About Religious Studies
Understanding the many religious traditions of the world is as important today as understanding the great political and economic movements of the age. Whether it be the Islamic, Jewish and Christian traditions of the Middle East and the Americas, the Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh and Jain movements of Asia and Europe, or the evangelical, shamanic and ancestral cults of Africa, Siberia and the Caribbean, Religious Studies provides a mirror on the world in which we live now and a memory of our collective pasts.
Distinct from Divinity or Theology, Religious Studies at the University of Aberdeen is committed to no one religion and is, rather, the comparative study of the major and local religious traditions of the world. The kinds of issues raised are not of the truth of religion but of the origin, function, and meaning of religion. The approaches used are social scientific-anthropological, sociological, political and psychological-as well as literary, philosophical and historical. The aim of religious studies is to introduce students to both the variety of religions worldwide and the variety of ways of studying them.
What Kinds of Question Does Religious Studies Address?
- Is religion universal? Have there always been religions? If so, what are their essential features?
- Is religion inherently a public or private activity? How does it relate to social and political institutions? What, for example, does caste mean to an Indian Hindu, or the Dalai Lama to a Tibetan Buddhist?
- What are the components of religion? Must all religions have gods, rituals and myths?
- What has caused the apparent growth of fundamentalism in the modern world? Is it possible for humans to live without religion? Do religions spur conflict or peace?
