Comparative religion is the branch of the study of religions with the systematic comparison of the doctrines and practices, themes and impacts (including migration) of the world's religions.
Why to study comparative religions?
culture, the study of religion can become the study of humanity itself. The study of comparative religon helps you to learn how to think critically, listen empathetically, speak thoughtfully, and write clearly—all skills that will be of great use no matter what you do. This paper highlights the significance of study comparative religion
Is there value in studying comparative religions?
To study comparative religion, have many benefits, one of them is that you try to study and understand other religions from their own sources, and you try understand this religion as their followers do. As another, when you study comparative religion, you can find others` understandings about one concept.
What are the Big 5 religions?
The list of the top 5 religions starting from the oldest to the newest is as follows.
- Hinduism is more than 10,000 years old when we go back to the Ramayana period. ...
- Buddhism: 2500 years old. I give here excerpts as short extract from my book: Want to Know God: For Young and Old: (copyrights with author).
- Christianity: 2000 years old. ...
- Islam: 1400 years old. ...
- Sikhism: 500 years old and the newest religion. ...
What's it like to major in religious studies?
If you major in Religious Studies, you'll study the diverse myths, rituals, original texts, and moral systems of the world's many different religious traditions. Religious Studies, like other liberal arts majors, provides an extraordinary opportunity to think about the core beliefs of civilizations past and present.
What is comparative religion study?
Comparative religion is the branch of the study of religions concerned with the systematic comparison of the doctrines and practices, themes and impacts (including migration) of the world's religions.
What can you do with a comparative religion degree?
Career options for Comparative Religion graduates include**:social service.teaching.community development.museum or archival work.public relations.foreign service.counseling.
Why do we study comparative religion?
Comparative Religion stands as an important intersection for many fields of knowledge. Religion is connected with philosophy, but no less to sociology and anthropology, as it provides the basis of a social structure.
What is comparative religion essay?
Comparative religion is a form of study in theology that seeks to explore a deeper understanding of religions. The knowledge of other religions and beliefs will provide the foundation needed to interpret the behaviors and tendencies of others.
Is religious studies a good degree?
The study of religion leads in many directions, qualifying undergraduates for further study in graduate school or preparing them for entry to the job market. Religion departments train students in critical thinking and cross-cultural understanding. Such skills are in high demand in many professional fields.
Why get a masters in religious studies?
Earning a Master in Religious Studies is a great choice for people who want to help others and strive to make the world a better place. Students who graduate with a degree in religious studies can work to solve religious conflicts, provide counseling services and teach others patience, compassion and understanding.
What is the scope of comparative religion?
The geographic scope is world-wide, with an emphasis on North America, Europe, East Asia and South Asia, and the Near East. English is the principal language for current collecting activity, while resources in other languages, both ancient and modern, may occasionally be collected in response to specific need.
What 2 religions are similar?
Another similarity between Christianity and Islam is that both religions are Abrahamic religions - meaning that they descended from Judaism and the worship of the God of Abraham. Another similarity is that both religions trace their origins to the two sons of Abraham.
What is the study of different religions?
What is theology? Theology is the study of religion. It examines the human experience of faith, and how different people and cultures express it. Theologians examine the many different religions of the world and their impact on society.
What is the primary difference between comparative religion and comparative mythology?
Mythology refers to a collection of myths, especially one belonging to a particular religious or cultural tradition. Religion is a specific system of belief and/or worship, often involving a code of ethics and philosophy.
What jobs can you do with a theology degree?
Jobs where your degree would be useful include: Advice worker. Archivist. Charity fundraiser....Job optionsChaplain.Higher education lecturer.Primary school teacher.Secondary school teacher.
What are you called if you believe in all religions?
Omnism is the recognition and respect of all religions and their gods or lack thereof. Those who hold this belief are called omnists, sometimes written as omniest.
What is the most similar religion to Christianity?
Christianity was born from within the Jewish tradition, and Islam developed from both Christianity and Judaism. While there have been differences among these religions, there was a rich cultural interchange between Jews, Christians, and Muslims that took place in Islamic Spain and other places over centuries.
