Admission requirements
None.
Description
There probably are few areas of study and research in academia that are so intriguingly elusive, yet at the same time also so deeply formative of lived human reality and quest for purpose and meaning as the tangled domain called ‘religion’. From minority world, secular perspectives—which dominate academia and frame the term to begin with—religion hides in plain sight, to the point that some will argue that it does not deserve to be studied as a discipline separate from culture, psychology, art, politics, economy etc. Yet, this perceived (lack of) importance alotted to phenomena labelled as ‘religious’ also demarcates a relevant divide with majority world and with non- and differently modern world views. Any perspective on International Studies that lacks sufficient religious literacy and appreciation for the foundational role of religion in modelling the world in the majority and, more or less hidden, in the minority populations will have to remain blindsided.
In this course we shall familiarise ourselves with critical terms of such elusive entanglements in Religious Studies that each in their own way are foundational to conceptualising International Studies research projects. Terms such as: person or self, world or cosmos, body, gender, experience, rationality, time, sex, death, belief, word, meditation, prayer, ritual, gift, sacrifice, pilgrimage, modernity, power, conflict. As much as possible, we shall approach each of these issues by means of concrete case studies, often involving etical dilemma’s, chosen from different ‘religious’ traditions, regions and time periods. While doing so, we shall also briefly ford the main theories of religion and ethical theories, again by concrete example. Theoretical frames and methodological aspects will be practiced, hands-on, in individual research papers, which you will progressively develop in this course, under close supervision.
This course is specially (but not exclusively) designed for those with an interest in Religious Studies topics in International Studies. Following the various research interests of students, it addresses the many faces of ‘religion’, from yoga and mindfulness to religious wars, deep ecology, conspiracy theories, reclusive asceticism, (inner) jihad, and the eternal search for meaning …
Course objectives
At the end of this seminar students demonstrate in writing, discussion & presentation:
Knowledge of at least six main theories of religion.
Knowledge of the main ethical theories.
Knowledge of the main critical terms relevant to Religious Studies discourses, particularly as applicable to International Studies contexts.
Analytical and historical insight into the entangled underlying culture dynamics of the emergence of academic discourses on so-called religion and the religious, and their impact in the majority world.
Analytical insight into the culture dynamics of dominant and subdominant cultural forces in emergent religious-cultural systems, often in colonial contexts.
Analytical understanding of the central role of the so-called modern constitution’ (Latour) for the understanding of the phenomenon religion, and the originating matrices of the modernist critical terms involved.
Analytical discernment of various typologies such as: modernist, traditionalist, and global, local and ‘glocal’ forms of so-called religions, and the ability to identify and contextualise these properly in their history of ideas.
Analytical insight into the intellectual history of framing religion in internalised, psychological terms and its (regional) backgrounds and the ensuing resonances between the minority and majority worlds.
Analytical insight into emic versus etic constructions of religious history and the logic and Realpolitik that underly the various historio¬graphical strategies.
Keen discernment of the problematic nature of projecting modernist categories, such as ‘(immediate) experience’, inwardness and implicit self-understandings (such as autonomous, self-responsible) on non- and differently modern contexts.
Analytical insight into how things religious appear “in the eye of the beholder”: i.e., appreciation of the reflection of one’s own history of religious ideas in the study and interpretation of foreign, so-called religious systems.
Ability to work with Religious Studies methodologies.
Ability to analyse current issues in International Studies in the critical terms that have been discussed in the seminar and in view of various theories of religion.
Ability to apply relevant ethical theories to International Studies issues.
Ability to develop theoretical Religious Studies models and analytical concepts in international and diachronic culture comparisons.
Ability to discern and develop first and third person approaches in academia.
Ability to discern one’s positionality and self-reflexively to incorporate that into an argumentative paper.
Ability to engage in elective reading in voluminous and varied primary and secondary sources; for instance, the ability judiciously to extract relevant data from chapters and articles that are written from a variety of perspectives and theoretical framings and skilfully to manage the distinction of primary doctrinal and narrative sources and secondary sources that engage in description, analysis and reflection.
Basic academic skills, such as asking (properly) academic questions, critically appraising information, and effectively presenting data and academic arguments, and demonstrating sufficient awareness of the target audience while doing so.
Timetable
The timetables are available through MyTimetable.
Mode of instruction
Discussion seminar.
Assessment method
Assessment
Active participation in dicussion; oral presentation; pitch + paper (5000 words +/- 10%).
Weighing
| Partial grade | Weighing |
|---|---|
| Active participation | 20% |
| Oral presentation | 20% |
| Pitch + paper | 60% |
End Grade
To successfully complete the course, please take note of the following:
- The end grade of the course is established by determining the weighted average of all components.
