REL 161 - Understanding Religious Experience and Expression
Take not, O Lord, our literal sense. Lord, in thy great,
Unbroken speech
our limping metaphor translate.
("Footnote to All Prayers," by C. S. Lewis, 1898-1963)
COURSE DESCRIPTION Required Texts: Religion can be studied in many ways, by many methods, and from many
points of view. For the purposes of this course it will be assumed that
religious narratives are, among other things, metaphorical expressions of
important truths. They operate both as models of
human experience and as models for human life; as
metaphorical descriptions and as exemplary ideals. Human experience provides the
source of these narratives. This is a phenomenological approach to the study of religion and religious
experience. (So one of the first things students will have to do is to find out
what "phenomenology" means.) Most importantly, we will attempt to withhold
judgment of the issues until after we have inspected and analyzed religion as it appears in the world.
What exactly is
religion and religious experience? What forms does it take? How would it be
apprehended by someone who made it their business to travel around the world
researching it? Does religious experience possess any consistent recognizable
characteristics? What types of people have religious experiences? What types of
experience do they have, and how do they express that experience? Asking such questions is the basis of research in the academic study of religion.
This course will equip students with the basic research skills need to construct reasonable, reliable, and well-informed answers to such questions.
Although the instructor can provide answers to simple factual questions, such as the probable dates to the life of the Buddha, or the probable
number of Christians in the world, the instructor's task is not primarily to answer questions about religion, but to help the students to formulate
and answer their own questions. In other words, to conduct elementary research in the discipline.
In order to consider such questions I will first introduce the class to
actual manifestations of religion and to examples of expressions of religious
experience. Then we will discuss relevant elements of the basic history of
religions. This will introduce students to the major religious traditions and
faiths of the world, presenting these as the genuine beliefs and actual
practices of living persons and attempting to answer the above questions.
Ultimately, we will consider how it is that some people can sincerely make
claims that are quite incredible to others. Familiarity with the concepts and the terminology of alternative religious
traditions is essential to the understanding of other people's religious
experience and expression. To that end students will be expected to acquire the
knowledge and the vocabulary presented in the textbooks. Huston Smith's The Illustrated World's Religions will provide us with the basic material knowledge of the
various faiths of our world, and selections from Philip Novak's The World's Wisdom will
provide an introduction to the texts of those faiths. Other short readings will
be provided by the instructor. Classes will involve discussion of the material presented, so it is essential that
students do the required reading before each class and that resulting questions are raised in
the class. Evident failure to do the required reading will result in loss of
attendance/participation points. Individual inquiries and responses are strongly
encouraged. The aims of this course are firstly to acquire the basic research skills of the academic study of religion. This requires a knowledge of those
experiences and expressions which have been identified as religious along with
some critical understanding of what "religion" is taken to be. Second, various
theories and definitions of religion will be considered as tools for the
construction of relevant and durable opinions about material which is often
confusing and uncertain. Third, the skills required to communicate those
opinions clearly and persuasively will be practiced. So-the acquisition, the analysis, the assessment, and the articulation of
information will all be practiced and evaluated. The successful student in this course will demonstrate their abilities to: to
acquire knowledge of the experiences and expressions characteristic of the major
religious traditions religious of recorded history
COURSE REQUIREMENTS Preparation To prepare for each class you must consider the given readings. Try and
formulate any questions that arise from these readings and be prepared to
discuss them in class. You are strongly advised to write out your questions as
this will help you to put them clearly before the class. You are encouraged to
discuss the issues raised in the readings with your classmates (or anyone else
who's interested) outside of the classroom. There will be an on-line discussion
group to facilitate this. Attendance Attendance in class is mandatory. Absences will result in an automatic lowering of your grade. This will be done on an exponential scale so that the
first absences will have little effect, but after three classes are missed the
cumulative effect will be significant (1st absence -1, 2nd -2, 3rd-4 etc.).
Reading alone will not give you the skills or the information needed to pass
this course satisfactorily; in-class discussions and explanations are the most
important component of the course. Participation The classes will generally follow a question-and-answer pattern. I will ask
students to raise questions or to outline and explain what they understand from
their readings and classroom materials and the class as a whole will discuss the
topic. During that discussion I will attempt to answer students' questions as
thoroughly and clearly as I can. All students will be expected to participate
in discussions. The ability to express yourself clearly before a small
audience like this is absolutely necessary to your advancement in almost all areas of life.
Extra credit will be given for effectively encouraging class discussion.
