Along with professional writing, I am a religious studies major. Most people ask me if I’m working toward pastor-hood when I share this with them.
I then go into a speech I am quite used to giving: religious studies is not seminary. In fact, it’s far from it.
Seminary, where pastors go to learn, approaches religion from a theological standpoint. Religious studies is the academic study of religion.
Seminary teaches people more about God specifically, while religious studies asks why people worship God and hold a text up as truth in the first place.
My endeavors in religious studies thus far have led me to the question: can someone be religious and still practice religious studies?
You see, religious studies requires the practitioner to approach religion from an objective, non-judgmental standard (even after the rest of our college classes have drilled into our heads that everything is hopelessly subjective).
Approaching various other religions from an objective, open-minded stance might be difficult for someone who has already built their worldview around strong faith-based claims, such as a strong Christian like me.
I am constantly tempted to subject the religions and worldviews I study to my own worldview.
So lately, I have asked myself, what in the world am I doing in the religious studies department? Here’s my honest answer.
I plan on sharing my faith with others throughout life, considering that is what my faith demands, and I want to be educated and well versed in the worldviews and religions I might encounter through others as I am sharing my faith.
I am slightly apprehensive about sharing this reason among the religious studies crowd.
There is too much motive in it, considering RELS students are supposed to learn to approach other religious systems objectively.
Furthermore, our objective study is supposed to lead us to appreciate other religions and eventually validate them.
Again, this idea is an object of tension and a stumbling block for me.
I am a Christian. My faith is monotheistic. I believe in one God and one God only. And again, I must ask myself, what in the world am I doing in the religious studies department?
Don’t misunderstand me; religious studies has taught me a lot and been very rewarding in many ways so far.
However, it is also a battlefield for me, and I sometimes wonder why I have thrown myself onto this battlefield.
And if I remain in the RELS department, which I will, then there is only one way I can answer the question I have posed.
Yes, one can have religion and be a student of RELS at the same time.
Deciding that my answer to the question is yes is a hurtle I have already jumped. The real battle is: How do I explain my yes?
I hope the fact that I’m writing this column doesn’t cause you to think that I have an answer yet. I don’t. Religious scholars still struggle to answer this question every day.
Students and teachers in this community know that the two choices one has are to leave their personal beliefs at the door or bring them into the room at their own discretion.
I have tried both and encountered both undesirable and desirable results at each turn.
For now, as I go on learning, I whole-heartedly accept the fact that I have a motive and a rhyme and reason for everything, from brushing my teeth to approaching religious studies.
I gladly learn about religion for the purpose of better understanding and approaching people who believe differently, but I won’t validate every single worldview or religion I encounter alongside or above my own for the sake of academia.
Perhaps others in the RELS community will accept my motives. Perhaps they won’t.
Hopefully, they will realize that I am simply another student in the department, trying to find a proper answer to the question of religion and religious studies.
I am simply a student, searching out the proper avenue for my motives and convictions as I am thrust head-on into a world that thinks and believes differently than I do.
And along the road, if I finally find a brilliant answer to all I have struggled with here, I will surely let you know.
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oumotorcyclist 2 years, 8 months ago
"I plan on sharing my faith with others throughout life, considering that is what my faith demands, and I want to be educated and well versed in the worldviews and religions I might encounter through others as I am sharing my faith."
Sounds like Mr. Sims is doing Religious Studies for the same reason that elite members of the military study human anatomy.
JJanowiak 2 years, 8 months ago
That's something most people probably struggle with, including professors. But university religious studies is the enemy of a certain kind of religious belief that rejects any kind of rigorous secular analysis in favor of a divine explanation for everything. It seems more a problem in Islam, where due to the deeply-rooted tradition about the Qu'ran, it's taboo to question its divine origins or later compilation. And some Christian circles aren't so hot about the idea of multiple groups of authorship. But that doesn't have to be an assault on faith so much as an assault on the kind of anti-reason that doesn't belong in a college student anyway.
Rhology 2 years, 8 months ago
oumotorcyclist,
You sound fairly critical of Sims' views yourself. The high-and-mighty like yourself should be more careful of hypocrisy.
Rhology 2 years, 8 months ago
oumotorcyclist,
You appear to be critical of most everythg except your own misguided views, but it's OK - everyone has his blind spot. You criticised Sims for studying religion so that he can deconstruct worldviews other than his own. And what's wrong with that? You apparently think that's OK - you attempted to deconstruct his a little with your own comment. But you were just trying to be helpful. OK.
oumotorcyclist 2 years, 8 months ago
Rhology,
I AM fairly critical of Sims' views myself. I consider myself to be a secular scientist, and as such I am highly critical of just about everything. If you perceive this as being "high-and-mighty," so be it.
I'm not sure what exactly it was that you found hypocritical in my statement. I have made no claims of superiority in my motives over those of Mr. Sims. The thrust that I saw in the article was that Mr. Sims did not know his own motivations for his course of action. My analysis is based on the statements he has made about being a "strong Christian," and that:
"Furthermore, our objective study is supposed to lead us to appreciate other religions and eventually validate them. Again, this idea is an object of tension and a stumbling block for me. I am a Christian. My faith is monotheistic. I believe in one God and one God only."
"I gladly learn about religion for the purpose of better understanding and approaching people who believe differently, but I won’t validate every single worldview or religion I encounter alongside or above my own for the sake of academia."
I intentionally worded my original statement harshly in the hopes that Mr. Sims and others in his situation would read them and realize that it is possible that "knowing the enemy" is the real reason for their study. This may not be the case, but since Mr. Sims has not come up with an answer on his own, I thought I might provide a possibility that he should consider and be aware of as he continues in his academic career. I make no claims of superiority as my own studies of religion were driven mostly by this reason.
dio 2 years, 8 months ago
Religious nagging in the OU Daily... again. But this time in a superfluous style, and with Captain Obvious to the rescue ("My faith is monotheistic. I believe in one God and one God only."). Come on, Sims, tell us something exciting! Tell us how your god made a perfect score at Pacman before fighting a giant radioactive moth with a laser spoon or something like that.
JKC 2 years, 8 months ago
For the not-so-strong believer, it seems as though partaking in religious studies might actually make them less religious. Perhaps they would see that there are a lot of other creation myths, other systems of moral dictation, other gods, other afterlives, et cetera; this eye-opening could potentially help them get over their religiousness.
I know this sounds cynical, but I really do believe (as does Daniel Dennett) that the best way to cure religiousness is to teach all the other religions. If someone learns that every culture has different religious beliefs, perhaps they will be forced to seriously reconsider their own religious position. However, if someone labels themselves a "strong Christian" and places faith above reason, little can be said.
So in short, if you are religious and in Religious Studies, keep your mind open and remember that either all the other religions you are studying are wrong and the one you happened to be brought up believing is right, or they are all myths created during the infancy of our species (as a means for explanation, governing, consolation) and they should be disregarded as true in any way.
Good luck!
cowd3769 2 years, 8 months ago
oumotorcyclist said, "Sounds like Mr. Sims is doing Religious Studies for the same reason that elite members of the MILITARY study human anatomy." (emphasis mine)
and "I intentionally worded my original statement harshly in the hopes that Mr. Sims and others in his situation would read them and realize that it is possible that "KNOWING THE ENEMY" is the real reason for their study." (emphasis mine)
Are you seriously going to slander Mr. Sims by using language that implies that he has hostile intentions toward non-Christians? Maybe you should meet the guy. And maybe you should consider your own motives, as Rhology pointed out. At least use more responsible language if you didn't mean to imply such harsh things.