Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • 156 views

    Religion

    Uploaded by

    millerboyz999
    Religion: The Basics discusses different approaches to defining and studying religion. It argues that defining religion solely by its theological beliefs ignores its cultural aspects. Religion dictates social norms and cultural activities as much as theological views. The study of religion should consider how cultural settings shape religious outlooks and how religion and culture inform each other. Classifying religions only by large, homogeneous groups overlooks other religious experiences. A bottom-up study of localized cultures provides a richer understanding of diverse religious experiences than top-down classifications of world religions.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Religion

    Uploaded by

    millerboyz999
    156 views2 pages
    Religion: The Basics discusses different approaches to defining and studying religion. It argues that defining religion solely by its theological beliefs ignores its cultural aspects. Religion dictates social norms and cultural activities as much as theological views. The study of religion should consider how cultural settings shape religious outlooks and how religion and culture inform each other. Classifying religions only by large, homogeneous groups overlooks other religious experiences. A bottom-up study of localized cultures provides a richer understanding of diverse religious experiences than top-down classifications of world religions.

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    Religion: The Basics discusses different approaches to defining and studying religion. It argues that defining religion solely by its theological beliefs ignores its cultural aspects. Religion dictates social norms and cultural activities as much as theological views. The study of religion should consider how cultural settings shape religious outlooks and how religion and culture inform each other. Classifying religions only by large, homogeneous groups overlooks other religious experiences. A bottom-up study of localized cultures provides a richer understanding of diverse religious experiences than top-down classifications of world religions.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    156 views2 pages

    Religion

    Uploaded by

    millerboyz999
    Religion: The Basics discusses different approaches to defining and studying religion. It argues that defining religion solely by its theological beliefs ignores its cultural aspects. Religion dictates social norms and cultural activities as much as theological views. The study of religion should consider how cultural settings shape religious outlooks and how religion and culture inform each other. Classifying religions only by large, homogeneous groups overlooks other religious experiences. A bottom-up study of localized cultures provides a richer understanding of diverse religious experiences than top-down classifications of world religions.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    You are on page 1of 2

    Religion: The Basics by Malory Nye

    In order to understand the complex, global community in which we reside, we have to understand one
    of its underlying currents, religion
    !oncludes that since religion is what people do, therefore the study of religion is concerned
    with people and cultures
    Religion is not merely a set aside time or set of beliefs but also dictate social norms and cultural
    activity" #religion is culture $%&
    ' thorough study of religion must be cross(cultural
    The study is an agnostic pursuit in that the academic study of religion is not interested in
    theological speculation, but rather classifying and understanding the human sphere
    In early )*++s, viewed religion primarily as a way to grapple with the self
    ,igmund -reud purported that religion was a misguided outgrowth of an adolescent.s
    struggle with his father
    Based on his assumptions of the human personality and misguided in that it assumes that
    all other religions share father figure
    /ur cultural setting significantly impacts our religious outloo0 $for instance how a particular
    culture views fatherhood impacts how it sees its divine fatherly figure&
    Religion and culture are a symbiotic relationship whereby they both inform each other
    'lthough the fundamentalist approach it there is only one religion $their own&, the common
    parlance is to refer to many world religions
    /ne of approach to the study1 classification of religions is the world religions paradigm $where
    each religion where what distinguishes each religion from another is emphasi2ed
    3roblematic approach in that it lac0s the rich, vibrant experience of each religion
    'lso gives the impression that each religion consists of a homogenous group of people
    4losses over other religious groups who simply do not have the large number or
    participants
    ,hould use the world religions paradigm as a starting point but primarily wor0 from the bottom
    up $ie to begin at the particular, locali2ed culture&
    ,hould use the terms !hristianties, 5induisms, etc to communicate that each of these #ma6or
    religions7 have a very specific way of being lived in different places
    The mass abandonment of religion can be used to bolster the claim that religion is not innate
    nor universal, but could also be argued that communism or other ideologies are the new age
    religions
    8ifficulty in trying to identify the universality of religion is a language barrier: is religion what
    we connote with the 9nglish word religion or is it more expansive:
    Religion can mean many different things depending on the cultural context
    #Religion is about a way of tal0ing about the world, of perceiving differences and similarities
    with other types of activities7 $);&
    Nye in this article attempts to show that the collo<uial meaning of the word religion corrupts our ability
    to study and understand religion =e associate the word religion with an institution where the people
    who subscribe to it follow similar rituals, believe in the same ideology, and use a similar language to
    describe their religious experience Therefore, we often classify the world religions leaving out a
    significant population who do not practice the popular religions 5owever, Nye wants to redefine
    religion as a shared experience, it is an implicit bond that bonds a particular group of people
    Therefore, it is accurate to classify the foodies, who believe in eating healthy and showing 0indness to
    animals, are a religious group This seems preposterous because there is no divine being in their belief
    system 5owever, they have a common value system and use the same nomenclature to describe their
    ideology This is a helpful definition of religion because it creates a more pluralistic view of the world
    Religion is not something that by participating in it ma0es me superior Rather, it is a common bond
    that connects all individuals of the world 3erhaps, it is part of the world culture

    You might also like

    pFad - Phonifier reborn

    Pfad - The Proxy pFad of © 2024 Garber Painting. All rights reserved.

    Note: This service is not intended for secure transactions such as banking, social media, email, or purchasing. Use at your own risk. We assume no liability whatsoever for broken pages.


    Alternative Proxies:

    Alternative Proxy

    pFad Proxy

    pFad v3 Proxy

    pFad v4 Proxy