Academic Integrity Westminster College as an institution and I as an individual both pursue a
strict policy of academic honesty. Plagiarism: leading
your reader or listener to believe that what you have written or said is your
own work, when, in fact, it is not, will be treated severely. But
always remember that while using someone else's work without declaring your
source is dishonest, doing the same thing and citing the source is good
scholarship! Books must be cited in the correct bibliographic style (see below)
and personal sources can also be cited. Attendance and participation will constitute 15% of your grade, but
note well that repeated absences will not only lose these points but will
finally result in a subtraction of points earned elsewhere. Quizzes (x3) will be held to ensure that the required reading is being
properly done. These will constitute a combined total of 45% of the grade. Examinations. There will be a final worth 20% (Sample
Questions) Note that there is no midterm exam). Essay. All students will submit a typewritten critical essay of 2,000 to 2,500 words
(that is, 8-10 pages double spaced) due in on Tuesday, May 3rd. The topic
of this paper will be selected by each student and approved by me no later than week eight.
(I will provide a list of sample essay topics but I much prefer that students
use their own imagination in the selection of their topic.) Students will have
the whole of the semester to work on this paper and it will be their major
opportunity to display their personal potential. It will constitute 20% of the
grade. Your topic and thesis must be determined by Monday, March
17th. An annotated working bibliography must be submitted on Friday,
April 4th. Rough drafts of this paper can be submitted to me for comments and
corrections up to Monday, April 25th. Extra Credit will occasionally be awarded for specific tasks, for
effective class participation, and for participation in visits to sites of
interest. Please remember that high grades reflect very well on my teaching record. I
want to give you good
grades! But I am examined also and you must give me cause to give you a good
grade. Like most other skills academic ability improves with practice. If you
feel weak in public speaking or critical analysis now is the time to
practice and improve. The Problem of the Definition of Religion. First, it must be borne in mind that "what we call 'religion' is of much
wider prevalence and of much longer standing than is the use of this term, or
indeed of any other term, to designate it" (W. C. Smith, The Meaning and End of Religion, 18). The human activities which we identify as
religious are unquestionably factual, the experiences which prompt people to
behave religiously are as real as any other experiences, and the expressions of
those experiences have historically constituted the most significant products of
human culture. So what is 'religion'? "Recognition on the part of man of some higher unseen power as having control
of his destiny, and as being entitled to obedience, and worship." (Oxford English Dictionary
1971) "The relationship which humanity establishes with the divinity through
worship; a specific group of beliefs, moral laws and cultic practices whereby
humanity establishes a relationship with the divine." (Grand Larousse de la langue français, 1971) "The essence of religion consists in a feeling of absolute dependence. . ."
(Frederick Schleiermacher, (1768-1834) The Doctrine
of Faith) E. B. Tylor, thought that "it seems simplest . . . simply to claim, as a
minimum definition of religion, the belief in Spiritual Beings." (Primitive Culture,
1871) "By religion, then, I understand a propitiation or conciliation of powers
superior to man which are believed to direct and control the course of Nature
and human life." (Sir James George Frazer, The
Golden Bough, 1890) "the first ideas of religion arose not from a contemplation of the works of
nature, but from a concern with regard to the events of life, and from the
incessant hopes and fears, which actuate the human mind." (David Hume,
(1711-1776) "The Natural History of Religions") "All ideas and feelings are religious which refer to ideal existence, an existence that corresponds to the wishes and
requirements of the human mind." (W. Wundt, Ethics) "A man's religion is that set of objects, habits, and convictions . . . which
he would die for rather than abandon, or at least he would feel excommunicated
from humanity if he did abandon." (H. Bosanquet, "Philosophy of Religion", in
Baldwin's Dictionary) Religion is "an hypothesis which is supposed to render the Universe
comprehensible. . . . Now every theory tacitly asserts two things: first that
there is something to be explained; secondly that such and such is the
explanation . . . that the existence of the world with all it contains is a
mystery ever pressing for interpretation . . . [and] that it is not a mystery
passing human comprehension." (Herbert Spencer, (1820-1903) First Principles) Religion is "a pathological manifestation of the protective function, a sort
of deviation of the normal function . . . caused by ignorance of natural causes
and of their effects." (G. Sergi, Les Emotions, 404) "Religious life consists of the belief that there is an
unseen order and that our supreme good lies in harmoniously adjusting ourselves
thereto." (William James, The Varieties of
Religious Experience, 53, 1902) "A religion is a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred
things, that is to say, things set apart and forbidden - beliefs and practices
which unite into one single moral community . . . , all who adhere to them."
