Lesson Objectives
• Appreciate the way religion is taught in a public school setting
• Understand the difference between a Theologian and a Scholar
• Understand the evolution of Religious Studies (Comparative to Functionalist)
Key Terms
Scholar of Religion (c.f. "Religious Studies")
Theologian (c.f. "Confessional Theology")
Normative/Descriptive distinction
Essentialism
Functionalism
Religion in a Public School Setting
The Theologian & the Scholar
• A theogian does religion. A scholar studies religion.
• A theologian picks sides; a scholar does not.
• Non-sectarian scholars do their best to remain impartial
• Scholar not interested in whether a religious group is "right"
• Theologians and scholars have different methodoloiges and goals
• Theology: shares personal beliefs as “Truth” claims
• Scholars: shares peer-reviewed scholarship; makes no claims to “Truth”
• They appeal to different audiences (i.e. student vs congregant)
• Scholarly Methodology
• Scholars don't legitimize specific religious approaches
• Modern American religious studies courses may have an American Protestant bias, because that's our typical background (Prothero 9)
• Scholars check bad scholarship with global perspectives
• Peer-reviewed research (eg. Oxford, Harvard, Princeton presses)
• Consensus within the discipline (American Academy of Religion)
• Seeking out a variety of voices in scholarly inquiry
Why Scholarship doesn’t compete with Theology (3 min vid)
• Scholars and Theologians have different goals
• The theologian aims to convince you of heartfelt belief
• The scholar aims to convince you of nonsectarian evidence
• Theologians prescribe ("you should") beliefs to congregants
• Scholars engage in the empirical, descriptive ("it is") pursuit of knowledge
• This course aims at fostering critical thinking through logical inquiry
What does a Scholar of Religion do?
• Scholars aren't out to prove or disprove religion — only to explain evidence
• Scholars seek the criticism of other scholars and work within a consensus
• Scholarship (unlike belief) should be logical, proveable, and precise
• Logical: claims are built of evidence-based reasoning
• Proveable: correctly works within the consensus of other scholars
• Precise: clear — not built of vague or subjective assertions
• Theological belief doesn't require logic, proveability, or precision
• People can believe illogical things (I'm gonna win the lottery!)
• Something taken "on faith" is unproven (I believe that aliens exist!)
• Vague truth-claims are quite common (I am centered on my being.)