Clifford Geertz: An Interfacing of Anthropology and Religious Studies

Horizons ◽  
1978 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 203-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
John H. Morgan
Keyword(s):  
Subject Matter ◽  
Religious Studies ◽  
Anthropology Of Religion ◽  
Symbol Systems ◽  
Meaning Systems ◽  
Clifford Geertz ◽  
The Subject ◽  
To Come ◽  
Meaning System ◽  
Meaning Analysis

AbstractClifford Geertz is acclaimed today to be one of the most important theorists in the anthropology of religion. He has approached the subject-matter of religion from the perspective of a humanist seeking to come to an analytical understanding of the nature of culture as an historically transmitted pattern of meanings embodied in a complex of symbol-systems. This approach, i.e., defining anthropology as a science of meaning-analysis, nurtures the study of culture as a meaning-system. Religion, too, says Geertz, is a cultural system and necessarily conveys meaning. Therefore, both culture and religion are meaning-systems and, we can conclude, both anthropology and theology attempt to analyze systematically these meaning-systems. The interfacing of the disciplines of anthropology (systematics of culture) and theology (systematics of religion) is made possible by the utilization of the category of “meaning” as a hermeneutical key to the understanding of both religion and culture as meaning-systems.

What Should Comprise the Subject Matter of the Arithmetic in the Elementary Schools and in What Grades Should Formal Arithmetic be Taught?

1912 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 162-172
Author(s):  
H. J. Wightman
Keyword(s):  
Elementary Schools ◽  
High Schools ◽  
Subject Matter ◽  
The Road ◽  
Long Time ◽  
The Subject ◽  
To Come

The Lord, the school and society are responsible for the type of individuals that gets into the high schools, and after the Lord and society have done all that we can expect them to do for some time to come, there is left a much larger problem than simply to find the G.C.D. or the L.C.M. The child is an active thinking individual, if we do not suppress his activity and mechanize his thinking and convert him into a jumping-jack which responds only as the teacher pulls the strings and then apparently in a way that suggests need of lubrication. I have nothing but pity for the child who is allowed to think only through the ruts made by the juggernaut of mechanical teaching. Formal mental discipline, as interpreted by the Gradgrind martinet with its memoriter and rule-stuffing accompaniment, has been the fetish which has blocked the road for the development of childhood in mathematics for a long time.

What is Religion?

2014 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 246-286 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Bergunder
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Subject Matter ◽  
Judith Butler ◽  
Religious Studies ◽  
Global Perspective ◽  
Common Definition ◽  
Historical Reconstructions ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Definition Of

Religious studies cannot agree on a common definition of its subject matter. To break the impasse, important insights from recent discussions about post-foundational political theory might be of some help. However, they can only be of benefit in conversations about “religion” when the previous debate on the subject matter of religious studies is framed slightly differently. This is done in the first part of the article. It is, then, shown on closer inspection of past discussions on “religion” that a consensus-capable, contemporary, everyday understanding of “religion,” here called Religion 2, is assumed, though it remains unexplained and unreflected upon. The second part of the article shows how Religion 2 can be newly conceptualized through the lens of Ernesto Laclau’s political theory, combined with concepts from Judith Butler and Michel Foucault, and how Religion 2 can be established as the historical subject matter of religious studies. Though concrete historical reconstructions of Religion 2 always remain contested, I argue that this does not prevent it from being generally accepted as the subject matter of religious studies. The third part discusses the previous findings in the light of postcolonial concerns about potential Eurocentrism in the concept of “religion.” It is argued that Religion 2 has to be understood in a fully global perspective, and, as a consequence, more research on the global religious history of the 19th and 20th centuries is urgently needed.

The Student of Religion as Critic: A Marxist View

1982 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 309-326
Author(s):  
James Thrower
Keyword(s):  
Subject Matter ◽  
Religious Studies ◽  
Western World ◽  
University Departments ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject

That the study of religion can be pursued and, as a matter of fact, has been pursued, from a variety of standpoints - some overt and some covert - is today something of an uncomfortable commonplace to those involved in teaching Religionswissenschaft and Religionsgeschichte in Western university departments of Religious Studies. In thus exhibiting a diversity of approach the study of religion is, however, not alone among the humane disciplines: the study of history, of politics, of society, of art and of literature are equally beset by problems of Problematik and of methodology that take up much of the time and much of the energy of their practitioners. The student of each of these disciplines must confront, both at the outset of his studies and continually throughout their pursuit, questions relating to point, purpose and meaning, and in the study of any of the disciplines I have mentioned - of history, literature, art, politics, society and, today, we must add, of science also - there is in the contemporary Western world little, if any, agreement among those involved in the pursuit of learning in these areas either on the Problematik - that is, on the questions to be put to the material that forms the subject matter of the discipline concerned, or about the methods to be employed in describing, understanding, analysing and ultimately synthesising the material of these disciplines into a coherent and meaningful whole.