(Emile Durkheim, The Elementary Forms of the
Religious Life) "The psychic origin of all religious thought, is the recognition, or, if you
please, the assumption, that conscious volition is
the ultimate source of all Force. It is the belief
that behind the sensuous, phenomenal world, distinct from it, giving it form,
existence, and activity, lies the ultimate, invisible, immeasurable power of
Mind, of conscious Will, of Intelligence, analogous in some way to our own;
and,--mark this essential corollary--that man is in
communication with it." (Daniel G. Brinton,
"Religions of Primitive Peoples") In this definition the focus is on the religious character of
human awarenesss, which includes at least two elements: ultimacy and effective
power. When we ask, why is one action 'good' and another 'bad'? or Why does man
suffer? or Why does man reflect on his nature?, we are seeking a certain kind of
answer. ... If we want to understand the religious answers to the
above questions, then we must become sensitive to the assumptions behind
religious answers; and one of these assumptions is that there is more to life
than just physical existence. It is this 'more than' character to which our term
'ultimate' points." (Frederick Streng, Understanding Religious Life, 4) [The claim] "that there is a Beyond or an Unborn, and that this is somehow
accessible to the religious experience of the human race, and is not just a
philosophical speculation or a theory about the world." (Ninian Smart, Beyond Ideology) "On the theoretical side [religion] is characterized by a world-view which
denies the adequacy of the world of the senses and affirms the existence of a
transcendental world, conceived both as highest existence and highest value. On
the practical side, it consists in the passage from things of this world to a
conception and experience of the reality of the transcendent world, and thus to
salvation from the world." (Hermann Siebeck, Lehrbuch der Religionsphilosophie) "Religion is a human response to mystery. . . . not as a deadly emptiness,
but somehow as a reality in which lies the meaning of human existence. . . . The
response to the mystery as fullness is religion. In general, religion is a way
of relating to mystery as a sacred or divine reality rather than as useless or
meaningless." Michael H. Barnes, In the Presence of
Mystery, 1-2. "To be--or, rather, to become--a man means to be 'religious.' " (Mircea
Eliade, The Quest,
preface) "One's religion . . . is one's way of valuing most intensively and
comprehensively." (Frederick Ferré, "The Definition of Religion." Journal of the American Academy of Religion 38, no.1 (1970): 11.) "A religion is: (1) a system of symbols which acts to (2) establish powerful,
pervasive and long-lasting moods and motivations in men by (3) formulating
conceptions of a general order of existence and (4) clothing these conceptions
with such an aura of factuality that (5) the moods and motivations seem uniquely
realistic." (Clifford Geertz, "Religion as a Cultural System") "Religion is a cultural system and a social institution that governs and
promotes ideal interpretations of existence and ideal praxis with reference to
transempirical powers or beings." Armin Geertz, "Theory, Definition, and
Typology," Temenos 33
(1997), 39. (Note that by "ideal" Geertz seems to mean perfect or ultimately
desirable rather than mental or non-material--from a reading of this paper at
the World Congress of Philosophy, Boston, August 11th, 1998.) Finally perhaps
"the sustained inability to clarify what the word 'religion' signifies, in
itself suggests that the term ought to be dropped; that it is a distorted
concept not really corresponding to anything definite or distinctive in the
objective world. The phenomena we call religious undoubtedly exist. Yet perhaps
the notion that they constitute in themselves some distinctive entity is an
unwarranted analysis" (Wilfred Cantwell Smith, The
Meaning and End of Religion, 17). But Smith goes
on to say that this is too extreme a conclusion, "an alternative suggestion
could be that a failure to agree on definitions of religion may well stem from
the quality of the material. For what a man thinks about religion is central to
what he thinks about life and the universe as a whole. The meaning that one
ascribes to the term is a key to the meaning that one finds in existence" (18).
Ninian Smart's Six Dimensions of Religion. The Ritual Dimension "Religion tends in part to express itself through such rituals: through
worship, prayers, offerings, and the like. We may call this the ritual dimension of
religion. . . . Some form of outer behavior . . . coordinated with an inner
intention to make contact with, or to participate in, the invisible world."
(16/3) The Mythical Dimension "Stories about God . . ., about the gods . . ., but also [stories relating
to] historical events of religious significance in a tradition." (18/5). We can
count both historical
myths (that is to say, stories about the invisible world which have an anchorage
in history) and non-historical myths (those that have no such anchorage) as aspects of
the mythological dimension. The Doctrinal Dimension "Doctrines are an attempt to give system, clarity, and intellectual power to
what is revealed through the mythic and symbolic language of religious faith and
ritual. . . The dividing line between the mythological and what I shall call the
doctrinal" is not
easy to draw. . . . The world religions owe some of their living power to their
success in presenting a total picture of reality through a coherent system of
doctrines." (19/5) The Ethical Dimension "The code of ethics of the dominant religion controls the community. Quite
obviously people do not always live up to the standards they profess" thus " we
must distinguish between the ethical teachings of a faith . . . and the actual
sociological effects and circumstances of a religion." (19-20/5) The Social Dimension "The mode in which the religion in question is institutionalized, whereby
through its institutions and teachings, it affects the community in which it
finds itself. The doctrinal, mythological, and ethical dimensions express a
religion's claim about the nature of the invisible world and its aim's about how
