scholarly journals The Study of Religion and the Canadian Social Order

2021 ◽  
pp. 000842982110419
Author(s):  
David Seljak
Keyword(s):  
Social Order ◽  
Religious Studies ◽  
Institutional History ◽  
Canadian Society ◽  
Faith Based ◽  
Canadian Context ◽  
Original Argument ◽  
History Of ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Religion In Canada

In his book From Seminary to University: An Institutional History of the Study of Religion in Canada, Aaron Hughes provides a unique analysis of how the study of religion developed throughout the history of Canada by examining the evolution of its institutional context, that is, from faith-based seminaries and theological colleges to secular departments of religious studies. He situates these institutional changes in the development of the Canadian social order. In this uniquely Canadian context, the study of religion moved, Hughes notes, “from religious exclusion to secularism, from Christocentrism to multiculturalism, and from theology to secular religious studies.” While this is an important and original argument, Hughes offers only a cursory analysis of the unique developments in francophone Quebec universities (as he readily admits) and ignores the study of religion in other disciplines. Moreover, while Hughes traces the motivation for the transformation of the study of religion in the 1960s to the new ethno-religious diversity of Canada, I argue that it should be traced to a growing liberal cosmopolitanism that had infiltrated Canadian society, including its churches, seminaries, and theological colleges. Hughes does not adequately explore the religious roots of why Canadian Christians decided to secularize the study of religion. Finally, while Hughes examines patriarchy and colonialism in his analysis of the study of religion in earlier periods, he drops these topics in his discussion of the secularization of the study of religion, which did not address either of these issues sufficiently.

Forging New Futures for the Study of Religion in Canada: A Review of Hughes’s From Seminary to University

2021 ◽  
pp. 000842982110416
Author(s):  
Jennifer A Selby
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Settler Colonialism ◽  
Nation State ◽  
Institutional History ◽  
Convincing Argument ◽  
National Values ◽  
History Of ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Religion In Canada ◽  
Archival Work

Aaron W. Hughes’s monograph, From Seminary to University: An Institutional History of the Study of Religion in Canada, argues that, unlike other disciplines in the humanities and social sciences, the study of religion in Canada is imbricated with nation-state politics. The creation of Canada’s initial seminaries post-Confederation served to establish Christianity as normative. By the 1960s, these seminaries were largely replaced with departments that aimed to promote national values of multiculturalism and diversity. In her critique, Selby commends the book’s convincing argument and impressive historical archival work, and critiques the book’s limited engagement with the politics of settler colonialism and scholarly contributions in the province of Québec.

From Seminary to University in Quebec: de la théologie aux études religieuses

2021 ◽  
pp. 000842982110453
Author(s):  
Géraldine Mossière
Keyword(s):  
Religious Studies ◽  
Institutional History ◽  
Academic Field ◽  
Production Of Knowledge ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
Epistemological Issue ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Religion In Canada

In his book ‘From Seminary to University: An Institutional History of the Study of Religion in Canada’, Aaron Hughes offers a comprehensive portrait of the historical construction of the study of religion in Canada. While Hughes explains in-depth the social, political and historical conditions of production of knowledge on religion as an academic domain in provinces of Protestant heritage, his contribution is less thorough regarding the development of this academic field in the province of Quebec. In this article, I depict how the creation of institutions of knowledge in Quebec hinged around the Catholic hegemony that lasted since the inception of the colony, namely among faculties of theologies that framed main historical universities. I also argue that this heritage has shaped the ongoing construction of the study of religion as an epistemological issue between Catholic theologians and religious studies scholars.

‘Morals can not be drawn from facts but guidance may be’: the early life of W.D. Hamilton's theory of inclusive fitness

2015 ◽  
Vol 48 (4) ◽  
pp. 543-563 ◽  
Author(s):  
SARAH A. SWENSON
Keyword(s):  
Social Order ◽  
Inclusive Fitness ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
The Political ◽  
Selfish Gene ◽  
New Synthesis ◽  
Sociopolitical Context ◽  
History Of ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
New Social Order

AbstractW.D. Hamilton's theory of inclusive fitness saw the evolution of altruism from the point of view of the gene. It was at heart a theory of limits, redefining altruistic behaviours as ultimately selfish. This theory inspired two controversial texts published almost in tandem, E.O. Wilson's Sociobiology: The New Synthesis (1975) and Richard Dawkins's The Selfish Gene (1976). When Wilson and Dawkins were attacked for their evolutionary interpretations of human societies, they claimed a distinction between reporting what is and declaring what ought to be. Can the history of sociobiological theories be so easily separated from its sociopolitical context? This paper draws upon unpublished materials from the 1960s and early 1970s and documents some of the ways in which Hamilton saw his research as contributing to contemporary concerns. It pays special attention to the 1969 Man and Beast Smithsonian Institution symposium in order to explore the extent to which Hamilton intended his theory to be merely descriptive versus prescriptive. From this, we may see that Hamilton was deeply concerned about the political chaos he perceived in the world around him, and hoped to arrive at a level of self-understanding through science that could inform a new social order.

