Critical Religion Research Group

Description

Research in Religion at Stirling takes a unique approach, developed by staff under the label of ‘Critical Religion’. Rather than assume the World Religions or Comparative Religions model, Critical Religion interrogates in an interdisciplinary manner the historical construction and limitations of the term itself, and asks positive but searching questions about the place of religious discourse and experience in societies past and present. This approach intersects, necessarily, with many other fields within the Humanities, but has also developed its own distinct voice, one that encourages religious thinking beyond the traditionally accepted modes of enquiry found within Theology and Religious Studies.

Religion research themes:

• religion and politics (especially with a Middle East focus);
• religion and the arts (especially literature, music, and visual art);
• religion and philosophy (especially Continental philosophy and Arabic philosophies);
• religion and hermeneutics; religion and translation studies (both linguistic and cultural translation);
• inter-religious dialogue (especially within Sino-Christian studies);
• religion and colonialism/postcolonialism (especially in Caribbean and South American contexts);
• religion and gender/sexualities (especially feminist theology);
• religion and education (especially in relation to teaching Religion in schools);
• religion and Critical Theory.

In pursuing how religion crosses over into other realms of thinking and experience, and how this might be made manifest in the various textual expressions handed down by tradition, or in the various cultural expressions of contemporary society, members of the group work in an interdisciplinary capacity with colleagues in Politics, Modern Languages, Translation Studies, English Studies, History, and Education. Collectively, members emphasize the continuities of inquiry that cut across language and culture, but also the disruptions that induce new and transformative ways of thinking.

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No, this infrastructure does not provide funding.

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University affiliation(s)

University of Stirling
Stirling

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Critical Religion Association

Critical Religion is a key marker of how one ‘does’ religion. Originating at the University of Stirling in Scotland, the term ‘critical religion’ seeks to describe two key… read more about Critical Religion Association