SCAR 3F03
APPROACHES TO THE STUDY OF RELIGION
Fall 2026 · C01
Topics
- Week One : Orientation
- Thursday, September 10th. Introduction and Overview
- Week Two : Introduction to the Field
- Monday, September 14th. Defining “religion” and its challenges
- Wednesday, September 16th. Tutorial
- Thursday September 17th. Overview of the history of the academic study of religion
- Readings
- Talal Asad, “ The Construction of Religion as an Anthropological Category ,” in Religion in Today’s World, Routledge, 2013.
- Week Three : Classic Sociological Approaches
- Monday September 21st. Emile Durkheim and the focus on the social function of religion
- Wednesday, September 23rd. Tutorial
- Thursday September 24th. Max Weber and religion's relation to economics and social change
- Emile Durkheim, The Elementary Forms of Religious Life (selections) from Kenneth Thompson, ed., Readings from Emile Durkheim, Routledge, 1985, 85–100.
- Week Four : Classic Psychological Approaches
Fall 2025 · Approaches To Study Of Relgion · C01
Readings
- Materials Available Through Library Ereserves
Sources
- Course catalogue ↗2026–2027
- Campus Store (short title) ↗
- Course outline / syllabus ↗Fall 2026
- Campus Store reading list ↗Fall 2025
- Some readings or course materials are supplied through Avenue to Learn; public bibliographic details may be incomplete. The outline explicitly states that no textbook is required.