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Time: 20 hours
Level: Introductory
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 Introduction Resource- This unit will give you an opportunity to think about some of the key concepts and methods of the discipline of religious studies. You will meet examples of different forms of religious practice and belief,...
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| | 1 What is religion: video
- 1.1 The videos: religion in Liverpool Resource
- The following clips take a look at religion in Liverpool. You will hear people with different beliefs speaking for themselves. This will provide you with the ‘raw data’ of religion as lived.
- 1.2 Preparing for the video clips Resource
- Read the extract ‘I live by faith: the religions described’ by clicking the link below.
- 1.3 The video clips Resource
- Now watch the clips below, making notes in your Learning Journal.
- 1.4 Video follow-up Resource
- Did the programme add to your factual knowledge? You might like to pursue the question of whether Sunday should be preserved on religious grounds or as a day of common rest for purely social and recreational...
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- 2 That special day Resource
- It's that special day in the week again. People begin to gather, set apart by their passionate convictions and the symbols that bind them together. Some stand by and scoff but the like-minded take strength...
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| | 3 Religion in the landscape
- 3.1 Everyday perceptions Resource
- So, how do we recognise ‘religion’ when we encounter it? You can answer this from your own experience.
- 3.2 Assumptions Resource
- We are beginning to see that many of the assumptions we hold about the characteristics of ‘religion’ are given to us by the society we live in or by our immediate community, which for some people may be...
- 3.3 Religions in Britain Resource
- I would like you to continue your reading of the extracts from John Bowker's account of religions in Britain as it is important that you build up your general knowledge of those beliefs and practices commonly...
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- 4.1 The cart before the horse? Resource
- At this point you may be wondering whether you blinked and missed something, or whether I have omitted a crucial step. So far, I have been pressing you to agree that the term ‘religion’ is crying out for...
- 4.2 Reasons for studying religion Resource
- Identify and jot down reasons that you think might prompt someone to make a study of religion.
- 4.3 The changing face of belief Resource
- The religious life of post-war Britain has become more varied, although Christianity in different forms remains the most influential religion. Yet, the influence of Christianity over British institutions...
- 4.4 Religion and social policy Resource
- Understanding religious beliefs and practices and what we mean by ‘religion’ is not merely of academic interest. It is often bound up with social policy and so relates to the rights and privileges of individuals....
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- 5.1 ‘Religion’ and ‘the religions’: two new notions Resource
- I want to begin our closer discussion of the question ‘what is religion?’ by looking briefly at the history of the use and meaning of the term. You may be surprised to find how recently the word ‘religion’...
- 5.2 The ‘answer’ in your dictionary Resource
- Please now look at the definition of ‘religion’ given in your dictionary.
- 5.3 Scholarly definitions of religion Resource
- Scholars offer us many different definitions of religion, but these definitions tend to be of two types. The first type is known as a substantive definition: that is, a definition that tells us what kind...
- 5.4 A dimensional model of religion Resource
- Given the problems of devising a succinct definition of religion, some contemporary scholars have produced broader profiles of religion without claiming to identify one distinguishing characteristic. One...
- 5.5 Common sense and analysis Resource
- Faced with the choice between narrow substantive definitions and broad functional definitions, we should require any definition to ‘fit with broad common-sense reflection’ and ‘encompass what ordinary...
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| | 6 Religion in context: Special days in Britain
- 6.1 Introduction Resource
- Whatever else they may be, religions grow in historical and social settings. The present form of a religion has its roots in the past. Religion can exercise a strong influence upon society and the cultural...
- 6.2 Days and time Resource
- The separating out of a special day or time in the week runs in parallel with the marking out of a space that is set aside for worship, ritual and communal activity (material dimension). The place where...
- 6.3 Setting things apart Resource
- The tendency within religious behaviour to set things apart from the everyday does not just apply to time and place but also to ideas of authority (leaders and texts), to beliefs more generally, to institutions...
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| | 7 How should we study religion?
- 7.1 Some basic principles of religious studies Resource
- Remember that in Section 4 I suggested that possible reasons for studying religion could be clustered together under two broad headings:
- 7.2 Religious Studies as a discipline Resource
- Until the late nineteenth century, theology had provided the main academic discipline in European universities for the study of religion. Theology (from the Greek, ‘discourse about God’) is concerned with...
- 7.3 ‘Insiders’ and ‘outsiders’ Resource
- The claim that it is possible to study religion adequately from a disinterested position has been hotly debated. Can the understanding of the observer achieve the same level of insight and authority as...
- 7.4 Religion: true or false? Resource
- I noted earlier that differences between the truth claims made by religions has led those who practise Religious Studies to avoid premature judgements when dealing with questions relating to the truth...
- 7.5 Religion: a ‘good’ thing or a ‘bad’ thing? Resource
- In considering the value of religions, we can begin by saying that one of the first tasks of the critical student should certainly be to test the basis of judgements offered by other commentators. We saw...
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| | 8 Religion in context: Hinduism in Calcutta
- 8.1 Hinduism as a ‘religion’ Resource
- India's population includes followers of many religions and many people who have rejected religion in any form. The modern Republic of India has a secular constitution (one which guarantees the religious...
- 8.2 The diversity of Hinduism Resource
- The complex tradition now known as Hinduism has emerged largely from the coming together of four main elements:
- 8.3 Worship in temples and street shrines Resource
- Apart from being intensely visible, participation in devotional practice at temples and festivals is extremely widespread within popular Hinduism. If we make allowance for regional and sectarian variations,...
- 8.4 Hinduism in eastern India: religion in Calcutta Resource
- The Hinduism of Bengal, as in other regions of India with their own languages and distinctive historical traditions, has absorbed and retained many local elements which make it peculiarly the Hinduism...
- 8.5 The Dakshineswar temple Resource
- I want you now to follow a worshipper on a ‘pilgrimage in miniature’ around Dakshineswar temple on the outskirts of Calcutta. Before you read further, please study carefully the plan of Dakshineswar temple...
- 8.6 The festival of Durga Puja in Calcutta Resource
- Although Hindus are not required to attend temples on set days in the week, the Hindu year is punctuated by days dictated by the lunar calendar during which puja (worship) should be offered to a particular...
- 8.7 Hinduism as ‘a world religion’: a more recent understanding Resource
- Traditionally, as we have seen, a Hindu was someone born to Hindu parents and into a caste with its appropriate dharma. The link between religious practice and a whole way of life bound the individual...
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| | 9 The term ‘religion’: A concluding comment
- 9 The term ‘religion’: A concluding comment Resource
- I hope that this more extended study of religion in context has been interesting in itself and that you have glimpsed something of the richness of Hinduism. We have made this brief study of Hinduism also...
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- 10 Next steps Resource
- If you would like to take formal study with The Open University in this curriculum area you may wish to see the courses we have on offer:
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| | References and Acknowledgements | |
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