What is the study of all religions called?
What is theology? Theology is the study of religion. It examines the human experience of faith, and how different people and cultures express it. Theologians examine the many different religions of the world and their impact on society.
What is the purpose of comparative study of religion?
In order to make statements or generalizations about religion— the concept of religion, rather than a specific religion or group of religions—we need to engage in a comparative study of religion.
What is comparative religion?
Comparative religion is an interdisciplinary approach which utilizes the methods and insights of a number of social science disciplines, including anthropology, archaeology, sociology, history, psychology, geography, and philosophy. Comparative religion tends to use a scientific approach to the study of religion.
What is the term for religions that are considered outside the mainstream?
In the comparative study of religions, some writers may refer to religions which are considered outside of the mainstream as “cults.”. This term is often used from an ethnocentric perspective to indicate that the religion is somehow not valid, or less valid than other religions.
What is universalizing religion?
Universalizing religions are those which cross-cut cultures and actively seek converts. Nearly all of the religions considered world religions are universalizing. This would include Christianity, Islam, Baha’i, and Scientology. On the other hand, ethnic religions are closely associated with specific ethnic groups.
Why do we group religions into categories?
In doing any comparative study of religion, it is common to group religions into types or categories in order to more easily compare and discuss them.
How many religions are there in the world?
There are more than 6,000 religions in the world, most of which are very different from the literate Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) that many people think of when they hear the word religion. In order to make statements or generalizations about religion—the concept of religion, rather than a specific religion or group ...
What are some examples of ethnic religions?
People “join” ethnic religions by being born into them. Some examples of major named ethnic religions would include Judaism and Shinto.
What is comparative religion?
The term comparative religion broadly signifies the study of all traditions and forms of religious life, as distinguished from the study or exposition of just one. Ideally, and more specifically, it is the disciplined, historically informed consideration of commonalities and differences among religions. Indeed, such cross-cultural or global perspective is entailed in the notion of an academic study of religion.
Who translated the book Patterns in Comparative Religion?
Eliade, Mircea. Patterns in Comparative Religion. Translated by Rosemary Sheed. Cleveland, Ohio, 1958. A classic, encyclopedic account of recurrent types of religious symbolism.
What did Eliade believe about sacrality?
These include the transcendence of the sky, the fecundity and periodic renewal of the earth and its vegetation, the power of the sun, the waxing and waning cycle of the moon, the durability of stone, and the solubility and regenerative qualities of water — all described at length in his comprehensive Patterns in Comparative Religion (first published in French, 1949). In turn, however, these universal or archetypal values were to become a point of criticism, namely, that they were too ahistorical and "Platonic."
What is Eliade's work about comparative studies?
Eliade's work, and that of all who drew generalizations from cross-cultural materials, elicited a set of issues about the nature of the comparative enterprise. In a benchmark critical essay published in 1971 in History of Religions, Jonathan Z. Smith challenged the lack of methodological foundation and control for what usually passed as comparison. Indeed, in the last two decades of the twentieth century, where an age of specialization was replacing an age of generalization and a postmodern ideological climate challenged Western metalanguages, comparativism came under full suspicion — even though global, multicultural "understanding" was emerging on another, popular front. A number of critical issues surfaced and may be summarized under five points.
What is universalism in religion?
Even in the world of ancient Greece, there was a well-known doctrine of "the equivalence of the gods." Thus, the fifth-century bce historian Herodotus could report that the gods of Egypt were basically Egyptian names for Greek divinities. In the Far East, Buddhists commonly interpreted native Chinese and Japanese gods as "manifestations" of cosmic buddhas. Universalism remains a popular form of comparative religion for those interested in sameness and unity rather than difference.
What are the four religions that were divided in the nineteenth century?
For example, until the early nineteenth century, Western culture still divided all religion into four kinds: Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and paganism . In that schema, everything outside the biblical traditions was "idolatry" — the supposed worship of false gods, or idols — and Christianity was given a place of automatic superiority to Judaism and Islam. Likewise, other religious cultures have also conducted the study of religions through the standard of their own faith.
