Signifying on the World Religions Paradigm

My Version of Religion 101

Authors

  • Richard Newton Elizabethtown College

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/bsor.v44i3.27908

Keywords:

Charles Long, signification, history of religion

Abstract

The growing role of critical theory and postcolonial inquiry within the religious studies classroom has challenged the utility of the World Religions Paradigm. This has created a pedagogical opportunity for recreating the Religion 101 course. This essay introduces a course that uses signifying theory and the African American experience to consider "religion."

References

Alexander, Andie. 2014. “The Edge Makes a Class Visit.” Culture on the Edge: Studies in Identity Formation, December 9. Accessed July 27, 2015. http://edge.ua.edu/monica-miller/the-edge-makes-a-class-visit/.

American Academy of Religion and the Teagle Foundation. 2008. “The Religion Major and Liberal Education—A White Paper.” https://www.aarweb.org/about/ teagleaar-white-paper. Orig. pub. Religious studies news 23, no. 42.

Duster, Troy. “Ancestry Testing and DNA: Uses, Limits—and Caveat Emptor.” In Race and the Genetic Revolution: Science, Myth and Culture, eds, S. Krimsky and K. Sloan. New York: Columbia University Press, 2010. Accessed May 30, 2015. http://www.councilforresponsiblegenetics.org/pageDocuments/O7HIKRKXYB.pdf.

Long, Charles H. 1971. “Perspectives for a Study of Afro-American Religion in the United States.” History of religions 11, no. 1: 54-66.

_____. 1995. Significations: Signs, Symbols, and Images in the Interpretation of Religion. Aurora, CO: The Davies Group. (Orig. pub. 1986).

Masuzawa, Tomoko. 2005. The Invention of World Religions: or, How European Universalism was Preserved in the Language of Pluralism. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

Müller, Friedrich Max. 1899. “Second Lecture: Delivered at the Royal Institution, February 26, 1870.” In Introduction to the science of religion: four lectures delivered at the Royal Institution in February and May 1870, 52-82. London: Longmans, Green, and Co. Accessed July 21, 2015. https://archive.org/details/b21782635.

Myhre, Paul O. ed. 2009. Introduction to the study of religion Anselm Academic.

Newton, Richard. 2014. “Signifying ‘Religion’ at Elizabethtown College,” Sacred Matters: Religion Currents in Culture. Image posted September 17, 2014. Accessed July 18, 2015. https://twitter.com/SacredMatters/status/512313194925527040.

_____. 2015. “Syllabus Project: ‘Signifying Religion: an African American Worldview.” Practicum: Critical Theory, Religion, and Pedagogy. January 29. Accessed July 21, 2015. http://practicumreligionblog.blogspot.ca/2015/01/syllabus-project-signifying-religion.html.

Tite, Philip L. 2014. “Teaching Beyond the World Religions Paradigm.” Religion Bulletin: The Blogging Portal of the Bulletin for the Study of Religion. August 11. Accessed July 21, 2015. http://www.equinoxpub.com/blog/2014/08/ teaching-beyond-the-world-religions-paradigm/.

Published

2015-09-07

Issue

Section

Teaching Tips

How to Cite

Newton, R. (2015). Signifying on the World Religions Paradigm: My Version of Religion 101. Bulletin for the Study of Religion, 44(3), 35-37. https://doi.org/10.1558/bsor.v44i3.27908