RE220 Lecture : Religion and Popular Culture
15 Dec 2011
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
What is religion? a deity or deities, worship, rituals, symbols, faith, sacred stories etc Believes that religion has a essence and tries to believe what that essence is (e. g. belief in a deity. A common critique of essentialist definitions is that they are not universal (e. g. many buddhist are atheists). Tries to summarize the role religion play in society (e. g. religion functions to unite a community). A common critique of functionalist definitions is that other systems do the same thing (e. g. hockey can also unite a community). Subjective: a confessional orientation towards religion (e. g. theology : the faith- based study of divinity). Objective: the disinterested scientific study of a broad category known as religion or religions ( religious studies : the scientific study of religion). The academic study of religion is different from the subjective study of religion. The history of religious studies as a discipline has privileged certain points of view and voices over others.
