‘Jensen’s Scientific Approach’ to Religion Education

  • Tim Jensen University of Southern Denmark, Denmark; Institut für Religionswissenschaft, Leibniz Universität, Hannover, Germany and Ural Federal University, Ekatarinburg, Russia
Keywords: religion education, scientific approach to religion education, study-of-religion(s)

Abstract

Following an initial programmatic summary of ‘fundamentals’, the author puts forward (with reference to other programmatic ‘minimum presuppositions’ for the scientific study of religion(s)) his basic presuppositions and principles for a scientific study-of-religion(s)-based religion education as a time-tabled, compulsory, and totally normal school subject, taught by teachers educated at study-of-religion(s) departments of public universities. The article, thus, reflects what Cathy Byrne named ‘Jensen’s scientific approach’ to religion education.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Ambasciano, L. (2019). An unnatural history of religions: Academia, post-truth and the quest for scientific knowledge. London, UK: Bloomsbury.

Alberts, W. (2007). Integrative religious education in Europe: A study-of-religions approach. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.

Alberts, W. (2008). Didactics of the study of religions. Numen, 55(2), 300–334.

Alberts, W. (2019). After World Religions: Reconstructing religious studies. Numen, 66(1), 89–91.

Andreassen, B.-O., & Lewis, J. L. (Eds.). (2015). Textbook gods. Sheffield, UK: Equinox Publishers.

Antes, P., Geertz, A. W., & Rothstein, M. (Eds.). (2016). Comparative views on comparative religion: In celebration of Tim Jensen’s 65th birthday. Sheffield & Bristol, UK: Equinox.

Braun, W. (2000). Religion. In W. Braun & R. T. McCutcheon (Eds.), Guide to the study of religion (pp. 3–18). London, UK & New York, NY: Cassell.

Braun, W., & McCutcheon, R. T. (Eds.). (2000). Guide to the study of religion. London, UK & New York, NY: Cassell.

Byrne, C. (2014). Religion in secular education: What in heaven’s name are we teaching our children? Leiden: Brill.

Cotter, C. R., & Robertson, D. G. (Eds.). (2019). After world religions: Reconstructing religious studies. London, UK: Routledge.

Fitzgerald, T. (2017). The ideology of religious studies revisited: The problem with politics. In S. Führding (Ed.), Method and theory in the study of religion: Working papers from Hannover (pp. 124–152). Leiden: Brill.

Führding, S. (Ed.). (2017). Method and theory in the study of religion: Working papers from Hannover. Leiden: Brill.

Geertz, A. W. (2000). Analytical theorizing in the secular study of religion. In T. Jensen & M. Rothstein (Eds.), Secular theories on religion: Current perspectives (pp. 21–31). Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press.

Geertz, A. W. (2016). Conceptions of religion in the cognitive science of religion. In P. Antes, A. W. Geertz, & M. Rothstein (Eds.), Contemporary views on comparative religion: In celebration of Tim Jensen’s 65th Birthday (pp. 129–141). Sheffield & Bristol, UK: Equinox.

Geertz, A. W. (Ed.). (2013). Origins of religion, cognition and culture. Durham, UK: Acumen.

Haynes, C., & Thomas, O. (2007). A first amendment guide to religion and public schools. Nashville, TN: First Amendment Center. Retrieved from https://www.freedomforuminstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/FCGcomplete.pdf

Hylén, T. (2015). Closed and open concepts of religion: The problem of essentialism in teaching about religion. In B.-O. Andreassen & J. Lewis (Eds.), Textbook gods (pp. 16–42). Sheffield, UK: Equinox.

Jensen, T. (1999). Religion and religious education in a Europe of conflicting trends. In N. Å. Tidmann (Ed.), Into the third millennium (pp. 142–159). Malmö: Foreningen Lárare I Religionskunnskap.

Jensen, T. (1997). Familiar and unfamiliar challenges to the study and teaching of religions in an increasingly religious and multireligious context. In N. G. Holm (Ed.), The familiar and the unfamiliar in the world religions: Challenges for religious education today, (pp. 199–223). Åbo: Åbo Akademi University.