What is comparative frame?
Comparison is a fundamental mental activity: grouping some things together under a common class or pattern, but also noticing how the examples vary in relation to each other. Such connections and relationships are the basis of thought and science. Without them, there are only isolated, contextless facts. It is on the basis of comparison that generalizations, interpretations, and theories are formed. Hence, comparative frames can create new ways of perceiving and organizing the world.
What is comparative religion?
Studies in Comparative Religion is devoted to the exposition of the teachings, spiritual methods, symbolism, and other facets of the religious traditions of the world, together with the traditional arts and sciences which have sprung from those religions.
Where is the journal "The Old and New Studies in Comparative Religion" located?
2007 marked the start of the 26th year for the journal Studies in Comparative Religion, which is now located in Bloomington, Indiana and sponsored by World Wisdom. Studies in Comparative Religion was founded in Britain in 1963 by Francis Clive-Ross ...
Who wrote the most reliable, accessible, and profound introduction to the thought of the leading perennialist authors of the twentieth century?
The late perennialist writer and scholar Algis Uždavinys wrote about it: “This is the most reliable, accessible, and profound introduction to the thought of the leading perennialist authors of the twentieth century. This set of remarkable essays is indispensable for every contemporary student of traditional wisdom.”.
What is Religious Studies?
Some of the traditions are the oldest extant bodies of thought. The religions of the world are an ancient and living source for values. The courses in religious studies focus on the study of sources, history, nature, and the relevance of religion.
What is the importance of religious studies?
Key benefits of a Religious Studies major: Religious Studies investigates the most basic components of human society and culture. The key to understanding the fundamental motivations for the behavior of human groups lies in the knowledge of religious beliefs and practices.
What is a religious department?
A department that doesn’t adhere to a particular faith tradition or teach from a theologically determined point of view. Students are encouraged to study a wide variety of religious traditions and forms of expression.
What are cross-disciplinary studies?
Opportunities for cross-disciplinary study, either within the religious studies major or with a double major in religious studies and a field such as psychology, English, history, international studies, political science, or environmental studies.
Do professors have joint research opportunities?
Some professors in the department have joint research opportunities for students during the school year.
Some Religious Versions of "Comparative Religion"
The Rise of Academic Comparative Religion
- From the mid-nineteenth century, in contrast to explicitly normative approaches, an academic version of comparative religion emerged. This was made possible by expanding knowledge of non-Western religions and preliterate cultures, and also by evolutionary rather than scriptural views of human history. An influential advocate was F. Max Müller (1823...
Mircea Eliade
- Eliade's "history of religions" approach at the University of Chicago(he joined the faculty in 1956) produced a notable generation of scholars oriented to cross-cultural, thematic studies and provided an expansive, creative vision about the cultural importance of a global, comparative perspective. Eliade's "new humanism" represented the culmination of the classic tradition, but al…
Objections to Comparativism
- Eliade's work, and that of all who drew generalizations from cross-cultural materials, elicited a set of issues about the nature of the comparative enterprise. In a benchmark critical essay published in 1971 in History of Religions, Jonathan Z. Smith challenged the lack of methodological foundation and control for what usually passed as comparison. Indeed, in the last two decades …
Reconstructing Comparativism
- Important critiques of comparison meant that the method and rationale of cross-cultural descriptions have had to be defined and controlled more carefully and plausibly. Hence, the post-Eliadean period has seen several emergent articulations that attempted to address, if not remediate, some of the problems just listed.
Bibliography
- Carman, Jon B., and Steven P. Hopkins, eds. Tracing Common Themes: Comparative Courses in the Study of Religion. Atlanta, 1991. Shows various ways that comparative topics and perspectives can be addressed in college religion courses. Doniger, Wendy. The Implied Spider: Politics and Theology in Myth. New York, 1998. Example of how the "webs" of universal human d…