(s):  
Religious Studies ◽  
Theory Of Religion

A Challenge for the Academic Study of Religion: No Such Thing as ‘Sacred’ Cows, Right?

2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (4-5) ◽  
pp. 479-493 ◽  
Author(s):  
Blair Alan Gadsby
Keyword(s):  
Community College ◽  
Public Education ◽  
Religious Studies ◽  
The Public ◽  
Theory Of Religion ◽  
Teaching Religion ◽  
Academic Study

AbstractTeaching religion in public education can benefit from the discourse in Religious Studies (rs) around the problem/problemof defining religion. This is nowhere truer than in community college (cc). However, the notion that the term ‘religion’ is of limited value (represented here asproblem) is of not-much-use inccdue to religion’s perceptible nature. It is evident to citizens that there is ‘religion’, and while not-much-clear about it by way ofrsdefinitions, it is anidentifiable and operative category. I cite the incident of Frank Roque the “9/11 Revenge Killer” to show that there is such a category in the minds of the public and utilize Stark and Bainbridge’sA Theory of Religionto focus the discourse beyond theproblemto the pedagogic and heuristic potentials of the problem for educators and ultimately citizens. The challenge forrsis to find ways for its analyses of religions to have a better effect in society. Otherwise, the categorywillbe shaped by other forces as revealed in the words of the murderer regarding his Sikh victim, “I just viewed them all as just hateful Muslims.”

Embodied Practice and Materialist Phenomenology

2021 ◽  
pp. 127-146
Author(s):  
Richard B. Miller
Keyword(s):  
Philosophical Anthropology ◽  
Religious Studies ◽  
Phenomenological Method ◽  
Cartesian Dualism ◽  
Theory Of Religion ◽  
Ascetic Ideal ◽  
Methods Of Analysis ◽  
Materialist Theory ◽  
Embodied Practice ◽  
Visual Cultures

This chapter critically examines the Materialist-Phenomenological Method for studying religion and the work of the sociologist of religion Manuel A. Vásquez. This method focuses on the study of embodied religious practices, visual cultures, vernacular idioms, and particular locales as these are studied according to historical and often ethnographic methods of analysis. The chapter interrogates Vásquez’s work More than Belief: A Materialist Theory of Religion, which proffers a “somatocentric” theory that aims to escape the legacy of Cartesian dualism. The chapter raises questions about Vásquez’s philosophical anthropology and shows how he repeats and reinforces the firewall separating the study of religion from reasons for studying it. In More than Belief, the chapter shows, one encounters the fact-value dualism that underwrites the ascetic ideal in religious studies, one so thoroughgoing that it prevents Vásquez from grasping the need to provide philosophical reasons to justify his theory.

Why Dance? Towards a Theory of Religion as Practice and Performance

2005 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 101-133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kimerer LaMothe
Keyword(s):  
Religious Experience ◽  
Modern Dance ◽  
Religious Studies ◽  
Valuable Resource ◽  
Theory Of Religion ◽  
Isadora Duncan ◽  
Phenomenology Of Religion ◽  
American Modern Dance ◽  
And Performance

AbstractThis article engages the dancing and writing of the American modern dance pioneer, Isadora Duncan (1877-1927), and the phenomenology of religion and dance authored by the Dutch phenomenologist, theologian, and historian of religion, Gerardus van der Leeuw (1890-1950), in order to argue that "dance" is a valuable resource for developing theories and methods in the study of religion that move beyond belief-centered, text-driven approaches. By setting the work of Duncan and van der Leeuw in the context of the emergence of the field of religious studies, this article not only offers conceptual tools for appreciating dance as a medium of religious experience and expression, it also plots a trajectory for the development of a theory of religion as practice and performance. Such a theory will benefit scholars eager to attend more closely to the role of bodily being in the life of "religion."

A Decolonial Theory of Religion: Race, Coloniality, and Secularity in the Americas

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
An Yountae
Keyword(s):  
Latin American ◽  
Religious Studies ◽  
Historical Experience ◽  
Critical Questions ◽  
Theory Of Religion ◽  
Decolonial Theory ◽  
Key Topics ◽  
Role Of Religion ◽  
Cohesive Framework

Abstract This article offers a transatlantic, decolonial theory (or method for the study) of religion by insisting on the need to resituate the Americas and the transatlantic historical experience as primary sites for theorizing modern religion. Despite the surging interest in decolonial theory, its concrete connection with key topics and issues in the field of religious studies has not been systematically theorized, while decolonial theorists working outside the field of religious studies show little or no interest in the formative role of religion in the constitution of the system of modernity/coloniality. This article seeks to build a cohesive framework for a decolonial theory of religion in conversation with various decolonial, anti-racist thinkers writing from Latin American, Caribbean, and US contexts. By pointing at secularity as a key element of modernity/coloniality, the medium through which religion enacts coloniality, it raises critical questions regarding method and theory in the study of Latin American/Caribbean religions.

