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Religious Studies

A Textbook

by Adrián Slavkovský (Author)
©2016 Monographs 116 Pages
Series: Uni Slovakia, Volume 6

Summary

This textbook offers a brief overview of the basic approaches to the scientific scrutiny of religion. To remain uninterested in examining religion is more difficult than examining any other object of research. In relation to issues of religion, we cannot stand as impartial observers, because we are always somehow involved. Therefore, this book emphasizes not only knowledge of religions, but also how to find ways to get closer to impartiality. It offers an overview of topics, questions, and context, rather than a coherent theory.

Table Of Contents

  • Cover
  • Title
  • Copyright
  • About the Author
  • About the Book
  • This eBook can be cited
  • Contents
  • Introduction
  • 1. What is Religious Studies and Religion
  • 1.1 What Do Religious Studies Deal With? What Is Religion?
  • 1.2 Why Study Religion?
  • 1.3 Who and How Do We Observe Religion?
  • 2. Methodological Approaches to the Study of Religion
  • 2.1 Theological Approach
  • 2.2 Philosophical Approach
  • 2.3 Religious Approaches
  • 3. The Inside Perspective versus the Outside Perspective
  • 3.1 Information versus Experience
  • 3.2 Participant and Observer
  • 3.3 The Experiences of Others and Claims to Veracity
  • 4. Theories about the Origin and Development of Religions
  • 4.1 Motifs of Interest in the Origin of Religion
  • 4.2. Older Evolutional Theories
  • 4.3 The Latest Approaches
  • 5. Comparative Religious Studies
  • 5.1 The Role of Comparison
  • 5.2 Aspects, Levels, and Types of Comparison
  • 6. Sociology of Religion
  • 6.1 Formation of the Sociology of Religion
  • 6.2 Peter Ludwig Berger – Dialectical Understanding of the Relation between Man and Society
  • 6.3 Contemporary Trends
  • 7. Psychology of Religion
  • 7.1 The Beginnings of the Psychology of Religion; William James
  • 7.2 Sigmund Freud and Carl Gustav Jung
  • 7.3 Examples of Psychological Approaches
  • 8. The Cognitive Approach to Religion
  • 8.1 What Is the Cognitive Approach?
  • 8.2 Religious Experience and Ritual
  • 8.3 The Role of Emotions in Religion in Terms of Cognitive Approach
  • 9. Hermeneutic Religious Studies
  • 9.1 Deeper Understanding
  • 9.2 Notable Figures in the History of Hermeneutics
  • 9.3 Other Aspects of Hermeneutics and Their Application to Religion
  • 10. Phenomenology of Religion
  • 10.1 Attentive Perception Instead of Deduction
  • 10.2 Representatives of the Phenomenology of Religion
  • 10.3 Cryptomorphous Religious Phenomena
  • 11. New Religiosity
  • 11.1 New Religiosity – a Challenge to Contemporary Society
  • 11.2 Causes and Signs
  • 12. Religion in the Contemporary World
  • 12.1 Religion and Politics
  • 12.2 Religion and Economics
  • 12.3 Religion and Science
  • Bibliography

Introduction

Religion is still a distinctive phenomenon of social life, despite the fact that in most countries it does not play as of an important role as in the past. Unlike nanotechnology or the theory of differential equations, religion is something much more common and is seemingly already known. The questions which religion deals with, such as the topics of death and immortality, good and evil, meaning, motives, and actions are questions which are somehow asked by every person at certain stages in their life. Therefore, these questions are not neutral, like the knowledge of chemistry or grammar, but concern us existentially and the discussion of such questions can induce intense emotions and tensions.

This text offers a brief overview of the basic approaches to the scientific scrutiny of religion. To remain uninterested in examining religion is more difficult than exam ← 7 | 8 → ining any other object of research. In relation to issues of religion, we cannot stand as impartial observers, because we are always somehow involved. Therefore, this text emphasises not only religious knowledge but also how to find ways to get closer to impartiality.

This text is intended mainly for students of bachelor degrees of humanity studies, but also for anyone interested in learning about religion, its main representatives, and observations. It offers an overview of topics, questions, and context, rather than a coherent theory.

I hope that this text will help the reader to become familiar with the broad topic of religion. For those who are particularly interested in the topic, the recommended literature may provide a path to further deepening of knowledge. This text will meet its objective if it helps the reader to look at his/her own basic beliefs from some distance and to perceive the beliefs of others with an open mind.

Religions are treasuries of wisdom, but are also often a source of tensions and conflicts. I believe that religious studies can contribute to the appreciation of the good in all religious beliefs, and to overcome their negative aspects.

Trnava, December 31, 2014 Adrián Slavkovský ← 8 | 9 →

1. What is Religious Studies and Religion

Keywords: religion, the sacred, bracketing, irreducibility

Details

Pages
116
Year
2016
ISBN (PDF)
9783653066517
ISBN (ePUB)
9783653958560
ISBN (MOBI)
9783653958553
ISBN (Softcover)
9783631674659
DOI
10.3726/978-3-653-06651-7
Language
English
Publication date
2016 (April)
Keywords
religion the sacred impartiality faith
Published
Frankfurt am Main, Berlin, Bern, Bruxelles, New York, Oxford, Wien, 2016. 116 pp.

Biographical notes

Adrián Slavkovský (Author)

Adrián Slavkovský is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Philosophy and Arts, Trnava University, Slovakia.

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