Day #2 - Introduction to Religion

By
Mike Vergin
on August 27, 2008 8:00 AM |
Welcome back.  We'll continue our look at the broad field of "religion" today, and we'll turn our attention to symbols on Friday.

I gave you that fancy packet, so we'll start by discussing the articles assigned for today. I also forgot to include one article about Huston Smith, the author of our textbook.  I'll give you a copy of that one as well.

The articles for today:

  • "The Rites of Americans"
  • "Beliefs; The list of the world's major religions looks as it did at the dawn of the last millennium"
  • "Poll Finds a Fluid Religious Life in U.S."
  • "Knowing Not"
  • "Joining the Sacred Community"

Discussion on Comparative Religions:  While we are chatting, I have a couple of questions for you to ponder and react to:

  • What are some of the benefits and drawbacks (if any) of a comparative study of world religions?
  • How have your own experiences with, and orientation toward, religion influenced you approach to the comparative study of religion?
  • Would you be better off studying world religions with someone deeply religious at a personal level or someone relatively removed from religion?  Why?

Clicking on the link above will download a Microsoft Excel document to your computer. It has a listing of twelve features Niels Nielsen argues are common to world religions. Pair up with someone and take a few minutes to look at the list. In each case, try to come with an example from the faith you are most familiar with as well as an example from another faith. We'll talk about what you come up with.


Religion Scholars: As you would probably imagine, a number of influential thinkers and scholars have studied religion over the years.  You can take entire courses in the philosophy of religion or on theories of religion.  Today, we'll take a very cursory look at the work of a handful of these scholars, both past and present.

You'll get a slip with one of seven names on it, as well as a little bit of information on them.  Use that as a starting point to do a little Internet research on your figure.  3-4 of you will have each one.  We're not asking for a book report or anything here.  Instead, simply tell us who the person was and how they contributed to the study or religion.  

Emile Durkheim
Sigmund Freud
Rudolf Otto 
Mircea Eliade
Wilfred Cantwell Smith
Karen Armstrong
Diana Eck


HOMEWORK for Day #3- Introduction to Religion

Please read the articles from your packet as listed in the unit reading guide.  We'll discuss them at the beginning of our each session.  (You'll also be expected to read the Foreword, Preface and Chapter 1, "Point of Departure," from Smith's The World's Religions during the course of this unit.)  You'll post one blog comment as well, but I probably won't get that set up until this weekend.

Symbols:  I'm not going to collect or grade this, but I'll throw it out to you if you are interested.  We'll look at symbols and the role they play in religion during our next session.  I used to assign students the task of creating and/or selecting a symbol that they thought represented "them."  If you'd like to take a crack at that, I'd be interested in seeing what you come up with.


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This page contains a single entry by Mike Vergin published on August 27, 2008 8:00 AM.

Day #1 - Introduction to Religion was the previous entry in this blog.

Day #3 - Introduction to Religion is the next entry in this blog.

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