Disciplines Used to Study Religion

In Chapter Two of the textbook, Studying Religion, Pages 24-28, it discusses various disciplines that constitute “How We Study Religion. ”

The reading in Chapter Two of the book talks about the field of Religious Studies. As you will see in this week’s lecture, Religious Studies is both an academic discipline, and a field that uses a multitude of disciplines (a multi-disciplinary field.) (See reading under files and module “Academic Disciplines” for a discussion of what is an academic discipline. As the reading says “A discipline (or specialism) is knowledge or wisdom associated with one academic field of study or profession. A discipline incorporates types of knowledge, expertise, skills, people, projects, communities, problems, challenges, studies, inquiry, approaches, and research areas that are strongly associated with academic areas of study (Links to an external site.) or areas of professional practice (Links to an external site.). For example, the branches of science are commonly referred to as the scientific disciplines.” Some disciplines you might be familiar with are “sociology”, “biology”, and “computer science.”) On pages 24-28 it lays out a map, or outline, of the main disciplines that study religion, such as history, anthropology or psychology. If you have had courses in any of these areas already, such as Sociology or Psychology, think about the nature of these courses/disciplines, and how you might have studied or discussed religion in these courses (even if they did not have “Religion” in the title.) Read the file “RS Disciplines and Courses” to see courses here at Community College that focus on each of these approaches to studying religion.

Based on the discussion of the disciplines/ways used to study religion and religions in the textbook (SR 24-28), select three of these disciplines discussed on these pages and discuss in turn how each of the three would approach and study the “Prince Philip” movement.” In your response discuss what is the focus or methodology of each discipline, how it examines and studies a religious movement such as the Prince Philip Movement, and how it compares to other approaches/disciplines that might study the same movement. If you have taken a course in any of these fields, you can bring knowledge and experience from these courses into your response. .