people's lives ought to be shaped: the social dimension indicates the way in
which people's lives are, in fact, shaped by these claims and the way in which
religious institutions operate." (21/6) The Experiential Dimension Religious people "may hope to have contact with, and participate in, the
invisible world through ritual, [but] personal religion normally involves the
hope of, or realization of, experience of that world." (21/6)
"all the major religious traditions of the world contain eight inter-linked
elements. The major religions are dynamic organisms within which there are eight
inter-acting dimensions; they are historical chains within which there are eight
connecting links. . . . these elements are present in separate traditions with
different weights and different emphases. Because all religions have these
elements this does not mean that they are all the same" (38). Religious Community Ritual and Worship Ethics Social and Political Involvement Scripture/Myth Concept Aesthetics Spirituality "Lying behind them is something that is even more important, namely
transcendent reality. For a Christian this would be God, for a Muslim Allah, for
a Jew Yahweh, for a Hindu Brahman, and for a Buddhist Nirvana. Insofar as it is
transcendent this reality is less clear than the eight elements . . . they are
directly observable, transcendence is not. "However, transcendent reality is made more clear by means of a Mediating
Focus that lies at the heart of each religious tradition. This mediating
focus--Christ for a Christian, the Koran for a Muslim, the Torah for a Jew, a
personal deity or the Atman for a Hindu, and the Buddha or the Dharma for a
Buddhist--brings transcendent reality closer and makes it more meaningful. God
is therefore mediated through Christ, Allah through the Koran, Yahweh through
the Torah, Brahman through a Hindu Lord or the Atman within, and Nirvana through
the Buddha or the Dharma. It is this combination of a transcendent reality and a
mediating focus that lies behind and gives meaning to the eight elements of each
religious tradition. ". . . some person, and indeed some group of persons, has to respond to
mediated reality. Persons have dynamically to use the eight elements that form a
tradition otherwise those elements are lifeless forms" (46-47).
The dimensions of religion are certainly not independent one of another but
interpenetrate like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, each one completes and is
completed by the others, and the whole is a dynamic unity. The Dimension of Experience (Revelation) Religion represents an assurance not only that there is an unseen
order but that this order authoritatively reveals itself to humanity in some
way. In the major world religions the main vehicle of revelation is often
thought to be scripture, the written sacred word. Whatever the vehicle of
revelation, the arena is always, and necessarily, human experience. The
Christian Bible is not so much the revelation as was the life of Jesus in
history; the Koran (the sacred book of Islam) is not so much the revelation of
Allah as were the visions of Muhammad; the Tripitaka (the sacred texts of
Buddhism) are not so much the revelation as was the enlightenment of the Buddha.
In pre-literate religions the experience of the shaman or spiritual specialist
is the vehicle of revelation and only thereafter sacred lore, mythology. Of
course, a large part of our experience is the experience of our human
community. The Dimension of Response (Faith) Faith is a response to experience as revelation which can be divided into faith as assurance and faith as
belief. The former is
the emotional state of final optimism about the unseen order, the latter is the
adherence to certain specific doctrinal claims about that order. Although
separable as descriptions of inner or intentional states, they can be seen to
converge in specific behavior. One acts out of one's optimism and out of adherence to specific
propositional truths. The human creative response to our environment as both
that which is inspired or breathed into us (by the gods etc.) and that which
is imitative (of the
divine acts of creation and of revelation) thus becomes itself a medium of
revelation. The Dimension of Knowledge What is revealed through faith is thus regarded as sacred knowledge. That experience
apprehended in faith as an authoritative source of knowledge (i.e. revelation)
is conducive to specific activities in response. This activity is justified by
knowledge of cosmology, of theology, and of anthropology. For example, that all
action (i.e. karma)
will be justly repaid; that Allah is merciful; or that the meek will inherit the
earth. The Dimension of Ethics This represents the specific claim that there is a particular correct and
beneficial pattern of human behavior. This pattern of behavior is harmonious
with the unseen order: externally it harmonizes community with cosmos,
internally it harmonizes personal behavior with personal experience of the world
(mediated through knowledge). The Dimension of Community Those who share the same "sacred genealogy," that is to say, whose ethics are
known through the same faith in the same revelations, have a recognizable
identity and are united into a coherent and recognizable social group. The Dimension of Expression (Witness) The expressions of the religious group, both intentionally and
unintentionally, support and strengthen the worldview from which they are made.
Deliberately in the form of mission and unconsciously in the application of
religious knowledge
(Please
note that this course carries "IP Credit." That is, it fulfils the requirement
of a course from the Intellectual Perspective of Religious and Philosophical
Thought and Tradition at Westminster College.)
Smith, Huston. The
Illustrated World's Religions (HarperCollins,
1995).
Novak, Philip. The World's Wisdom (HarperCollins, 1995).
COURSE OUTCOMES
(see p. 22 of the Student Handbook and the Academic Integrity Policy.ppt on your class R:/Profnote drive)
Your instructor reseves the right to use the plagiarism software at Turnitin.com.
Three Dimensional Models of Religion:
From The Religious Experience of Mankind, 15-25, 1969, reprinted in The Religious Experience,
1996, 3-8. (See also Dimensions of the Sacred, 1996.)
