SCAR 1B03

WHAT ON EARTH IS RELIGION?

Undergraduate

Spring/Summer 2024 · C01

Topics

Week 1: What is Religion and Why it Matters to Study It?
Mon May 6 – Defining Religion: Challenges and Considerations
Religion: Language, Law, and Legacies, 19-43.
What does it take for something to be classified as a ‘religion’? 11-3
Wed May 8 – Why Do We Study Religion?
Why is it important that we study religion 238-40
Why do we need the study of religion if we already have historians, anthropologists, sociologists, psychologists, and folklorists? 282-5
Introduction 1-13
Week 2: Academic Study of Religion
Mon May 13 – What is Religious Studies?
Where did the study of religion come from? 231-4
Religious Studies 125-44
Wed May 15 – Insider-Outsider Debates in Studying Religion
Is there a difference between religious studies and theology? 241-4

Understanding Religion Theories and Methods for Studying Religiously Diverse Societies
Paul Michael Hedges · 2021 · Required
University of California Press · ISBN 0520298896; 9780520298897
The Routledge Companion to the Study of Religion
John R. Hinnells · 2009 · Recommended / optional
Routledge · ISBN 1135252866; 9781135252861
Religion in Five Minutes
Aaron W. Hughes, Russell T. McCutcheon · 2017 · Recommended / optional
Equinox Publishing · ISBN 9781781794654; 9781781796122
The Cambridge Companion to Religious Studies
Robert A. Orsi · 2011 · Recommended / optional
Cambridge University Press · ISBN 9781139017084; 9780521883917
https://textbooks.mcmaster.ca ↗

Sources