Comparative and Multidisciplinary Approaches

Many would argue that a sound study of the world’s religions requires a comparative approach. The chief benefit of this approach was emphasized by the nineteenth-century scholar Friedrich Max Müller (1823-1900), who is generally regarded as the founder of the modern field of religious studies.

This is not to say that comparison should be undertaken haphazardly or only to discover similarities while ignoring differences. Those critics mentioned earlier who deride the “world religions discourse” tend to be suspicious of attempts at comparison, claiming that too often similarities are indeed valued over differences and that the categories used to make comparisons tend to privilege Christianity over other traditions. Sometimes the results of the comparison of religion differentiate religions into groups that are too sweepingly general: for example, “Eastern” and “Western” religions. Still, the benefits of comparative analysis outweigh the risks, and the potential pitfalls that these critics appropriately warn against can indeed be avoided through a conscientious approach.

Along with being cross-cultural, religious studies is multidisciplinary, or polymethodic, drawing on the contributions of anthropology, history, sociology, psychology, philosophy, feminist theory, and other disciplines and fields of study.

This chapter has frequently used the term culture, the study of which is the domain of anthropology.

The need for involvement of the other disciplines should also be apparent. Given their historical and social aspects, the appropriateness of the disciplines of history and sociology for the study of religions is to be expected. And especially when trying to make sense of the modes of religious experience, psychology offers important inroads to understanding. Along with Freud and James, Swiss psychologist Carl Jung (1875-1961) deserves mention for his vital contributions to the study of religious symbolism and of the role of the unconscious mind in the religious life. The philosophy of religion, which in certain respects is the closest to actually doing religion (or theology), endeavors to assess critically the truth claims and arguments set forth by religions. Questions involving the existence of God, for example, are among those taken up by philosophers. We have already noted the important contributions of feminist theory. The natural sciences also have contributed substantially, at a pace that is accelerating rapidly. Especially striking innovations have come from cognitive science, which studies both the physical capacity for thinking (i.e., the “brain”—although this category can also include computers and other systems of artificial intelligence) and mental functions (i.e., the “mind”). Cognitive science is itself a multidisciplinary field with contributors including neuroscientists, evolutionary biologists, and computer scientists, along with specialists from the social sciences.

The multidisciplinary nature of religious studies accounts for its very existence as an academic discipline. Without the involvement of its many subdisciplines, there could be no academic field of religious studies.

Self-Assessment 1.4

[Please note: You must be using an online, browser-based eReader in order to view this content.]

In this chapter, we have explored the nature of religion and how to study it from an academic perspective. The main objective is to prepare for the study that follows, a chapter-by-chapter examination of the major religions of the world. But the theoretical and methodological content of this introductory chapter is relevant in its own right. Hopefully, readers will recognize the complexity of the ideas and the challenge of the task without feeling daunted about going forward with our study.

We have noted that the rest of this book’s chapters feature a threefold organizational scheme consisting of teachings, historical development, and way of life. Although these chapters, with their focus on the religious traditions themselves, naturally are quite different from this introduction, it is worth noticing that in this chapter, too, we have featured historical development—of both the attempts to explain or define religion and the approaches to studying it—and teachings, most especially the theories of various notable contributors to religious studies. The “way of life” aspect perhaps has been less obvious, but in fact it deserves consideration as we end the chapter.

REVIEW QUESTIONS

For Review

1. Who is Emile Durkheim, and what is notable about his definition of “religion”?

2. Bruce Lincoln, in his definition of “religion,” identifies four “domains.” What are they?

3. What is “revelation,” and how is it pertinent to the question, What is ultimate reality?

4. Identify and briefly describe Ninian Smart’s seven “dimensions” of religion.

5. What is “empathy,” and how is it relevant for the academic study of religion?

For Further Reflection

1. Sigmund Freud and Karl Marx, while tending to be dismissive of the enduring importance of religion, asserted explanations that continue to provoke and to enrich academic consideration of the role of religion. Based on their statements included in this chapter, how might their perspectives be provocative and enriching in this respect?

2. This book poses three prominent questions with regard to the challenges addressed by the world’s religions: What is ultimate reality? How should we live in this world? What is our ultimate purpose? Drawing on the examples and ideas presented in this chapter, discuss to what extent and in what ways these three questions are interrelated.

3. Explore the interrelationship of these features of religions in the modern world: globalization, secularization, and multiculturalism.

Chapter 1 Self-Quiz

[Please note: You must be using an online, browser-based eReader in order to view this content.]

Chapter 1 Flashcards

[Please note·.

SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING

Eliade, Mircea. The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion. Translated by Willard R. Trask. New York: Harper and Row, 1961. Eliade’s most accessible work, offering a rich analysis of sacred space and time.

Hinnels, John, ed. The Routledge Companion to the Study of Religion. 2nd ed. Oxford: Routledge, 2010. Coverage of significant issues in religious studies by leading scholars. Masuzawa, Tomoko. The Invention of World Religions: Or, How European Universalism Was Preserved in the Language of Pluralism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2005. Careful historical analysis of the term and category “world religions.”

Pals, Daniel. Nine Theories of Religion. 3rd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2015. The best introduction to the history of religious studies as an academic field, including chapters on Karl Marx, William James, Sigmund Freud, Emile Durkheim, and Mircea Eliade.

Segal, Robert A., and Kocku von Stuckrad, eds. Vocabulary for the Study of Religion. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2015. 3 vols. Also available online, this recent, thorough work provides encyclopedic coverage of all important topics in the field of religious studies.

Smart, Ninian. Dimensions of the Sacred: An Anatomy of the World’s Beliefs. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996. An engaging presentation of Smart’s “dimensions.” Smith, Jonathan Z. Imagining Religion: From Babylon to Jonestown. Chicago Studies in the History of Judaism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982. One among various collections of essays that exemplify Smith’s impressively wide-ranging and astute approach to the study of religion.

Taylor, Mark C., ed. Critical Terms for Religious Studies. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998. Articles on various central topics for the study of religions, written by leading scholars in the field.

Click here for more suggested readings, weblinks, and other media for this chapter.

ONLINE RESOURCES

American Academy of Religion

aarweb.org

The largest and most influential North American academic society for the study of religion.

Society of Biblical Literature

sbl-site.org

A companion organization to the American Academy of Religion, the Society of Biblical Literature is the premier academic organization for scholars in biblical studies and much more. The diversity and innovative nature of the Society is evidenced in its extensive list of “tags” that are used to help categorize papers presented at its various meetings: https://www.sbl-site.org/Meetinqs/Conqresses Tags.aspx

Pew Research Religion and Public Life Project

pewforum.org

Excellent source of information on issues involving social and political aspects of religion. The Pew Forum study of May 2015 revealed startling statistics with regard to the rapid decline of traditional forms of religion in the United States: http://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/

The Pluralism Project at Harvard University

pluralism.org

Organization that offers an impressive array of helpful resources, especially with regard to the world’s religions in North America.

LIST OF KEY TERMS

atheism

cosmology

empathy

Globalization

henotheism

Modernization

monism

Monotheism

multiculturalism

mysterium tremendum and fascinans

mystical experience

myth

nontheistic

numinous experience

Pantheism

Polytheism

revealed ethics

revelation

ritual

secularization

theistic

transtheistic

Urbanization