Spring 2024 Thinking about Religion REL 301

Our study seeks nothing less than the title: Thinking about Religion, its place in human life and society, how it has been thought about in the Western intellectual tradition, but also in non-Western contexts. It is also an introduction to the academic way(s) of thinking about religion, i.e., its history and evolution, methodological approaches and critical terms, its sub-disciplines, and theories seeking to understand ‘religion’. But observing the evolving thinking about religion is an impetus for the participants of this seminar to develop and refine their own thinking about religion, hopefully becoming a thinker about religion, or a religious thinker. (In time, we will probe if these truly differ.) With texts and guest speakers, we will also explore religious phenomena (e.g., Spiritual-But-Not-Religious movement), major debates (e.g., theology vs. religious studies) and criticisms of religion and its academic study.