PHIL 202-3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Clifford Geertz, Sigmund Freud
PHIL 202
Ch. 1 What Is Religion? (pt. 2)
Religion
• Where does the word religion come from?
o Latin verb religare: “to bind”
o Or relegere: “to go over again”
• Concerned with divinity? Concerned with texts?
Religion, cont’d
• Concerned with function?
o Economics? (Karl Marx)
o Psychological state? (Sigmund Freud)
o Sociology? (Max Müller)
o Anthropology? (Clifford Geertz)
• Academic study of religion
o Secular study: without any faith commitments
Why Study Religion?
• The first and most obvious reason to study religion is that it exists.
• It plays a role in human life.
o Organization
o Identity
o Change
o Conviction
• Personal reasons?
Insider versus Outsider
• “Insiders”
o Own tradition
o Many kinds of insiders
• Subdivisions of traditions
• “Insiders” are challenged by perceptions of “Outsiders”
o But we need to know how traditions are seen from the “Outside”
Religious Diversity
• Is there something that is the same in all religions?
o Teachings?
o Practices?
• Do we assume that all religions are equal?
• Missionary activity
o Colonialism?
Dialogue in a Pluralistic Age
• Pluralism: The fact of diversity and/or the situation of diversity is desirable
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