ABSTRACT

The World Religions Paradigm has been the subject of critique and controversy in Religious Studies for many years. After World Religions provides a rationale for overhauling the World Religions curriculum, as well as a roadmap for doing so. The volume offers concise and practical introductions to cutting-edge Religious Studies method and theory, introducing a wide range of pedagogical situations and innovative solutions. An international team of scholars addresses the challenges presented in their different departmental, institutional, and geographical contexts. Instructors developing syllabi will find supplementary reading lists and specific suggestions to help guide their teaching. Students at all levels will find the book an invaluable entry point into an area of ongoing scholarly debate.

chapter |20 pages

Introduction

The World Religions Paradigm in contemporary Religious Studies

part |40 pages

Subversive pedagogies: data and methods

chapter |14 pages

The problem of ‘religions'

Teaching against the grain with ‘new age stuff'

chapter |11 pages

‘Not a task for amateurs'

Graduate instructors and Critical Theory in the World Religions classroom

chapter |13 pages

The Critical embrace

Teaching the World Religions Paradigm as data

part |60 pages

Alternative pedagogies: power and politics

chapter |12 pages

Religion as ideology

Recycled culture vs. world religions

chapter |17 pages

Doing things with ‘religion'

A discursive approach in rethinking the World Religions Paradigm

part |75 pages

Innovative pedagogies: methods and media

chapter |15 pages

Narrating the USA's religious pluralism

Escaping world religions through media

chapter |15 pages

Archaeology and the World Religions Paradigm

The European Neolithic, religion and cultural imperialism

chapter |15 pages

Complex learning and the World Religions Paradigm

Teaching religion in a shifting subject landscape

chapter |14 pages

Afterword

On utility and limits