UULA Adult RE: An Introduction to Religious Studies Part 1: Defining Religion

Adult RE Comparative Religion class given, Friday, Feb 22nd, at 6:30 at the UULA Church.

An Introduction to Religious Studies: Defining Religion

Comparative religion (what our classes have so far been about), is just one aspect of the far larger field of Religious Studies. Religious Studies is the attempt to apply the scientific method to the study of the human behavior of religion. Approaches to the problem have been borrowed from other fields, such as:

Sociology,
Anthropology,
Psychology,
Economics,
Biology,
Sociobiology,
Evolutionary Biology,
History,
Archaeology,
and Textual criticism.

But to apply these tools to the activity of "religion", we first need to determine what "religion" is. This is an important (and non-trivial) question. It is also a very controversial question, and if there is anything that those who practice religious studies agree on, it is that there is no generally agreed upon definition of what religion actually is.

If one defines religion as a neurotic, irrational, and superstitious set of beliefs (as Sigmund Freud did), then abnormal psychology seems like a good tool for assessing the causes (and cures) for religion. If one defines religion as "the opiate of the masses" (As Carl Marx did), then the tools of economics and economic oppression may seem like a useful tool for evaluating religion. But religion is also a social institution (sociology), which impacts cultural expectations and practices (anthropology), generates strenuous and sometimes sublime moods (psychology). And like other evolutionary processes, religions evolve through time, duplicating, mutating, and even merging together in a process similar to mating. In which case, evolutionary biology is a relevant tool for the study of religion.

In class we will discuss several definitions of religion that have been put forward, and evaluate how these definitions have impacted the way in which people have tried to study the human phenomena of religion.

Related lectures:

An Introduction to Religious Studies Part 2:1: Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung



I have given two lectures that served as an introduction to comparative religion:

UULA Forum: Similarities and Typologies: An Introduction to Comparative Religion (Part 1):
UULA Forum: Differences and Divisions: An Introduction to Comparative Religion (Part 2):

Recommended additional resources:

"Introduction to the Study of Religion" by Charles B. Jones, The Great Courses.

Course Web Page;

For more resources, links to other lectures, etc. visit the UULA Comparative Religion Course Web Page:

Religious Studies,Comparative Religion,UULA,Adult RE,Theology,Sociology,Anthropology,Psychology,Economics,Biology,History,Archaeology,David Hume,Karl Marx,William James,Émile Durkheim,Sigmund Freud,Clifford Geertz,Jonathan Haidt,Ninian Smart,Stephen Prothero,Reductionism,