Groups often want to claim that their practices and beliefs constitute a religion. The label religion provides certain benefits, such as a protected legal status, respect in certain contexts, and often prestige. In fact, various groups like Sikhs and Jains want to see their religions included in the discussion of World Religions for the legitimacy that it affords. The image above circulating on social media lately identifies Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese Zen monk, as making the opposite assertion, that […]
Tag: Buddhism
Tales from the Secondary Classroom: Discovering Normative Vocabulary
By Kim Davis Kim earned her B.A. in Religious Studies and French from the University of Alabama in 2003. She went on to earn her Masters in French Linguistics and Literature in 2007 and a Masters in Secondary Language Pedagogy in 2010, both from UA. Kim now teaches French and Mythology at Tuscaloosa County High School. A while back, I wrote about how an early morning Culture on the Edge Facebook post and subsequent conversation with one of its members helped me […]
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New Hire in REL
We’re extremely pleased to announce that, as of August 2016, we will have another new colleague in REL. Suma Ikeuchi is currently a doctoral candidate at Emory University, where she will receive her Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology in May 2016. She also has an M.A. in Anthropology from Brandeis University and a B.A. in both History and Anthropology from Hokkaido University, Japan. […]
Classification Matters: Mindfulness in the Classroom
By Andie Alexander Andie Alexander earned her B.A. in Religious Studies and History in 2012. She is now completing her M.A. in Religious Studies at CU Boulder. Andie also works as the online Curator for the Culture on the Edge blog. A course I am TAing for this semester opens each class with a mindfulness exercise for calming and finding one’s center. It starts, “Plant your feet firmly on the floor, adjust your posture,” moving eventually to noticing breathing patterns […]
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In Support of a Speaker’s Practical Interests
Did you catch the story, the other day, about Republican Presidential candidate, Ben Carson, and a campaign speech he gave in Iowa City? He distinguished between calling Islam a religion and classing it as a “life organizing system.” […]
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An Interview with Dr. Jolyon Thomas Part 2
The conclusion to our interview with Dr. Jolyon Thomas, our third Day Lecturer, is now ready! Don’t miss this final installment, where he discusses his current projects and gives insight on where he feels the field of religious studies in pop. culture is going. A Few Moments with Jolyon Thomas Part 2 from UA Religious Studies. If you missed the first part of the interview, you can catch it here. Stay tuned for Dr. Thomas’ Day Lecture, coming soon! […]
An Interview with Dr. Jolyon Thomas Part 1
Last month the REL film crew met up for a quick chat with Dr. Jolyon Thomas, the third speaker in our annual Day Lecture. The video from this interview is now up and ready to go, so be sure to check it out and learn more about Dr. Thomas’s background, his career, and how his interest in Japanese pop culture began! A Few Moments with Jolyon Thomas from UA Religious Studies. Ready for Part 2? You can find it here. Stay tuned for […]
Want a Sneak Peek for the Day Lecture?
As many of you probably know, our annual Day Lecture is fast approaching. This year’s lecturer is Dr. Jolyon Thomas from the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Thomas put together a video to give you a sneak peek of his lecture. So give it a watch below! Hope to see you next Thursday at 7:00 in Smith 205 for the lecture. […]
Europeanizing the Buddha and Constructing a World Religion
Have you seen Prof. Altman’s new blog post? Here’s a sampling of what he has to say: “Europeans and Americans conceived of Buddhism as a world religion not because of ‘misconceptions’ that were corrected by ‘better understandings,’ but because it served their purposes within a growing discourse of ‘world religions’ in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The Buddha became European because Europeans imagined him in their own image to serve their own purposes.” Interest piqued? Read the full […]
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The World Religions Discourse in Practice
How does the discourse on world religions work? Well, consider news stories like this one. […]