Douglas Jacobsen and Rhonda Hustedt Jacobsen
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199844739
- eISBN:
- 9780199950331
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199844739.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
What should an educated person know about the world’s religions? Religious illiteracy is a major concern given the world’s increasing religious pluralism, and many colleges and universities are ...
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What should an educated person know about the world’s religions? Religious illiteracy is a major concern given the world’s increasing religious pluralism, and many colleges and universities are seeking to address that knowledge deficit. This chapter provides a new structure for this educational task by identifying three varieties of religious literacy. Factual literacy is obtained by learning basic, textbook-style information about the world’s religions. Familiarity entails actual physical engagement with adherents from different religious communities. A third variety of religious literacy stresses assessment, reflecting on the positive and negative ways that religion can influence individuals and societies.Less
What should an educated person know about the world’s religions? Religious illiteracy is a major concern given the world’s increasing religious pluralism, and many colleges and universities are seeking to address that knowledge deficit. This chapter provides a new structure for this educational task by identifying three varieties of religious literacy. Factual literacy is obtained by learning basic, textbook-style information about the world’s religions. Familiarity entails actual physical engagement with adherents from different religious communities. A third variety of religious literacy stresses assessment, reflecting on the positive and negative ways that religion can influence individuals and societies.
Jonathan Z. Smith and Christopher I. Lehrich
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- March 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199944293
- eISBN:
- 9780190258375
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199944293.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
This chapter presents Jonathan Z. Smith's speech on connections, specifically those involving the American Academy of Religion (AAR). He identifies and discusses three areas of common concern and ...
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This chapter presents Jonathan Z. Smith's speech on connections, specifically those involving the American Academy of Religion (AAR). He identifies and discusses three areas of common concern and discourse which give learned societies a functional unity: theory, education, and public discourse. Each of these three areas also connects the insular work of a particular association with a different, wider audience.Less
This chapter presents Jonathan Z. Smith's speech on connections, specifically those involving the American Academy of Religion (AAR). He identifies and discusses three areas of common concern and discourse which give learned societies a functional unity: theory, education, and public discourse. Each of these three areas also connects the insular work of a particular association with a different, wider audience.
Christopher I. Lehrich (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- March 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199944293
- eISBN:
- 9780190258375
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199944293.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
For more than thirty years, Jonathan Z. Smith has been among the most important voices of critical reflection within the academic study of religion. Smith has also produced a significant corpus of ...
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For more than thirty years, Jonathan Z. Smith has been among the most important voices of critical reflection within the academic study of religion. Smith has also produced a significant corpus of essays and lectures on teaching and on the essential role of academic scholarship on religion in matters of education and public policy. Education is not a side issue for Smith, and his work continually sheds light on fundamental questions. What differentiates college from high school? What are the proper functions of an introductory course? What functions should a department serve in undergraduate and graduate education? How should a major or concentration be conceived—if at all? What roles should the academic guilds play in public discourse on education and on religion? Most importantly, what does it mean to say that one is both a scholar and a teacher, and what responsibilities does this entail? Smith's writings on these crucial issues for education have been largely inaccessible until now. Some pieces in this book appeared in education journals, while others were collected in specialist volumes of conference proceedings. Many were originally delivered as keynote speeches to the American Academy of Religion and other major scholarly organizations, and although scholars reminisce about hearing Smith deliver them, the works themselves are not readily available.Less
For more than thirty years, Jonathan Z. Smith has been among the most important voices of critical reflection within the academic study of religion. Smith has also produced a significant corpus of essays and lectures on teaching and on the essential role of academic scholarship on religion in matters of education and public policy. Education is not a side issue for Smith, and his work continually sheds light on fundamental questions. What differentiates college from high school? What are the proper functions of an introductory course? What functions should a department serve in undergraduate and graduate education? How should a major or concentration be conceived—if at all? What roles should the academic guilds play in public discourse on education and on religion? Most importantly, what does it mean to say that one is both a scholar and a teacher, and what responsibilities does this entail? Smith's writings on these crucial issues for education have been largely inaccessible until now. Some pieces in this book appeared in education journals, while others were collected in specialist volumes of conference proceedings. Many were originally delivered as keynote speeches to the American Academy of Religion and other major scholarly organizations, and although scholars reminisce about hearing Smith deliver them, the works themselves are not readily available.
Steven Weitzman
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780520287273
- eISBN:
- 9780520962422
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520287273.003.0016
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
The FBI standoff with the Branch Davidians proved an important turning point, a great tragedy in FBI history that called into question key premises and tactics that it had relied on in dealing with ...
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The FBI standoff with the Branch Davidians proved an important turning point, a great tragedy in FBI history that called into question key premises and tactics that it had relied on in dealing with religious groups in the past. Beginning with the aftermath of the Branch Davidian standoff, this chapter will focus on efforts to develop a consultative relationship between the FBI and scholars of religion in order to avoid similar tragedies in the future. Do scholars have anything to teach the FBI about religion? Have their insights made any positive difference? This chapter will address such questions by tracing the FBI’s engagement with academia between 1993-2001 and broaching the situation since 9/11.Less
The FBI standoff with the Branch Davidians proved an important turning point, a great tragedy in FBI history that called into question key premises and tactics that it had relied on in dealing with religious groups in the past. Beginning with the aftermath of the Branch Davidian standoff, this chapter will focus on efforts to develop a consultative relationship between the FBI and scholars of religion in order to avoid similar tragedies in the future. Do scholars have anything to teach the FBI about religion? Have their insights made any positive difference? This chapter will address such questions by tracing the FBI’s engagement with academia between 1993-2001 and broaching the situation since 9/11.
Jonathan Z. Smith and Christopher I. Lehrich
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- March 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199944293
- eISBN:
- 9780190258375
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199944293.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
This chapter presents Jonathan Z. Smith's account of his appreciation for the work of Wilfred Cantwell Smith. He reflects on W. C. Smith's article “The Study of Religion and the Study of the Bible” ...
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This chapter presents Jonathan Z. Smith's account of his appreciation for the work of Wilfred Cantwell Smith. He reflects on W. C. Smith's article “The Study of Religion and the Study of the Bible” published in Journal of the American Academy of Religion (JAAR) in 1971. He suggests that W. C. Smith's constant use of the singular “The Bible” and “The Church” commits the same sort of reification, the same sort of misplaced concreteness, he has elsewhere warned against. Jonathan Z. Smith also says that the JAAR article opened for him a larger world of texts that he probably never would have otherwise read, texts which raise issues he never would have thought about.Less
This chapter presents Jonathan Z. Smith's account of his appreciation for the work of Wilfred Cantwell Smith. He reflects on W. C. Smith's article “The Study of Religion and the Study of the Bible” published in Journal of the American Academy of Religion (JAAR) in 1971. He suggests that W. C. Smith's constant use of the singular “The Bible” and “The Church” commits the same sort of reification, the same sort of misplaced concreteness, he has elsewhere warned against. Jonathan Z. Smith also says that the JAAR article opened for him a larger world of texts that he probably never would have otherwise read, texts which raise issues he never would have thought about.
