RELS 131 Lecture Notes - Lecture 24: Secularism, Postmodernity, Scientific Method

• School: Queen's University
• Department: Religious Studies
• Course: RELS 131
• Professor: John H.Young

Document Summary

Some comments on studying a particular religion or faith tradition. Of necessity, we look at artifacts such as sacred texts and rituals. To understand a particular religion or faith tradition in depth, one needs to comprehend, as best one can, how those who belong to a religious tradition experience their practice of that religion. Make sense of life, comprehend the life experience. The serious practice of any particular religion orients the life of the adherent, at least to some degree. How you organize your day, week, outlook on life and how you do your job. It helps to shape her/his outlook on life and a lens through which events are viewed and meaning is made. All three religions we examined this fall have some written sacred texts. Interpretation is a necessity, if only to deal with situations that did not exist when the text originated.