Scholarship of Major in Religion at Furman University
Scholarship
Religion plays a central role in virtually all societies, and it interacts with all other dimensions of culture. Indeed, religion is a fundamental dimension of the human experience. For these reasons, the academic study of religion at Furman is an indispensable part of the liberal arts curriculum.
Our department expects students to engage religion courses with the same kind of academic rigor and methods of critical inquiry found in other departments within the humanities and social sciences. Indeed, these other disciplines highlight the multi–disciplinary and cross–cultural undertaking that characterizes the study of religion.
To encourage both a breadth and depth of study, the department has a wide range of offerings, both within the Christian tradition — Bible, ethics, theology, and history — as well as courses in other major religious traditions of the world — African religion, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and Native American religion. Courses explore the historical, social, and political dimensions of these traditions, particularly in relation to their surrounding culture.
While it is situated clearly in the liberal arts curriculum, the study of religion is unique among the disciplines. The academic endeavor can never be separated completely from the personal exploration of religious questions. While affirming that religious experiences, for example, may be interpreted sociologically, the Religion Department supports the view that it is academically misleading to suggest that these explanations preclude any genuinely religious interpretation. Moreover, guided by its religious heritage as well as the academic enterprise, Furman affirms that such questions and interpretations are important. Furman’s heritage is in the non–creedal, free church Baptist tradition which has always valued particular religious commitments while insisting not only on the freedom of the individual to believe as he or she sees fit but also on respect for a diversity of religious perspectives, including the perspective of the non–religious person. This heritage has always maintained that the religious journey has both a private and public dimension and is a lifelong undertaking that cannot be tied to doctrinal propositions. Thus, faculty members, through scholarship, teaching, and example in their own lives, seek both to nurture and to challenge students in their religious reflections, spiritual growth, and attempts to understand sympathetically the religious perspectives of others.
Tags: academic endeavor, academic enterprise, academic rigor, african religion, baptist tradition, critical inquiry, humanities and social sciences, liberal arts curriculum, native american religion, personal exploration, political dimensions, religion buddhism, religion courses, religion department, religious commitments, religious experiences, religious heritage, religious interpretation, religious questions, religious traditions of the world