RLG100Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Bruce Lincoln, Religious Vows, Christopher Columbus
Document Summary
The rst misconception is about what the discipline of religious studies is. the second is, what comes under the purview of religion. When you tell people you"re studying religion they think you"re pious or more virtuously oriented. We must distinguish religious studies from the discipline of theology. Theology is the rational investigation/analysis of ideas that you already profess as a religious person. Theology begins from the premise of a commitment to a religion - it explains and analyses the ideas through rational argument of religion. It begins with a faith commitment and works within the tradition. The study of religion is characterized as a multidisciplinary analysis of the subject of religion. We study the phenomenon of religion, the history, the anthropology, sociology, literature and philosophy. We study it strictly from a critical academic perspective. Our attachments do not enter into our investigation of religion. The relationship between religion and various methodologies used to study it can be seen through bruce lincoln.