{"title":"“The Study of Religion” and “Religious Studies”: To What are We Entitled and to Whom are We Obliged?","authors":"Aldea Mulhern","doi":"10.1558/RSTH.38500","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/RSTH.38500","url":null,"abstract":"Here I offer thoughts on what the recent history of the academic study of religion might reveal about its current state, and why we need to continually renew attention to our collective, and ideally, contested, vision for the academy. I frame this reflection in relation to two scholars of religion, Donald Wiebe and Michel Desjardins, who in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries shaped the Canadian and American academic conversation about this field of study. I approach their work in this area not as discrete faits accompli, but as examples of iterative self-construction in the history of the field. Attention should continually be paid to what kind of religious studies we do, and what we study when we study religion; part of that account is of the we, specifically of our relationality, in our entitlements and obligations.1 I am increasingly persuaded that the key nexus of focus for our attention is not (or is no longer) primarily in the question of the humanistic versus the social-scientific study of religion. Thinking through what we do over against what we think we ought to be doing will involve a less oppositional, more relational accounting of and accounting for who we think we are and what we think we owe one another.","PeriodicalId":40579,"journal":{"name":"Religious Studies and Theology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-03-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48685049","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Remarks: Celebration for Michel Desjardins, June 21, 2017","authors":"Elysia Guzik","doi":"10.1558/RSTH.38418","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/RSTH.38418","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":40579,"journal":{"name":"Religious Studies and Theology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-03-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48486316","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"When David Met Michel","authors":"D. Griffiths","doi":"10.1558/RSTH.38299","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/RSTH.38299","url":null,"abstract":"I entered the Department of Religious Studies in Vancouver in the Fall of 1974. Michel was a year or two advanced and the first person to befriend me and \"show me the robes.\" He is a unique individual with generosity of Geist or empathy, and deep analytical skills, wide interests, lucid thinking. His books and many students are evidence of this. It has been a deep joy to be his friend through the years. He has always helped me with intellectual projects and been attentive to personal issues, and all this without a touch of pedantry or arrogance. In addition to his deep learning in Religious Studies and related topics, he has a gift for empathic listening, and a singular capacity to think on his feet and lecture with amazing lucidity.","PeriodicalId":40579,"journal":{"name":"Religious Studies and Theology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-02-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47108794","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Historical, Rhetorical Jesus","authors":"John Mitrosky","doi":"10.1558/rsth.38298","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/rsth.38298","url":null,"abstract":"This paper shares with readers a brief conversational moment in time approximately two years ago. Michel and I constantly imagine ever-changing theories, ideas and opinions regarding possible psychological aspects of an unknown \"Historical Jesus.\" There is such a vast array of theories about the actual man in the first-century sandals, as there are theories about the reality, meaning and origin of the phrase \"the Son of man,\" that both quests get lost and confused into an unknown abyss. What is historically true? What is imaginatively rhetorical? Who was Jesus? In spite of the historical unknowns, Einstein was right to say, \"Imagination is more important than knowledge.\" And so, those of us who find these topics interesting press on imaginatively. As Michel taught me, \"Imagination is the beginning of learning.\" Jesus was, at least in my humble opinion, a radical, young, wild man of his time and place, a healer and a teacher, whom we can't actually know personally. By contrast, Michel is a moral and ethical teacher of his time and place, of our time and place - the very best teacher I have had the pleasure to get to know personally. This is because Michel is such a patient and profound, insightful, and above all else, an honest man.","PeriodicalId":40579,"journal":{"name":"Religious Studies and Theology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-02-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43299794","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Michel Desjardins: An Angel of Academia","authors":"Erica Hurwitz Andrus","doi":"10.1558/RSTH.38284","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/RSTH.38284","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":40579,"journal":{"name":"Religious Studies and Theology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-02-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45857672","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Reflective Practice Writing Bicycle: A Reflective Analysis Tool for Engaged Learning","authors":"Edmund Pries","doi":"10.1558/RSTH.38261","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/RSTH.38261","url":null,"abstract":"Traditional university education has focused on academic learning, which is followed by a graduate's attempts to apply this learning to various career-related pursuits. Experiential learning turns this focus on its head - at least partially. Instead of learning preceding praxis, learning now follows praxis. In this latter model, much of the post-praxis learning is focused and achieved via reflective analysis of experience - also called reflective practice - through written reflection. Reflective Practice Writing (RPW), also called Reflective Practice Journaling, is much more than traditional journaling. For reflective practice to effectively facilitate the learning process for students, RPW requires students to deeply probe and explore their experience to realize maximum learning. A guide or a \"tool\" to assist this process is useful and, I argue, required but, in too many cases, is either inadequate or not provided at all. This paper provides and describes such a reflective practice writing tool, which has been imagined as a bicycle - with a \"front wheel\" and a \"back wheel\" of spokes or questions. A reflective practice writing tool cannot, however, simply be developed on its own; it must be tied to a teaching and learning philosophy which has student learning integration and, ultimately, student transformation as its goal. The Reflective Practice Writing Bicycle is based precisely on such a teaching/learning philosophy, which is integrated into The RPW Bicycle tool itself.","PeriodicalId":40579,"journal":{"name":"Religious Studies and Theology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-02-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44720751","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Changing the Lonely Halls of Academia","authors":"Mercedes Rowinsky-Geurts","doi":"10.1558/RSTH.38243","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/RSTH.38243","url":null,"abstract":"As academics, we gather experiences throughout our scholarly journeys. Some are disappointing and frustrating, while others are memorable and long-lasting. This reflection showcases some of the pivotal moments in my professional path. It demonstrates the power of a colleague who, by his actions, impacts the lives of others in a powerful manner. The imprints left on the lives of others who have received the blessing of sharing time with Michel Desjardins are everlasting.","PeriodicalId":40579,"journal":{"name":"Religious Studies and Theology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-02-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49667038","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"No Mud No Lotus","authors":"S. Love","doi":"10.1558/rsth.37899","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/rsth.37899","url":null,"abstract":"\"No Mud No Lotus\" is a three-dimensional mixed media art piece featuring a crocheted lotus on canvas. It is inspired both by Buddhist philosophy about approaching life's experiences and challenges as fuel for consciousness evolution and awakening, and also the well-known Ho'oponopono prayer about forgiveness and reconciliation with the perceivable external world, a prayer that helps us remember that we have the power to transmute any muddy situation into the lotus. On this occasion of celebrating the life work of a dear soul, I am again reminded that no matter how much time and energy we invest in our human bodies and identities, past memories and future pursuits, diverse relationships and career adventures, all these are perceivable with the physical human senses and therefore ultimately temporary and illusory ... they are essentially dream-stuff we have dreamed up as infinite and eternal divine beings. Without exception, each and every life experience comprises the dreamy mud we grow through and eventually transcend, remembering our true selves as the eternal lotus. Yet, seemingly paradoxically, both mud and lotus exist simultaneously in the eternal now moment, so there is nothing to resist and nowhere to attempt to arrive at. We are the infinite and eternal space from which both spring forth. This piece is a visual reminder to stay lucid within the dream and at the same time to celebrate and savour every moment of life even though we know we are dreaming. The Ho'oponopono prayer helps us to both embrace and to also release each dream moment ... I'm Sorry, Please Forgive Me, Thank You, I Love You ... slowly we are remembering who we really are.","PeriodicalId":40579,"journal":{"name":"Religious Studies and Theology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43622423","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}