Jensen, T. (2005). European and Danish religious education: Human rights, the secular state, and ‘rethinking religious education and plurality. Journal of Religion and Education, 32(1), 60–78.

Jensen, T. (2008a). RS based RE in public schools – A must for a secular state. Numen, 55(2-3), 33–60.

Jensen, T. (2008b). In the wake of the cartoon crisis: Freedom of expression of academics in Denmark. In W. B. Drees & P. Sjoerd van Koningsveld (Eds.), The Study of religion and the training of Muslim clergy in Europe: Academic and religious freedom in the 21st century (pp. 243–274). Leiden: Leiden University.

Jensen, T. (2011). Why religion education as a matter of course ought to be part of the public school curriculum. In L. Franken & P. Loobuyck (Eds.), Religious education in a plural, secularised society: A paradigm shift (pp. 131–150). Münster: Waxmann Verlag.

Jensen, T. (2016). Intercultural religious education: A Study-of-Religions (Re-)view. In A. Ziaka (Ed.), Intercultural religious education and Islamic Studies: Challenges and prospects in Greece, Europe, USA (pp. 270–296). Athens: Maistros.

Jensen, T. (2017a). RS-based RE – Uphill, uphill, uphill!. In Steffen Führding (Ed.), Method and theory in the study of religion: Working papers from Hannover (pp. 199–231). Leiden: Brill.

Jensen, T. (2017b). Religious education in public schools: The most important tendencies (with special focus on Scandinavia). Gosudarstvo, Religiya, Tserkov’ v Rossii i za Rubezho, 35(4), 46–71.

Jensen, T. (forthcoming). From respected religion scholar expert to undercover-politician: The fate of a religion scholar going public?. Changing Societies and Personalities.

Jensen, T., & Geertz, A. W. (2016). The academic study of religion and the IAHR: Past, present, and prospect – An introduction. In T. Jensen & A. W. Geertz (Eds.), The academic study of religion and the IAHR: Past, present, and prospect (pp. 1–18). Leiden: Brill.

Jensen, T., & Geertz, A. W. (Eds.). (2016). The academic study of religion and the IAHR: Past, present, and prospect. Leiden: Brill.

Jensen, T., & Kjeldsen, K. (2013). RE in Denmark: Political and professional discourses and debates, past and present. Temenos, 49(2), 185–223.

Jensen, T. & Rothstein, M. (Eds.). (2000). Secular theories on religion: Current perspectives. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press.

Jensen, T., Reeh, N., Nøddeskou, M. H., Lapis, G., & Bulian, G. (2018). Guidelines on prejudices and stereotypes in religions. Venice: Study of religions against prejudices and stereotypes (SORAPS). Retrieved from https://soraps.unive.it/outputs/

Klostergaard Petersen, A., Sælid, G. I., Martin, L. H., Sinding Jensen, J., & Sørensen, J. (Eds.). (2019). Evolution, cognition, and the history of religion: A new synthesis, festschrift in honour of Armin W. Geertz. Leiden: Brill.

Lincol, B. (2000a). Culture. In W. Braun & R. T. McCutcheon (Eds.), Guide to the study of religion (pp. 409–422). London, UK & New York, NY: Cassell.

Lincol, B. (2000b). Reflections on ‘theses on method’. In T. Jensen & M. Rothstein (Eds.), Secular theories on religion: Current perspectives (pp. 117–121). Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press.

Lincoln, B. (2003). Holy terrors: Thinking about religion after September 11. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

Mack, B. L. (2000a). A radically social theory on religion. In T. Jensen & M. Rothstein (Eds.), Secular theories on religion: Current perspectives (pp. 123–136). Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press.

Mack, B. L. (2000b). Social formation. In W. Braun & R. T. McCutcheon (Eds.), Guide to the study of religion (pp. 283–296). London, UK & New York, NY: Cassell.

