[Sliver]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by "truth" here...

By truth, I mean something in accordance with reality or fact.

Originally Posted by Textcritic

Did you know upon entry into the Department of Religion that it is a branch within the Faculty of HUMANITIES? I've been doing this for some time now, and in my experience I have yet to encounter any single department in the humanities that considers "truth" to be the central component of their discipline; at least not in the way that you seem to mean it here.

"Truth" in literature? "Truth" in art? "Truth" in culture? How does one calculate such things?

By what measure and in what context "true" and "false"? What aspects of George Bernard Shaw's plays are "true" and "false"?

Religious Studies is somewhat unique within Humanities. Look at the English department, for example. I don't know anybody who lives their life in accordance with novels such as 1984, or The Great Gatsby, or Song of Solomon, or Watership Down, etc. Those should be studied as art because that is what they are.

With religion, you have books and texts and teachings that people live by and take as truth. I believe we should study - at the academic level - what is true in these teaching and what is not. Then with that knowledge, Religious Studies scholars should be going to places like Africa to combat the misinformation organizations like the Catholic Church are spreading. I didn't see that happening in any course I took in Religious Studies. Maybe that happens later on down the line and the department was keeping those studies away from lowly undergrads. If so, they did a good job hiding it.

Originally Posted by Textcritic

What a weird question to ask in this context...

What a belittling statement. It's weird to want to know what is true and what isn't in courses that study religion? I think it's the most fundamental question in religion. The truth is what religions are after (or pretend to be) - I want to know in what ways they are right and in what ways they are wrong.

Originally Posted by Textcritic

Yes, this approach to "truth" (although I don't really like your use of the word here) works fairly well in the pursuit of the natural sciences, but I seriously doubt that you encountered much "truth" in your studies in sociology and psychology. More likely A LOT of method, theory, pattern detection, statistics and other fun stuff that speaks meaningfully to the phenomena of social emergence and human behaviour, but not much in the way of "truth".

There was a practical side to those social sciences that I didn't see in religious studies. Religion exists out there in the world and is obviously impactful on global and personal levels. Why isn't religious studies trying to assert itself out there more? Why don't I see religious studies professors forcing themselves into the discussion when world events involving religion are happening with a view to solving some of the problems religion creates? Why aren't they debunking religious texts that people use as support for their causes that hurt other people?

Originally Posted by Textcritic

So, maybe you can help me then:

My discipline within religious studies is biblical literature, and more specifically the emergence, development and transmission of scripture and its interpretation in Judaism between 500 BCE–100 CE. I study original manuscripts in their original languages, and against a panoply of other disciplines including history, philosophy, sociology, anthropology, archaeology, and geography among others. I am most concerned to locate intentions of authors and meanings supplied by readers, and how these inform us about their own respective world views and circumstances.

...so what precisely am I doing wrong, and what should I be doing to conform more closely to the "scientific method"?

There's a place for your studies (yes I'm back peddling on being directly personal because I don't think that's the best road to go down), but I think everything should fall under the umbrella of boiling what we know down to fact and fiction, including your studies.

Have you had a moment where you've uncovered something from the distant past that made you say "holy crap, if that premise was built of these faulty premises, that means all this other stuff that is preached to millions of people as truth can't be true at all...I've got to get the word out!!". I would think that should be happening all the time in the field, but it isn't.

Originally Posted by Textcritic

Well, that's a bit of a mouthful right there. "Proving and disproving religious claims"? Maybe you were not paying attention during your courses on the historical Jesus or the history of Israel, but there is MUCH discussion (or, there is in my courses) about "what actually happened". In my opinion, the general goal of religious studies ought to be informing students about the insatiably influential universal cultural phenomena of religion. It's an integral part of human behaviour, which is precisely why it deserves so much attention.

It deserves attention so that we can shape where it goes. Observing it is one thing, applying the knowledge we gain from studying religion to steer it in a better direction is a loftier goal and one that should be pursued.

Reminds me of a line in a Bad Religion song called 'I want to conquer the world": "Hey man of science with your perfect rules of measure, can you improve this place with the data that you gather?" I don't see where Religious Studies are applying their knowledge to improving the world or furthering the human cause. Half the work is complete (the study), but I didn't see where the second half of the equation was taking place.



Here are the lyrics to the full song (if you're interested because it is a cool song):

Originally Posted by Bad Religion

"I Want To Conquer The World"

Hey Brother Christian with your high and might errand,
Your actions speak so loud, I can't hear a word you're saying.
Hey Sister Bleeding Heart with all of your compassion,
Your labors soothe the hurt but can't assuage temptation.
Hey man of science with your perfect rules of measure,
Can you improve this place with the data that you gather?
Hey Mother Mercy can your loins bear fruit forever?
Is your fecundity a trammel or a treasure?

And I want to conquer the world,
Give all the idiots a brand new religion,
Put an end to poverty, uncleanliness and toil,
Promote equality in all my decisions
With a quick wink of the eye
And a "God you must be joking!"

Hey Mr. Diplomat with your worldly aspirations,
Did you see the children cry when you left them at the station?
Hey moral soldier you've got righteous proclamation,
And precious tomes to fuel your pulpy conflagrations.
And I want to conquer the world,
Give all the idiots a brand new religion,
Put an end to poverty, uncleanliness and toil,
Promote equality in all of my decisions

I want to conquer the world,
Expose the culprits and feed them to the children,
I'll do away with air pollution and then all save the whales,
We'll have peace on earth and global communion.
I want to conquer the world!