PHIL/RS335 Fall 2017

In this excerpt, Smart attempts to identify a set of characteristics or features common to religion. He does this instead of defining the concept 'religion' because, "...the search for essence ends up in vagueness" (p. 3). There does seem to be some value in identifying some common features of actual religions, because it could help us distinguish religions from other forms of human activity. The features he specifies are: ritual, emotion, narrative, doctrine, ethical, institutional, and material. Though any particular religion may be limited in one or more of these features, their common presence is sufficient to specify something as a religion (p. 8). This sort of account seems to fit in well with Ninian's general approach to religion. I found an interview he did (http://www.scottlondon.com/interviews/smart.html) entitled the "The Future of Religion." In it, he states his opinion that the general trend in religion is in the direction of syncretism (t...

Hey everyone, Welcome to our class blog. We are going to use the blog this semester to collect our reflections on the course material and to continue our conversation about the themes and issues we will consider this semester beyond the classroom walls. This blog is ours. It's quality, archived on the web for as long as the web exists, is determined by our shared efforts and commitments. The more you put into it, the more we will all get out of it. Please feel empowered to make this archive of our work this semester as enriching as possible. I've posted a rubric that I will use to grade your contributions to the blog. It's available on the facstaff site. Make sure you review it before you start posting. Max