Frank Whaling's Eight Dimensions
(from Christian Theology and World Religions, 37-48, 1986)
Bryan Rennie: Six Dimensions of Religion (1992)
The German Friedreich Schleiermacher published On Religion: Speeches to the Cultured among its Despisers in 1799. It is generally agreed that, as W. C. Smith has said, On Religion "would seem to be the first book ever written on religion as such-not on a particular kind or instance and not incidentally but explicitly on religion itself as a generic something." (The Meaning and End of Religion, 45). Although one should note also Natural History of Religion, published in 1779 but written before 1752 by David Hume and other such works. Following the lead of Schleiermacher many later scholars (egs. Wm. James, Rudolph Otto, Jonathan Edwards, Joachim Wach, Ernst Troeltsch) agreed that the religious experience is "a sense or feeling that is not to be identified with either belief or practice." (It was Schleiermacher who defined religion as "the feeling of absolute dependence upon God.")
It has been pointed out that "with this idea of religion as an experiential moment irreducible to either science or morality, belief or conduct, Schleiermacher sought to free religious belief and practice from the requirement that they be justified by reference to non-religious thought and action and to preclude the possibility of conflict between religious doctrine and any new knowledge that might emerge in the course of secular inquiry." (Wayne Proudfoot, Religious Experience, xiii) The idea of religious experience as a class of human subjective experiences different in kind from all other, "non-religious" experiences thus had its origin in a deliberate attempt to defend Christian institutional religion against the "threat" of alternative conceptions of the real. This defensiveness is neither surprising nor unfounded. This was a period of intense positivism, empiricism, and materialism. Darwin's Origin of the Species appeared in 1859 and Herbert Spencer's First Principles in 1862. The advances of science continued with increasing vigor with the development of Einstein's theory of relativity and Max Planck's quantum theory in the early years of the twentieth century. Recently the "rhetoric of experience" has come under concerted attack. The clearest example is perhaps Robert Sharf's contribution to Critical Terms for Religious Studies edited by Mark C. Taylor (University of Chicago Press, 1998). Under the heading "Experience" Sharf points out that the claim to some privileged access to or understanding of the subjective experience of the religious believer allows critics and scholars to justify their own claims without any empirical justification and thus to propagate their own understanding and their own interests without hindrance. Such an appeal to experience has, for example, served the interests of Western Imperialism by serving as a justification for the theoretical privileging of Western Religion.
In 1856 with the publication of the Essays in Comparative Mythology of Max Müller the "science of religion" or the "comparative study of religion" began in earnest. Müller was primarily a linguist who studied, among other texts, the Rg Veda, which he held to represent a "primordial phase" of Indo-European religion. He saw religion as a "disease of language" through which the nomen (Latin for "name") became the numen (Latin for "holy"). One example would be the development of the idea of the human soul from the word for breath. This seems to have happened, for example, to both the Greek pneuma and the Hebrew ruwach. Both of which originally meant wind and breath but came to mean spirit. This process of reification , ascribing a real and independent existence to abstract entities or assuming that a merely named concept must have material existence, was thus proposed as an explanation of the origins of religion.
In 1871 Edward B. Tylor published Primitive Culture (see Eliade, Essential Sacred Writings, 177-185 for a sample of Tylor's work). He argued for an evolutionary development in religion. Monotheism, he claimed, had developed from polytheism which in turn had grown out of animism. Animism, the religious belief that everything has some kind of a soul, was proposed as the universal human condition out of which all religious beliefs developed.
In his books Custom and Myth (1883) and Modern Mythology (1897) Andrew Lang attacked the theories of Max Müller pointing out that the processes of reification could not be traced through all known forms of religion. In The Making of Religion in 1898 Lang attacked Tylor's arguments. Since the Australian Aborigines and the Andaman Islanders both had a developed belief in a High God but exhibited no traces of Animism then animism could not have universally preceded and thus be the origin of other forms of religion.
Despite the difficulties set against such attempts at a universal account of the origins of religion the theory of Mana dominated the study from 1900 - 1920. This theory, proposed by R. R. Marrett, differed from Tylor's theory only in that belief in mana was seen as even more archaic than animism and mana was impersonal where the anima was a personal force.
Wilhelm Schmidt between 1912 - 1955 published a multi-volume work on The Origins of the Idea of God in which he argued that, in fact, primal monotheism was the universal human belief from which all religions had developed. This was not well received.
Partially in a reaction to the extremities of logical positivism and materialism the early twentieth century saw the development of various irrationalist theories. Freud's psychoanalysis of the unconscious mind, Lucien Lévy-Bruhl's "prelogical mentality," Rudolph Otto's Idea of the Holy, and even Wm. James's adaptation of the unconscious as the "hither" side of the religious experience were all such theories. They had in common the proposal that, despite its evident utility, pure reason did not govern all processes of human development.
