Critical Theory in World Religions

An experiment in Course (re)Design

Authors

  • Jacob Barrett University of Alabama

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/imre.43226

Keywords:

world religions paradigm, world religions, course design, teaching, pedagogy, critical theory

Abstract

The World Religions Paradigm (WRP) remains popular in classrooms despite its embedded problems that scholars have recognized for decades. The primary ways of responding to those problems have been either to continue teaching the WRP out of convenience or to reject it, removing World Religions courses from a curriculum completely. Using Jonathan Z. Smith’s six rules on teaching an undergraduate religion course from his essay “Approaching the College Classroom” in On Teaching Religion (2012), the redesign of World Religions at Nebraska Wesleyan University (NWU) represents an important alternative. A model for those who recognize the problems with the WRP but who do not want to (or cannot) stop teaching the topic altogether, the NWU World Religions pilot course finds a way to do both, advocating for not only the continued offering of World Religions courses but the promotion of critical thought and self-reflection among students while doing so. 

References

Bloch, Esther and Marianne Keppens. 2012. "Introduction." In Rethinking Religion in India: The Colonial Construction of Hinduism, edited by Esther Bloch, Marianne Keppens, and Rajaram Hedge. Abingdon: Routledge.

Blum, Jason. 2018. The Question of Methodological Naturalism. Leiden: Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004372436

Cotter, Christopher R. and David G. Robertson. 2016. "The World Religions Paradigm in Contemporary Religious Studies." In After World Religions: Reconstructing Religious Studies, edited by Christopher R. Cotter and David G. Robertson, 1-20. Abingdon: Routledge.

Cox, James, and David G. Robertson. 2013. "The World Religions Paradigm." The Religious Studies Project, 25 February. www.religiousstudiesproject.com/podcast/podcast-james-cox-on-the-world-religions-paradigm/.

Lester, Rita. 2012. "Tradition Is an Argument Worth Having: From Feminist Christianity to the Study of World Religions." In Voices of Feminist Liberation: Writings in Celebration of Rosemary Radford Ruether, edited by Emily Silverman, 59-64. Abingdon: Acumen.

Lofton, Kathryn. 2017. Consuming Religion. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226482125.001.0001

Lorenzen, David. 2012. "Hindus and Others." In Rethinking Religion in India: The Colonial Construction of Hinduism, edited by Esther Bloch, Marianne Keppens, and Rajaram Hedge, 25-40. Abingdon: Routledge.

Masuzawa, Tomoko. 2007. The Invention of World Religions: or, How European Universalism Was Preserved in the Language of Pluralism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

McCutcheon, Russell T. 2019. Studying Religion: An Introduction. Abingdon: Routledge.

McCutcheon, Russell. 1997. Manufacturing Religion: the Discourse on Sui Generis Religion and the Politics of Nostalgia. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351112079

Ramey, Steven. 2016. "The Critical Embrace." In After World Religions: Reconstructing Religious Studies, edited by Christopher R. Cotter and David G. Robertson, 48-60. Abingdon: Routledge.

Smith, Jonathan Z. 1998. "Religion, Religions, Religious." In Critical Terms for Religious Studies, edited by Mark C. Taylor, 269-284. University of Chicago Press.

---. 2004. Relating Religion: Essays in the Study of Religion. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Smith, Jonathan Z. and Christopher I. Lehrich. 2013. On Teaching Religion: Essays by Jonathan Z. Smith. Oxford University Press.

Stoddard, Brad, and Craig Martin. 2017. Stereotyping Religion Critiquing Cliche?s. London: Bloomsbury.

Thomas, Jolyon Baraka. 2019. Faking Liberties: Religious Freedom in American-Occupied Japan. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226618968.001.0001

Walvoord, Barbara E. Fassler. 2008. Teaching and Learning in College Introductory Religion Courses. Oxford: Blackwell.

Windland, JW. N.d. "Encounter World Religions Centre." Encounter. www.worldreligions.ca/

Published

2021-07-20

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Barrett, J. (2021). Critical Theory in World Religions: An experiment in Course (re)Design. Implicit Religion, 23(3), 218–232. https://doi.org/10.1558/imre.43226