3. Myth and religion

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert A. Segal
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Subject Matter ◽  
Religious Studies ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
The Subject

‘Myth and religion’ explores how twentieth-century theories from religious studies have sought to reconcile myth with science by reconciling religion with science. One tactic has been to re-characterize the subject matter of religion and therefore of myth. Another has been to elevate seemingly secular phenomena to religious ones. As part of this elevation, myth is no longer confined to explicitly religious ancient tales. Plays, books, and films are like myths because they reveal the existence of another, often earlier world alongside the everyday one—a world of extraordinary figures and events akin to those found in traditional myths.

Contributions to the History of Psychology: XXXII. On Living with a Specter: The Story of Anomalistic Psychology

1982 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 683-694
Author(s):  
Leonard Zusne
Keyword(s):  
Human Behavior ◽  
Subject Matter ◽  
Psychical Research ◽  
Basic Principles ◽  
Academic Psychology ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Difference ◽  
To Come ◽  
The Relationship

The subject matter of anomalistic psychology is human behavior and experiences for which paranormal or occult causation is claimed and which appear to violate some of the basic principles on which nature is known to operate. The ambivalence and skepticism of American psychologists concerning paranormal and occult matters are examined historically, as is the relationship between academic psychology, psychical research and parapsychology, and anomalistic psychology. The difference between parapsychology and anomalistic psychology in terms of two contrasting orientations is stressed. The reasons for the persistence of beliefs in ESP and related phenomena are examined, and the need for psychology to come to grips with them is stated.

Recognizing Religion: Disciplinary Traditions, Epistemology, and History

Numen ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 61 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 145-165
Author(s):  
Michael Lambek
Keyword(s):  
Subject Matter ◽  
Religious Studies ◽  
Beliefs And Practices ◽  
The Subject

AbstractQuestions of methodology hang on epistemology. I consider the conceptualization of the subject of the study of religion, arguing that the disciplines that carry out the study and also the objects or subjects of their study can be understood as traditions. I briefly review the conceptualization of religion within the anthropological tradition, noting a tension between understanding religion as socially immanent or as a set of explicit beliefs and practices constitutive of the transcendent. Religion is probably conceptualized rather differently within religious studies, especially insofar as each tradition has formulated itself in relation to secularism in its own way and in relation to, or confrontation with, other distinct traditions, whether of science or theology. Drawing on a meteorological metaphor, I suggest that both disciplines and religions qua traditions can be understood to change along historical “fronts;” these form both the conditions of our knowledge and its appropriate subject matter.

scholarly journals Marking Sacred Time and Sacred Place in The Grave of Sunan Pandan Aran

2018 ◽  
pp. 67
Author(s):  
Abraham Usman
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Subject Matter ◽  
The Other ◽  
Sacred Place ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Religious Narrative ◽  
The Subject ◽  
To Come ◽  
The Right ◽  
Holy Place

This study analyzes Islamic relations and traditions in the Pilgrimage ritual debate. The subject matter of the study emphasizes the aspects of timing and place of pilgrimage as important in the zairah procession. Through qualitative research, with the setting of the Tomb of Sunan Pandan Aran, data was obtained from interviews, observation and documentation. This study succeeded in revealing the grave pilgrimage debate in the contestation of traditional and modernist Islam. On the other hand, the community believes that the right time and day are important elements in the success of the pilgrimage. Making a pilgrimage in the middle of the night, especially on Tuesday and Friday nights becomes a determinant in the pilgrimage ritual. They feel fear, admiration, love, joy. These religious feelings are important things that make them miss, so they always want to come back again and again. The tomb of Sunan Pandan Aran is believed to be a holy place, the place of prayer for pilgrims is granted, and is considered sacred and mystical as a religious narrative of the community.

scholarly journals Religious Gerontology: trends and prospects in the realities of an aging society

2016 ◽  
pp. 93-99
Author(s):  
Angelina Angelova
Keyword(s):  
Subject Matter ◽  
Religious Studies ◽  
Aging Society ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject

The publication of Angelova A. «Religious Gerontology: trends and prospects in the realities of an aging society» is devoted to the history of the emergence, development and also to the elucidation of the subject matter of the latest interdisciplinary section of religious studies. The main problems of religious gerontology are defined and classified, its perspective theoretical and applied directions are designated. The importance of actively popularizing the findings of western gerontologists on the issues of spirituality, religiosity and aging was underscored. The need for such studies on domestic soil is declared, as it can positively influence the difficult gerontological situation that has established in Ukraine.

scholarly journals Religious diversity

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Lionel Obadia ◽  
Ruth Illman
Keyword(s):  
Subject Matter ◽  
Religious Diversity ◽  
Religious Studies ◽  
Analytical Models ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Asian Religions ◽  
Conceptual Status ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Per Se ◽  
Mixed Systems

The subject matter of this special issue is anything but new: religious diversity has already been widely discussed in theology, philosophy, history and sociology.  (Too) many times, however, diversity has been measured against the yardstick of the changing face of monotheistic models of religion (mainly Christianity). Asian religions have stood at the opposite end of a spectrum of analytical models in religious studies ever since Max Weber’s classic analysis of Asian religions as mixed systems of beliefs per se. This distinction is, nevertheless, rather problematic, and calls for a closer examination of the conceptual status of diversity, and of the forms it assumes in Asian contexts.

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