It must be noted that all these attempts to explain religion had a common preoccupation with the origins of religion. Like religions themselves, these attempted explanations sought to base themselves on a genesis of religion, a sort of theoretical cosmogony. While Müller's "disease of language" and Tylor's animism sought an explanation in the early stages of religion, Marrett's mana, and Schmidt's primal monotheism sought to replace them with theories promising a revelation of the very beginnings of religion. Mircea Eliade pointed out the quasi-religious nature of this quest for origins in The Quest chapter 3.
Emile Durkheim in The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life (1912) and Sigmund Freud in 1913 with his Totem and Taboo sought once again to explain the very beginnings of religion--the personification of society in the first case and the primal murder of the tribal father in the second. These, however, were the last attempts to explain religious origins and they were followed by the quest for complete knowledge and global familiarity. The attempt to study the origins and development of religion gave way to the attempt to study the context and history of religion. In a precursor of the new development James George Fraser published his enormous The Golden Bough in 1890. Other massive works of compilation began to appear; Hastings' The Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, was published between 1908 and 1921. Pritchard published his Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Bible in 1950.
Following hard on the heels of the attempt to catalogue the data of world religions rather than the elaboration of overconfident theories of religious origins came studies in perspective and method. Gerardus van der Leeuw published his Phenomenology of Religion in 1933. Here it was suggested that by a the method of "bracketing" (called epoché) one's own personal beliefs one could achieve an intuition of the essence of religion, an "eidetic vision." As well as the phenomenology of religion a smaller but possibly more important classification of the study, the morphology of religion, sought to classify religious phenomena into connected groups or categories. Mircea Eliade's book Patterns in Comparative Religion (1954) is one of the clearest examples of this type of approach but Ninian Smart's attempt to clarify the "dimensions" of religion can be seen as a type of morphology (The Religious Experience of Mankind, 1969).
In 1959 Wilfred Cantwell Smith made a number of observations and suggestions regarding the academic study of religion in an important paper entitled "Comparative Religion: Whither and Why?" One of his earliest published writings on comparative religion, and one which is in many ways a seminal piece from which much of his later work develops, "Comparative Religion: Whither and Why?" traces the chronological development of the study of religion. I can do no better than to let Smith speak for himself at this point.
The argument may be summarized briefly, in pronominal terms. The traditional form of Western scholarship in the study of other men's religion was that of an impersonal presentation of an "it". The first great innovation in recent times has been the personalization of the faiths observed, so that one finds a discussion of a "they". Presently the observer becomes personally involved, so that the discussion is one of a "we" talking about a "they". The next step is a dialogue, where "we" talk to "you". If there is listening and mutuality, this may become that "we" talk with "you". The culmination of this process is when "we all" are talking with each other about "us". (34)
Not only does Smith trace the process by which this is coming about - at least to the "we" and "you" stage - but he also "urges desiderata" (ibid.) to encourage the progression to the "we all" stage. Throughout this analysis and exhortation, the central motifs of Smith's thought are apparent. His stress on (i) persons as the locus of religion, which cannot otherwise be reified (ibid.), along with the warning the "personal explanations must be checked against or co-ordinated with texts and other overt data" (40 n.18). His stress on (ii)faith as a quality of men's lives and his recognition that his own faith is one among many, and that "faith cannot adequately be expressed in words, not even by a man who holds it devoutly" (39 n.18). There are also six other elements which can be seen to develop in his later works: (1) his recognition that the secular rationalist is a person like any other not substantially different from, and certainly not superior to, the committed religionist. Smith posits rationalism as a "tradition" like the Christian, Hindu or whatever (46). (2) His urging of the general principle that one can only understand a great religion if one approach it with humility and love (50 n.39). (3) His contention that comparative religion must formulate statements intelligible from within both of the traditions involved and in the academic world (52/53). (4) His suggestion that "comparative religion may become the disciplined self-consciousness of man's variegated and developing religious life" (55). (5) His consideration of the writing of a "religious history of man" (56), and (6) his contention that "Since every religion has to do with transcendent reality, it is part of the truth of that religion to be dissatisfied with its external forms" (50 n.39).
This may be seen as the final and inevitable fruit of the treatment of religious experience as an experiential moment irreducible to either science or morality, belief or conduct, free from the requirement that it be justified by reference to non-religious thought and action. As such a subjective classification persons are necessarily the locus of an unreifiable religion. Faith is the response to personal experience and so is necessarily a quality of human life. Finally each person and each life is an equally valid source of experience and faith and thus the secular humanist, like everyone else, must be considered equally. Although Smith's other points are not logically entailed they are an inevitable conclusion considering Smith's Christian faith in which "you shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Mt. 2237, Mk. 1231, Lk. 1027) is one of two commandment upon which "depend all the law and the prophets." (Mt. 2240) The religious commandment to "love one's neighbor as oneself" constitutes a revelation of sacred knowledge of the equal value of the subjective experience of others, an injunction to accord to the experience of others value equal to one's own personal experience. With such an injunction as this and the insistence on personal experience as the fundamental source of religion it is understandable how belief has developed in both the final ineffability of religious sentiment and in the final equality of alternate religions.
