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A scholar can actually impact the religion by the act of studying it and documenting it.

According to the first reading, How Scholars Study the Sacred, “how” should we study religion; in other words, what is the methodology we should use?

Match the academic with what they are known for in the field of religion.

What does phenomenology mean in Religious Studies?

What does hagiography refer to and what is an example of it?

In this class, there are several explanations for the origins of religions. The reading indicates that the sociological and psychological explanations are embraced by scholars today but all of the other theories of the original of religion are rejected, including the anthropological and biological ones.

In the text How Scholars Study Religion (reading for lesson 1), W. C. Smith argues religion is a “cumulative tradition.” What does he mean by this?

According to the reading in lesson 2 most stay in a new religion for at least 10 or so years.

According to the first reading, How Scholars Study the Sacred, religion, it is generally argued by most scholars of religion, requires some sort of belief in a theistic higher power or God. If there is no belief in a Godhead then it is not a religion in the classic sense.

In the Lesson 2 reading, what is meme theory in relationship to religion?