WHAT IS THE ACADEMIC STUDY OF RELIGION?

RUSSELL T. MCCUTCHEON
DEPARTMENT OF RELIGIOUS STUDIES
UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA

Anthropology or Theology? understood as strange, sometimes as familiar), early

The academic study of religion is fundamentally an scholars of religion were interested in collecting and
anthropological enterprise. That is, it is primarily comparing beliefs, myths, and rituals found the world
concerned with studying people (anthropos is an ancient over. After all, early explorers, soldiers, and
Greek term meaning “human being”; logos means missionaries were all returning to Europe with their
“word” or a “rational, systematic discourse”), their diaries and journals filled with tales that, despite their
beliefs, behaviors, and institutions, rather than obvious exoticness, chronicled things that bore a
assessing “the truth” or “truths” of their various beliefs striking resemblance to Christian beliefs and behaviors.
or behaviors. An anthropological approach to the study As such, early scholars tried to perfect the use of the
of religion (which is not to say that the study of religion non-evaluative comparative method in the cross-cultural
is simply a sub-field of anthropology) is distinguished study of people’s religious beliefs, “our’s” and “their’s”.
from a confessional, religious, or theological approach To compare in a non-evaluative manner means that one
(theos is an ancient Greek term for “deity” or “god”) searches for observable, documentable similarities and
which is generally concerned with determining the differences without making normative judgments
nature, will, or wishes of a god or the gods. concerning which similarities or differences were good
Traditionally, the term “theology” refers to specifically or bad, right or wrong, original or derivative, primitive
Christian discourses on God (i.e., theology = systematic or modern.
Christian thought on the meaning and significance of To compare in a non-evaluative manner
the Christian witness), though the term now generally means that one searches for observable similarities and
applies either to any religion’s own articulate self-study differences and then theorizes as to why just these
or to its study of another religion (e.g., evangelism or similarities and why just those differences. For example,
religious pluralism are equally theological pursuits). most all Christians generally believe that the historical
person named Jesus of Nazareth was “the Son of God”
Descriptive or Normative? (similarity) yet only some of these same Christians
Although the academic study of religion—sometimes believe that the Pope is God’s primary representative
called Comparative Religion, Religious Studies, the on earth (difference). As an anthropological scholar of
History of Religions, or even the Science of Religion—is religion, can you theorize as to why this difference
concerned with judging such things as historical exists? A theological approach might account for this
accuracy (e.g., Did a person named Siddhartha Gautama difference by suggesting that one side in this debate is
actually exist, and if so, when and where?) and simply wrong, ill-informed, or sinful (depending which
descriptive accuracy (e.g., What do Muslims say they theologian you happen to ask); an anthropologically-
mean when they say that Muhammad was the “seal of based approach would bracket out and set aside all
the prophets”?), it is not concerned to make normative such normative judgments and theorize that the
judgements concerning the way people ought to live or difference in beliefs might have something to do with
behave. To phrase it another way, we could say that, the psychology of people involved, their method of
whereas the anthropologically-based study of religion social organization, their mode of economic activity,
is concerned with the descriptive “is” of human etc.
behavior, the theological study of religion is generally In other words, the anthropological approach
concerned with the prescriptive “ought” of the gods. As to the study of religion as practiced in the public
should be clear, these two enterprises therefore have university is a member of the human sciences and, as
very different data: the academic study of religion such, it starts with the presumption that religious
studies people, their beliefs, and their social systems; beliefs, behaviors, and institutions are observable,
the theological study of religion studies God/the gods historical events that can therefore be studied in the
and their impact on people. same manner as all human behavior. If they are more
than that, then scholars of religion leave it to
Comparison and Theory theologians who to pursue this avenue of study.
Like virtually all scholarly disciplines in the modern
university, the academic study of religion is a product Religion and the US Supreme Court
of nineteenth-century Europe. Although influenced a Although the study of religion came to North American
great deal by European expansionism and colonialism universities prior to World War I and, for a brief time,
(the study of religion is largely the product of flourished at such schools as the University of Chicago,
Europeans encountering—through trade, exploration, Penn, and Harvard, it was not until the late-1950s and
and conquest—new beliefs and behaviors, sometimes early-1960s that Departments of Religious Studies were
established in most public universities. In the U.S., the The History of “Religion”