Argument 1. The argument from the untenable Ptolemaic theology of religions (v. 73-92). This basically revolves around the apparent paradox of the doctrine "
extra ecclesiam nulla sallus" (there is no salvation outside the Church) with the salvific will of a benevolent and omnipotent deity.Argument 2. The argument from encountering saintly and holy people within non-Christian religions. This is a tremendously important point and deserves full attention. Many of the pluralist theologians of our day have been deeply influenced by the fact that no one tradition can claim a monopoly of apparently genuinely holy adherents. The exemplary lives of Christocentric persons find correspondence in all other traditions.
Argument 3. The argument from an all-loving God. This strand of Hick's argument is inextricably linked with argument #1 above as it is characterized by D'Costa. Given an understanding of the deity as "all-loving", Hick's
point is that the majority of humankind living outside the boundaries of Christendom cannot be lost by such a geographical accident.Argument 4. The argument from a proper understanding of Jesus. This argument is a composite skein of thought, incorporating, (a) the tendency evinced by other religions to divinize their founders; (b) the distinction between mythic and literal language; and (c) historical skepticism towards the biblical texts, cumulatively, these arguments form a single attack on what Hick considers to be "traditional" Christology.
Argument 5. The argument from the nature of religion and religious history. 1. Hick's agreement with W.C.Smith's conception of religious faith as a universal human constant; 2. the criticism of organized religious communities as contrary to the intentions of their founders and/or socially divisive; 3. "genetic confessionalism",that is, the obvious tendency to adhere to the religion of one's parents or place of birth; and 4. the necessity of discrimination between religious beliefs. Can one meaningfully say, asks D'Costa, that the "faith" of X (a materialist humanist), Y (a Roman Catholic) and Z (a Theravada Buddhist) is the same thing, let alone identify any characteristics by which to make such an assertion without references to the community and its practices to which X, Y and Z belong? (136) It would appear that Hick can answer this question affirmatively. Although the form and content of these faiths may differ they are alike in giving meaning, coherence and continuity to the lives of the faithful and the characteristics they share are the resultant irenic and benevolent lifestyles which they avow. While altruism, caritas and ahimsa are themselves tradition-related terms the characteristics of the actions which they ideally inculcate in their respective proponents transcend the specific references of the words used to describe them. Hick zhimself identifies these characteristics to be "acceptance, compassion, love for all human kind or even all life." (The Problem of Religious Pluralism, 81)
Argument 6. The argument from the theological and practical benefits of the Copernican revolution. D'Costa suggests that the dialogical benefits of Hick's theology are open to doubt. "Unless Copernicans limit their dialogue exclusively to other like-minded Copernicans they will implicitly entertain a view which holds that the partner has a relative truth compared to their own absolute Copernican perspective" (145). Hick, however, has specifically repudiated such a view in "God Has Many Names" where he criticized the "confessional end of dialogical spectrum" and warned against that very position wherein one's own view is granted "absolute truth whilst his partner's has only relative truth" (81). The basic point of Hick's reality-centered stance is that one's dialogue partner is held to be centered on that same reality, in a similarly though not identically limited manner.
Argument 7. The argument from the infinite divine nature. Hick's point here is that God, as infinite, can be both personal and impersonal and thus may be genuinely experienced as personal and genuinely experienced as impersonal. It is crucial to Hick's position that the God/theos/Real at the center of his paradigm is infinite, ineffable, including all the characteristics attributed to deity or absolute reality by all the traditions (and more, infinitely more). In agreement with W.C.Smith, Hick conceives God as both/and not either/or (Smith,
The Faith of Other Men, 17).
All students will submit a typewritten critical essay of 2,000 to 2,500 words (double spaced) due in on Tuesday, May 3rd.
These are not reports but argumentative essays: that is to say they are editorialism rather than journalism--your own views are as essential as knowledge of your subject material. The standard of your technical writing as well as your accuracy and argument will be taken into consideration. To that end, here is a short list of common avoidable writing errors which should help you to avoid simple mistakes which will otherwise reduce your grade.
Although you are not required to do so, I have found it quicker, easier, more convenient, and more economic to submit these papers as e-mail attachments. That way I can grade them on my computer, you do not have to decipher my handwriting crammed into the margins of your paper, I can send them back by the same means, so you don't have to wait to see me personally to get your papers back, and we both get copies.
Papers cannot be accepted after the due date (Tuesday, May 3rd). YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED OF THIS THREE MONTHS BEFORE THEY ARE DUE. NO EXCUSES WILL BE ACCEPTED. You may hand in a rough draft of your paper to be checked anytime up to Monday, April 25
th.General requirements of an argumentative essay .