Resit
Draft and final version paper.
Retaking a passing grade
Please consult the Course and Examination Regulations 2024 – 2025.
Exam review and feedback
How and when an exam review will take place will be disclosed together with the publication of the exam results at the latest. If a student requests a review within 30 days after publication of the exam results, an exam review will have to be organised.
Reading list
General reading suggestions useful for this class (class readings to be announced):
Armstrong Karen. 2001. Holy War: The Crusades and Their Impact on Today's World 2Nd Anchor books ed. New York: Anchor Books.
Assmann Jan. 1997. Moses the Egyptian: The Memory of Egypt in Western Monotheism. Cambridge Mass: Harvard University Press.
Barker Eileen and Great Britain. 1989. New Religious Movements : A Practical Introduction ed. London: H.M.S.O.
Bruce Steve. 1996. Religion in the Modern World: From Cathedrals to Cults. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Clarke Peter Friedhelm Hardy Leslie Houlden and Stewart Sutherland. 2011. The World's Religions (version 1st edition). 1st ed. London: Routledge.
Crapps Robert W. 1986. An Introduction to Psychology of Religion. Macon Ga: Mercer University Press.
Dowley Tim and Christopher H Partridge. 2018. Introduction to World Religions Third ed. Minneapolis MN: Fortress Press.
Hanegraaff Wouter J. 1996. New Age Religion and Western Culture: Esotericism in the Mirror of Secular Thought. Leiden: E.J. Brill.
Hanegraaff Wouter J. 2013. Western Esotericism: A Guide for the Perplexed. London: Bloombury.
Harris Sam. 2004. The End of Faith: Religion Terror and Future of Reason. New York: Norton & Company.
Heelas Paul. 2012. Spirituality in the Modern World: Within Religious Tradition and Beyond. London: Routledge.
Henderson John B. 1998. The Construction of Orthodoxy and Heresy: Neo-Confucian Islamic Jewish and Early Christian Patterns. Albany N.Y: State University of New York Press.
Hinnells John R. 2010. The Routledge Companion to the Study of Religion. 2nd ed. London: Routledge.
Lopez Donald S. 2005. Critical Terms for the Study of Buddhism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Lynch Gordon. 2007. The New Spirituality: An Introduction to Progressive Belief in the Twenty-First Century. London: I.B. Tauris.
MacIntyre Alasdair C. 1966. A Short History of Ethics. New York: Macmillan Company.
Makransky John J and Roger R Jackson. 2003. Buddhist Theology: Critical Reflections by Contemporary Buddhist Scholars. London: Routledge/Curzon.
Malony H. Newton and Samuel Southard. 1992. Handbook of Religious Conversion. Birmingham Ala: Religious Education Press.
Nelson James M. 2009. Psychology Religion and Spirituality. New York NY: Springer.
Pals Daniel L. 2006. Eight Theories of Religion. 2nd ed. New York NY: Oxford University Press.
Roszak Theodore. 1995. The Making of a Counter Culture: Reflections on the Technocratic Society and Its Youthful Opposition 1St California pbk. ed. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Smith Jonathan Z. 1982. Imagining Religion: From Babylon to Jonestown. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Stausberg Michael and Steven Engler. 2011. The Routledge Handbook of Research Methods in the Study of Religion. London: Routledge.
Sternhell Zeev and David Maisel. 2010. The Anti-Enlightenment Tradition. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Taylor Charles. 2007. A Secular Age. Cambridge Mass: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
Taylor Charles. 2009. Sources of the Self: The Making of Modern Identity. 10. ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Taylor Mark C and Donald S Lopez. 1998. Critical Terms for Religious Studies. Chicago IL: University of Chicago Press.
Webb James. 1971. The Flight from Reason: Volume 1 of the Age of the Irrational. London: Macdonald.
Webb James. 1990. The Occult Underground. LaSalle Ill: Open Court.
Registration
- Enrolment through My Studymap is mandatory.
General information about course and exam enrolment is available on the website.
Registration Exchange
For the registration of exchange students contact Humanities International Office.
Contact
For substantive questions, contact the lecturer listed in the right information bar.
For questions about enrolment, admission, etc, contact the Education Administration Office: Student Affairs Office for BA International Studies
Remarks
This course is mandatory for those who intend to choose religious studies topics, such as in thematic seminars and for their thesis.
This course is complementary to the Thematic Seminar: Religions in the Modern World, which introduces students more systematically and comprehensively to today’s major religious traditions and movements.
At least 80% attendance is required.