Title: Introduction to the Study of Religion
Course: REL 201 RTZ > Section: Week 1 - Introductions, Introductions to the Course and Introductions to Religion

There are multiple levels of how a scholar of religion can study religion.  One can study religion from the aspect of one’s personal belief system the practitioner’s perspective.  Alternatively, a scholar may study religion from the observer’s perspective.  An observer’s perspective can be seen from a mainstream societal or scholastic viewpoint.

As a scholar enrolled in a religious studies course, you have walked onto the bridge of moving your intent from personal knowledge and fun to one of academic knowledge.  This will bring you to a heightened level of understanding, compassion and empathy for other cultures aside from your own.  This transformation will bring you closer to learning about various religions with a less biased and clearer awareness of humanity and the world around you.

To begin the study of religion we must first understand the foundations, history and the academic study of religion.  One of the most important elements of studying religion is to understand the vocabulary of religion and of each tradition studied.  Take time to learn and understand what each of these words means and how they can apply to each tradition we will study.

A lot of the vocabulary will be new to you and often many of the words are in the native language of the tradition.  Those of you who have taken a foreign language know that it is difficult to have a direct translation from one language to another language.  There are times when a word has multiple meanings depending on how it is used in a sentence and pronounced.  Therefore, it is imperative to learn the vocabulary and not just memorize definitions.

This section, introduction of religious studies, will get you acquainted with general vocabulary, concepts and ideas in religious studies.  There is a section on the early fore fathers of religious studies.  You will learn how academia defines the word religion and how to apply it to various beliefs systems to classify a group as a religion.