Al Fārūqī between the History of Religions and Islamic Theology

Numen ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 60 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 230-250
Author(s):  
Abdulkader Tayob
Keyword(s):  
Religious Studies ◽  
Critical Examination ◽  
Islamic Theology ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of Religions ◽  
History Of ◽  
Truth Claims ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
The 1960S

Abstract Ismāʿīl Rājī al Fārūqī (1921–1986) played a considerable role in the academic study of Islam as it was developing in North America in the 1960s and 1970s. This paper is a critical examination of how he employed the categories of religion and religious studies in his scholarly, dialogical, and Islamist work. The paper follows his ideas of religious traditions, their truth claims, and ethical engagement in the world. For Al Fārūqī, these constituted the main foundations of all religions, and provided a distinctive approach to the study of religions. Al Fārūqī was critical of the then prevailing approaches, asserting that they were either too subjective or too reductionist. He offered an approach to the study of religions based on a Kantian approach to values. Al Fārūqī’s method and theory, however, could not escape the bias and prejudice that he tried to avoid. Following his arguments, I show that his reflections on religion and its systematic study in academia charted an approach to religions, but also provided a language for a particular Islamic theology that delegitimized other approaches, particularly experiential ones, in modern Islam.

scholarly journals Assessing Without Labels:Culturally Defined Inclusive Education

2007 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
David F Philott
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Cultural Diversity ◽  
Inclusive Education ◽  
Classroom Teacher ◽  
Canadian Society ◽  
Knowledge And Skills ◽  
Global Trend ◽  
Canadian Context ◽  
History Of

This paper will explore the place of assessment in a culturally defined paradigm of inclusive education. Given the global trend towards inclusive classrooms, defi ned by a social justice view of learner diversity, the diagnostic/prescriptive medical view of special education is becoming increasingly antiquated. What is emerging is a growing preference towards empowering the classroom teacher with the knowledge and skills to identify the authentic needs of students and to differentiate instruction to respond to those needs. In a contemporary Canadian society characterized by shifting demographics, and increasing linguistic and cultural diversity, this perspective holds particular relevance. In fact, the history of inclusive education parallels, in many ways, the history of aboriginal1 education, as typifi ed in the territory of Nunavut where a stated commitment to establishing a broader view of diversity is creating a system in which children celebrate difference. This paper explores the wealth of literature on this issue and establishes a Canadian context to present Nunavut’s model as being exemplary within this global debate.

Between Celebration and Ambivalence

2020 ◽  
pp. 97-132
Author(s):  
Ross Kane
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual History ◽  
North American ◽  
Religious Studies ◽  
Scientific Approach ◽  
History Of ◽  
Social Scientific ◽  
The 1960S

This chapter’s intellectual history of syncretism examines the field of religious studies from the 1960s to the present. Religious studies’ engagement with syncretism shows its struggles with race and colonialism, since the designation “syncretism” has worked within the framing of a center and periphery that sees white European and North American cultures as central and other regions as peripheral. Its engagement with syncretism also shows the field’s tensions over ways one might responsibly interpret other cultures. In particular, is a social scientific approach to research or a humanist approach more respectful of informants’ cultures? Finally, the chapter explores disagreements about whether to use the term “syncretism” at all.

CSSR: Historical Reflections

2021 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
pp. 365-374
Author(s):  
Paul L Gareau
Keyword(s):  
Religious Studies ◽  
Canadian Society ◽  
Canadian Universities ◽  
The Past ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Academic Activities ◽  
History Of ◽  
Collaborative Article ◽  
Anniversary Celebration

As part of the 50th anniversary celebration of the Canadian Corporation for Studies in Religion (CCSR), this article provides a reflection on the past, present, and future of the Canadian Society for the Study of Religion (CSSR). CSSR members were given the space to outline their thoughts and experiences of over 50 years of Religious Studies in Canada. This collaborative article tracks the development of the discipline through the 1970s from theology to comparative religion, to the transformation of the 1980 -90s with an interdisciplinary and critical engagement, to the new millennium infusion of socio-political research, critical self-reflexivity, and lived religion work. We also focus on the role of the CSSR in shaping and promoting Religious Studies in Canada through its various academic activities as well as observing the fragmentation and decline of Religious Studies programs in Canadian universities. And finally, we look to the future questioning how the CSSR and Religious Studies can remain relevant against a backdrop of institutional changes due to funding austerity and the COVID global pandemic to supporting Religious Studies inside and outside of academia. This article is not intended as a detailed history of the CSSR, but an opportunity to see a representation of our experiences and hopes for Religious Studies in Canada.

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