What is Euhemerism?

2014 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 30-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nickolas Roubekas
Keyword(s):  
Religious Studies ◽  
Third Century ◽  
Travel Narrative ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
The Third ◽  
Roman World ◽  
Theory Of Religion ◽  
Comprehensive Examination ◽  
Divine Kingship ◽  
The Way

The third century BCE Greek writer Euhemerus of Messene composed a utopian travel narrative entitled Sacred Inscription where he articulated a theory, known as euhemerism, regarding the origin of religion. The theory maintained that all Olympian gods were deified prominent kings and later scholars made use of it as a justification of divine kingship in the Graeco-Roman world. Euhemerism managed to survive in the early Christian era as a theory that represents the falsity of the gods of the pagans. From a theory of myth to a theory of religion and from a less important element of Euhemerus’ utopian narrative to mere historiography, euhemerism has managed to preserve itself in scholarly discussions without the existence of a comprehensive examination of the theory from a religious studies perspective and the way it was used in later periods. Based on the various and divergent usages and applications of euhemerism both in historical studies and in theoretical discussions on religion, the question remains: What is euhemerism?

The Language of Religion and the Language of Religious Studies

2021 ◽  
pp. 145-152
Author(s):  
Igor N. Yablokov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Religious Studies ◽  
Second Order ◽  
National Cultures ◽  
Religious Consciousness ◽  
Theory Of Religion ◽  
Sign System ◽  
Real Objects ◽  
Religious Thinking ◽  
National Languages ◽  
Linguistic Units

he article deals with one of the important issues of the theory of religion – the issue of the language of religion and its relationship with the language of re­ligious studies. The language of religion is understood as a sign system that in­cludes linguistic units – words (names), compound naming conventions, phrase­ological units, sentences – which have religious meanings. Words (names) of the language of religion mean hypostatized beings, properties, connections, transfor­mations, as well as real objects, persons, actions, events with attributive proper­ties. The language of religion is a means of coding religious thinking, objec­tification and expression of religious consciousness, a means of religious communication. The language of religion is semantic and symbolic. The linguis­tic expression of religious consciousness is characterized by a certain syntag­matic, which is a set of syntactic intonation-semantic units. In these units, words, phrases, sentences and phonation, alliteration using techniques of sound expres­siveness are combined into semantic integrity. In the language of religion, satu­rated with analogies, words are often used allegorically; texts are replete with metaphor; allegories, archaisms, historicisms, antonyms are widely used. This language is characterized by emotional and evaluative tension, recitation, a pecu­liar intonational style, constant and multiple repetitions of the same linguistic units. Thanks to a language, religious consciousness turns out to be practical and effective, it becomes both social and individual reality. The language of religious studies is interpreted as a “language of the second order”, as a “metalanguage” of the language of religion. The article shows the need of correlating the mean­ings of the corresponding names in different national languages of religious stud­ies in the process of interlingual communication of scholars who represent dif­ferent national cultures

"My theory of the brontosaurus": Postmodernism and "theory" of religion

1997 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Russell T. McCutcheon
Keyword(s):  
Recent Article ◽  
Religious Studies ◽  
Theory Of Religion ◽  
Boundary Maintenance ◽  
The Way

Given the way in which some scholars of religion now attempt to re-authorize theology by means of postmodern relativity, this article tackles issues of definition and discursive boundary maintenance by examining such scholars' suspect usage of the terms "postmodern" and "theory." Specifically, this critique focusses on a recent article proposing that Karl Barth's "theory" of religion ought to be included in the religious studies canon. The reasoning behind this proposal is an example of the suspect nature of some postmodern appropriations made by scholars of religion, appropriations that entail larger theoretical, discursive and institutional implications that should be brought to the attention of members of the field of religious studies.

Section of Religious Studies in the "Knowledge" Society of Ukraine

1996 ◽  
pp. 54-55
Author(s):  
Petro Yarotskiy
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Society ◽  
Religious Studies

The Society "Knowledge" of Ukraine began the activity of the Department of Religious Studies. The Council of Lecturers is formed consisting of 24 people, among them are well-known philosophers, historians, sociologists - religious scholars: Doctors of Philosophy B.Lobovik, M.Zakovich, A. Kolodnyy, Yu.Kalinin, P.Kosuha, M.Rybachuk, P.Yarotsky, candidate of philosophical sciences M. Babiy, S. Golovashchenko, V. Yelensky, M.Kyryushko, O.Sagan, V.Suyarko, L.Filipovich and others.

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