Description, Prescription, and Value in the Study of Religion
Journal Title: Religions - Year 2018, Vol 9, Issue 1
Abstract
The study of religion is commonly divided into two sides. On the one side is the descriptive approach, including social scientific and historical scholars who seek to account for religion as it has been practiced. On the other side is the prescriptive approach, including religious ethicists, philosophers of religion, and theologians who seek to evaluate and prescribe religious practices and beliefs. But is this divide desirable or even tenable? Some scholars believe so, holding that the proper aim of religious studies ought to be delimited to the analysis and description of religious phenomena. Such a view, however, excludes those who pursue prescriptive inquiry. The contributors to this focus issue are trained primarily in either descriptive or prescriptive methodologies. Through their respective contributions, they highlight how they understand and may offer ways past the seemingly ossified division within religious studies, focusing especially on the nature and place of value in the study of religion.
Authors and Affiliations
Bharat Ranganathan
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP25878
- DOI https://doi.org/10.3390/rel9010010
- Views 339
- Downloads 8
Origen and the Platonic Tradition
This study situates Origen of Alexandria within the Platonic tradition, presenting Origen as a Christian philosopher who taught and studied philosophy, of which theology was part and parcel. More specifically, Origen c...
New Labour and the Re-making of British Islam: The Case of the Radical Middle Way and the “Reclamation” of the Classical Islamic Tradition
This article examines the emergence of new forms of Islam in Britain between the 1990s and the present, and in particular the role played by the New Labour government (1997–2010) in encouraging new expressions of Islam...
Sacred Psychotherapy in the “Age of Authenticity”: Healing and Cultural Revivalism in Contemporary Finland
Like other European countries, contemporary Finland has witnessed an explosion of healing modalities designatable as ―New Age‖ (though not without profound controversy, [1]). This paper focuses on Finnish courses in la...
From Fitnah to Thaura: The Metamorphosis of the Arab-Muslim Protest Movements
Since 2011, the Arab world has entered a period of political turbulence accompanied by widespread growth of protest activity. The events that were metaphorically called the “Arab Spring” referring to the “Spring of Nat...
Towards a Theory and Practice of Religious Literacy: A Case Study of Religion and Belief Engagement in a UK University
This article reports on research undertaken in 2011–2012 into the role of religion and belief in one British university. In this indicative qualitative case study, we observed six important features in relation to reli...