Religious Studies, Theology, and the University

Description

This collection explores the highly contested relationship of religious studies and theology and the place of each, if any, in secular institutions of higher education. The founding narrative of religious studies, with its sharp distinction between teaching religion and teaching about religion, grows less compelling in the face of globalization and the erosion of modernism. These essays take up the challenge of thinking through the identity and borders of religious studies and theology for our time. Reflecting a broad range of positions, the authors explore the religious/secular conceptual landscape that has dominated the modern West, and in the process address the revision of the academic study of religion and theology now underway.
Preface

1. Introduction
Linell E. Cady and Delwin Brown

2. The Study of Religion as an Anthropology of Credibility
Russell T. McCutcheon

3. Why "Theology" Won't Work
Ivan Strenski

4. Our Subject "Over There?" Scrutinizing the Distance Between Religion and Its Study
Christopher Chesnek

5. Other People's Theologies:The New Hubris of History of Religions
Richard C. Martin

6. Embodied Theology
Sam Gill

7. From Theology to theology: The Place of "God-Talk" in Religious Studies
William D. Hart

8. Territorial Disputes: Religious Studies and Theology in Transition
Linell E. Cady

9. Academic Theology in the University or Why an Ex-Queen's Heir Should Be Made a Subject
Delwin Brown

10. Rethinking Theology and Religious Studies
Sheila Greeve Davaney

11. Religious Studies and the Alienation of Theology
Darrell J. Fasching

12. The Place of Academic Theology in the Study of Religion from the Perspective of Liberal Education
Paula M. Cooey

13. The Epistemic Publicity of Academic Black Theology
Frederick L.Ware

14. Theology and Cultural Contest in the University
Kathryn Tanner

Bibliography

Contributors

Index

Sujets

• Theology

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 10 octobre 2002
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780791487846
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Religious Studies, Theology, and the University ConflictingMaps, , ChangingTerrain

Edited by Linell E. Cady and Delwin Brown

Religious Studies, Theology, and the University

Religious Studies, Theology, and the University

Conflicting Maps, Changing Terrain

Edited by Linell E. Cady and Delwin Brown

State University of New York Press

Published by State University of New York Press, Albany

© 2002 State University of New York

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.

For information, address State University of New York Press, 90 State Street, Suite 700, Albany, NY 12207

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Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data

Religious studies, theology, and the university : conflicting maps, changing terrain / edited by Linell E. Cady and Delwin Brown. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-7914-5521-1 (alk. paper) — ISBN 0-7914-5522-X (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Theology—Study and teaching. I. Cady, Linell Elizabeth, 1952– II. Brown, Delwin, 1935–

BV4020 .R38 2002 200'.71'1—dc21

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

2002021088

To our colleagues, past and present, in the Department of Religious Studies at Arizona State University, whose challenges prompted us to think about the issues addressed in this book.

Contents

Preface 1.Introduction Linell E. Cady and Delwin Brown

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

The Study of Religion as an Anthropology of Credibility Russell T. McCutcheon

Why “Theology”Won’t Work Ivan Strenski

Our Subject “Over There?” Scrutinizing the Distance Between Religion and Its Study Christopher Chesnek

Other People’s Theologies: The New Hubris of History of Religions Richard C. Martin

Embodied Theology Sam Gill

From Theology totheology: The Place of “God-Talk” in Religious Studies William D. Hart

Territorial Disputes: Religious Studies and Theology in Transition Linell E. Cady

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9.

10.

11.

12.

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14.

Religious Studies,Theology, and the University

Academic Theology in the University or Why an Ex-Queen’s Heir Should Be Made a Subject Delwin Brown

Rethinking Theology and Religious Studies Sheila Greeve Davaney

Religious Studies and the Alienation of Theology Darrell J. Fasching

The Place of Academic Theology in the Study of Religion from the Perspective of Liberal Education Paula M. Cooey

The Epistemic Publicity of Academic Black Theology Frederick L. Ware

Theology and Cultural Contest in the University Kathryn Tanner

Bibliography

Contributors Index

126

140

155

172

187

199 213 225 229

Preface

Our interest in the relationship between religious studies and theology goes back many years, as does our intention to coedit a volume of essays on the topic. The issues discussed in these essays are not merely academic or theoretical for either of us.They became very central, even urgent, issues as a result of a shared history.We were both trained in theology, and we both took a position in the Department of Religious Studies at Arizona State University. Delwin Brown was there from 1975–1983, and Linell Cady was hired to replace him when he left to teach at Iliff School of Theology. Our dual experience in the world of theological studies and in the world of religious studies proved to be illuminating for the light it shed on their mutual identities, and troubling for the tensions it generated.The intellectual and existential challenges involved in negotiating these disciplinary traditions has been a shared interest ever since. This project stems from our conviction that the issues generated by our personal situations have much broader import for religious studies and theology. Although the relationship between religious studies and theology has been explored in the past, the changing intellectual and social context has posed this issue anew and with considerable urgency.The current debate has generated new takes on the disciplinary landscape. Although the focus of this collection is on the border between religious studies and theology, the implications for the evolving shape of each field are considerably more extensive. Far from speaking with one voice, this volume reflects a broad range of positions on the appropriate place of theology, if any, in secular institutions of American higher education. We want to express our thanks first and foremost to the authors of these essays for their inter- est and patience in bringing this project to completion. We also want to thank Deborah Creamer, a doctoral candidate in the Joint Ph.D. Program at Iliff School of Theology and the University of Denver, for her research assistance in complet- ing the Bibliography and to Roxana Martin for her gracious help in preparing the manuscript for production. The essays in this volume are published here for the first time, with the excep- tion of Paula Cooey’s contribution, “The Place of Academic Theology in the

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