establishment and success of these departments can be Perhaps you never thought about it before, but the very
related to the Supreme Court’s understanding of the term “religion” has a history and it is not obvious just
Constitution. how we ought to define the term. Obviously, “religion”
The opening lines to the First Amendment to is an English term; therefore, we can ask, “Do non-
the Constitution read: “Congress shall make no law English speakers have religions? Would an ancient
respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting Egyptian name something as ‘a religion’?”
the free exercise thereof....” Legal scholars distinguish We know that our term “religion” has
between the First Amendment’s “establishment clause” equivalents in such modern languages as French and
and its “free exercise clause.” In other words, the German. For example, when practiced in Germany the
Amendment states that the elected government has no study of religion is known as Religionswissenschaft (the
right to enforce, support, or encourage (i.e., “establish”) systematic study, or wissenschaft, of religion); when
a particular religion, nor does it have the right to curtail practiced in France it is known as Sciences Religieuses.
its citizens’ religious choices and practices (i.e., the “free Even just a brief comparison of these and other related
exercise” of their religion). It may well be significant languages helps us to see that all modern languages
that, in the opening lines of the First Amendment, it is that can be traced back to Latin possess something
made explicit that all citizens of the U.S. have the equivalent to the English term “religion.” This means
absolute right to believe in any or no religion that, for language families unaffected by Latin, there is no
whatsoever. equivalent term to “religion”—unless, of course,
In 1963 a landmark case known as the School European cultures have somehow exerted influence on
District of Abington Township, PA vs. the Schempp non-Latin-based cultures/languages, an influence
family came before the Court. In this case a non- evident in trade or conquest. Although “religion” is
believing family successfully sued a public school hardly a traditional concept in India, the long history of
board for its school’s daily opening exercises in which a British colonialism has ensured that English speaking
Christian prayer was recited over the school’s public Indians have no difficulty conceiving of what we call
address system. The Court decided that, as a publicly Hinduism as their “religion”—although, technically
funded institution charged to represent and not exclude speaking, to a Hindu, Hinduism is not a religion but is,
the members of a diverse, tax paying citizenry, the rather, sanatana dharma (the eternal, cosmic
school board was infringing on the rights of its duty/obligation/order). Even the New Testament is
students, not just by supporting a specifically Christian not much help in settling these issues since its language
worldview but, more importantly perhaps, a religious of composition—Greek—lacked the Latin concept
worldview. religio. English New Testaments will routinely use
Both the Constitution’s “establishment” and “religion” to translate such Greek terms as eusebia (1
“free exercise” clauses were therefore the topic of Timothy 3:16; 2 Timothy 3:5), terms that are closer to
concern to the Court. Justice Clark, the Supreme Court the Sanskrit dharma or the Latin pietas than our term
justice who wrote on behalf of the majority, stated in his “religion.”
decision that, although confessional instruction and Even in Latin our term “religion” has no
religious indoctrination in publicly funded schools equivalent—if, by “religion,” you mean worshiping the
were both unconstitutional, one’s “education is not gods, believing in an afterlife, or being good—what
complete without a study of comparative religion or the most people seem to mean today when they talk about
history of religion and its relationship to the “religion.” The closest we come when looking for Latin
advancement of civilization.” The majority of the precursors to our modern term “religion” are terms
justices interpreted the First Amendment to state that, such as religare or religere which, in their original
although the government cannot force a student to be contexts, simply meant such things as “to bind
either religious or nonreligious, the government something tightly together” or “to pay close or careful
certainly can—and probably should—support classes attention to something.”
that study the history of particular religions, the So, where does all this leave us? Well, it leaves
comparison of two or more religions, and the role of us with a lot of questions in need of investigation: Just
religion in human history. In a way, we might conclude what do we mean by “religion”? If a culture does not
that the study of religion is among the few fields of have the concept, can we study “their religion”? Is there
study mandated by a Supreme Court decision! such as thing as “the Hindu religion” or “ancient Greek
Fundamental to its decision was the Court’s religion”? Regardless of the history of our vocabulary,
distinction between religious instruction and instruction is religion a universal human phenomenon or is it
about religion. The academic study of religion is simply one among many ways that people name and
concerned to study about religion and religions. classify their particular social worlds?