{"title":"Critical Theory in World Religions: An experiment in Course (re)Design","authors":"Jacob Barrett","doi":"10.1558/imre.43226","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"The World Religions Paradigm (WRP) remains popular in classrooms despite its embedded problems that scholars have recognized for decades. The primary ways of responding to those problems have been either to continue teaching the WRP out of convenience or to reject it, removing World Religions courses from a curriculum completely. Using Jonathan Z. Smith’s six rules on teaching an undergraduate religion course from his essay “Approaching the College Classroom” in On Teaching Religion (2012), the redesign of World Religions at Nebraska Wesleyan University (NWU) represents an important alternative. A model for those who recognize the problems with the WRP but who do not want to (or cannot) stop teaching the topic altogether, the NWU World Religions pilot course finds a way to do both, advocating for not only the continued offering of World Religions courses but the promotion of critical thought and self-reflection among students while doing so.","PeriodicalId":53963,"journal":{"name":"Implicit Religion","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.1000,"publicationDate":"2021-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Implicit Religion","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1558/imre.43226","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"RELIGION","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The World Religions Paradigm (WRP) remains popular in classrooms despite its embedded problems that scholars have recognized for decades. The primary ways of responding to those problems have been either to continue teaching the WRP out of convenience or to reject it, removing World Religions courses from a curriculum completely. Using Jonathan Z. Smith’s six rules on teaching an undergraduate religion course from his essay “Approaching the College Classroom” in On Teaching Religion (2012), the redesign of World Religions at Nebraska Wesleyan University (NWU) represents an important alternative. A model for those who recognize the problems with the WRP but who do not want to (or cannot) stop teaching the topic altogether, the NWU World Religions pilot course finds a way to do both, advocating for not only the continued offering of World Religions courses but the promotion of critical thought and self-reflection among students while doing so.
世界宗教范式(WRP)在课堂上仍然很受欢迎,尽管学者们几十年前就已经认识到它的内在问题。应对这些问题的主要方法要么是为了方便而继续教授《世界宗教纲领》,要么是拒绝它,将世界宗教课程从课程中完全删除。乔纳森·z·史密斯(Jonathan Z. Smith)在《论宗教教学》(2012)中的文章《走近大学课堂》(approach the College Classroom)中提出了教授本科宗教课程的六条规则,内布拉斯加州卫斯理大学(NWU)重新设计的《世界宗教》(World Religions)课程代表了一种重要的选择。对于那些认识到WRP的问题,但又不想(或不能)完全停止教授这个话题的人来说,NWU世界宗教试点课程找到了一种方法,既提倡继续提供世界宗教课程,又提倡学生在此过程中进行批判性思维和自我反思。