Papers must have a title which states the topic of your essay. In order to maintain the focus on religious experience as the topic of this course your papers should be entitled "Religious Experience and Expression: . . . " with your topic or focus following the colon. So you must attempt to make some general conclusions about religious experience and/or expression. Papers must be typed on standard 81/2 x 11 paper (no folders please!). Papers will be kept by the professor.
You must have a thesis, argument, and a conclusion. That is, a specific statement you want to make, an attempt to persuade your reader that your statement is correct, and a conclusion to your thought. This is mainly to help you to focus your thoughts. "Thesis" is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as "a proposition laid down or stated, especially as a theme to be discussed or proved."
The arguments and research which support your thesis should make the main body of the essay.
The whole point of college writting is ACCURACY, so do not sacrifice accuracy for dramatic effect. For example, do not claim that your topic has been a matter of disagreement "since the beginning of time." It hasn't. Don't exaggerate and don't misrepresent the facts for dramatic effect.
Source material (books, but don't forget articles in journals and encyclopedias, even newspapers and personal interviews) should be integrated into your argument as evidence, example, or illustration. You MUST document the sources of all quotations, statistical information, and paraphrased material. Do not rely on Internet sources to the exclusion of the more reliable print media available from the library. You must have at least as many print media sources as you have Internet sources.
Your conclusions must be clearly stated. They can be negative as well as positive. Don't worry if you find that your original thesis is insupportable. As long as your conclusion is based on your research negative results areas valuable as positive ones. Just re-write your introduction to reflect your results.
You must give a list of sources (entitled "References" or "Bibliography" or "Works Cited") at the end of your paper. In alphabetical order give the full name of each author, surname first, then first name, followed by the title of the work. Book and journal titles should be italicized (you can use underlining if you do not have italics available). Article titles should be in quotation marks. Place and date of publication must be included. For example:
Batson, C. Daniel and W. Larry Ventis. The Religious Experience. New York: Oxford University Press, 1982.
Ferré, Frederick. "The Definition of Religion." Journal of the American Academy of Religion 38/1 (1970): 3-16.
James Fieser, Ed., The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http://www.utm.edu/research/iep/, July 10th, 1996.
For Internet sources the required information is basically the same: the
author's name, the title (of the website), the URL (that is the
"http://filename/etc.htm"), which is the "place" of publication, and the date
you took it from the Internet. If the author is not identified state "Author
Unknown."
Do not rely on Internet sources to the exclusion of
the more reliable print media available from the library. You must have at least
as many print media sources as you have Internet sources.
Your bibliography does not count as part of your length (2,000 to 2,500 words as stated above).
PLEASE ASK ME IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT ANY OF THIS!
These are only suggestions to give an idea of the type of topics possible. I much prefer that students select topics of their own which particularly interest them and discuss their titles with me so that I can recommend reading material.
The essence of religious experience.
(Is there such a thing, if so what
is it, if not then how can we speak of "religion" at all?)
The definition of religion.
(Possible suggestions or consideration of the
possibility or utility of such a definition)
Common elements in religious experience or expression around the world.
(Remember that experience and expression are very different concepts.)
Mysticism and religious experience.
(What is Mysticism? Is it common to
all religions? What are its benefits, its disadvantages?)
Your own personal religious experience.
(Such a topic is perfectly
acceptable but you must be careful to fulfill the requirements of an
argumentative essay--make some claim or statement about your
experience and support that statement with reference to the class material.)
Religious experience in current affairs.
(This can include anything, from David
Koresh to Mother Theresa, from Black Holes to Noah's Ark, but once again it must
not be a simple report but an argument of some kind.)
The function of religion.
(This could focus on psychological functions
such as the reduction of anxiety, epistemological functions such as the
explanation of human existence, sociological functions such as the definition of
the social unit etc. etc.)
The academic study of religion.
(What is its history? What influence has
it had? What can it achieve? Can we study an experience we have not ourselves
had?)
Religion and gender.
(To what extent has religion contributed to the
establishment of a male-dominated society, to what extent does it challenge such
a society?)
These are the sort of questions which you should be able to answer after taking this course, and they are the sort of questions you will be asked in the quizzes and in the final examination. You could also adapt some of these questions for your papers if you really cannot find your own topic.
Understanding Religion | Studying Religion | Non-Literate Traditions | Hinduism | Buddhism | Chinese Traditions | Judaism | Mediterranean Religions | Christianity | Islam | Recent Theories | Myths, Models, and Metaphors |
Some Recommended Reading
W. Paden Religious Worlds
W. C. Smith The Meaning and End of Religion
M. Eliade The Quest, and Essential Sacred Writings from around the World
B. Rennie Reconstructing Eliade: Making Sense of Religion
brennie@westminster.edu