Martin, L. H. & Wiebe, D. (2012). Religious studies as a scientific discipline: The persistence of a delusion. Religio: Revue Pro Religionistiku, 20(1), 9–18.

Martin, L. H., & Wiebe, D. (2012). Why the possible is not impossible but is unlikely: A response to our colleagues. Religio: Revue Pro Religionistiku, 20(1), 63–71.

McCutcheon, R. T. (2000). Critics not caretakers: The scholar of religion as public intellectual. In T. Jensen & M. Rothstein (Eds.), Secular theories on religion: Current perspectives (pp. 167–181). Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press.

McCutcheon, R. T. (2007). Studying religion: An introduction. London, UK: Equinox.

McCutcheon, R. T. (2017). ‘Man is the measure of all things’: On the fabrication of oriental religions by European history of religions. In S. Führding (Ed.), Method and theory in the study of religion: Working papers from Hannover (pp. 82–107). Leiden: Brill.

McCutcheon, R.T. (2019). Fabricating religion: Fanfare for the common E.G. Berlin & Boston, MA: de Gruyter.

Murphy, T. (2000). Speaking different languages: Religion and the study of religion. In T. Jensen & M. Rothstein (Eds.), Secular theories of religion: Current perspectives (pp. 183–192). Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press.

OSCE/ODIHR (Organisation for Security and Co-Operation in Europe/ Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights). (2007). The Toledo guiding principles on teaching about religion or belief in public schools. Warsaw: Organisation for Security and Co-Operation in Europe, Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights. Retrieved from https://www.osce.org/odihr/29154

Owen, S. (2013). The world religions paradigm: Time for a change. Arts and Humanities in Higher Education, 10(3), 253–268.

Preus, S. J. (1987). Explaining religion: Criticism and theory from Bodin to Freud. New Haven; CT: Yale University Press.

Schimmel, A. M. (1960). Summary of the discussion. Numen, 7, 235–239.

Seiwert, H. (2012). The study of religion as a scientific discipline: A comment on Luther Martin’s and Donald Wiebe’s paper. Religion: Revue Pro Religionistiku, 20(1), 27–38.

Sinding Jensen, J. (2019). ‘Where is the future for the study of religion?’ On consilience, anomalous monism and a biocultural theory of religion. In A. Klostergaard Petersen, G. I. Sælid, L. H. Martin, J. S. Jensen, & J. Sørensen (Eds.), Evolution, cognition, and the history of religion: A new synthesis, festschrift in honour of Armin W. Geertz (pp. 115–129). Leiden: Brill.

Smith, J. Z. (1978). Map is not territory: Study in the history of religions. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

Strenski, I. (2006). Thinking about religion: A historical introduction to theories of religion. Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishing.

Stroumsa, G. (2010). A new science: The discovery of religion in the age of reason. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Wiebe, D. (1984). The failure of nerve in the academic study of religion. Studies of Religion, 13, 401–422.

Wiebe, D. (2011). The failure of nerve in the academic study of religion. In W. Arnal & R. T. McCutcheon (Eds.), Failure and nerve in the academic study of religion (pp. 6–31). London, UK: Equinox.

Wiebe, D. (2016). Claims for a plurality of knowledge in the comparative study of religions. In P. Antes, A. W. Geertz, & M. Rothstein (Eds.), Comparative views on comparative religion: In celebration of Tim Jensen’s 65th birthday (pp. 183–194). Sheffield & Bristol, UK: Equinox.

Wiebe, D. (2019). An old methodstreit made new: Rejecting a ‘science-lite’ study of religion. In A. Klostergaard Petersen, G. I. Sælid, L. H. Martin, J. S. Jensen, & Jesper Sørensen (Eds.), Evolution, cognition, and the history of religion: A new synthesis, festschrift in honour of Armin W. Geertz (pp. 130–140). Leiden: Brill.

Published
2019-12-20
How to Cite
Jensen, T. (2019). ‘Jensen’s Scientific Approach’ to Religion Education. Center for Educational Policy Studies Journal, 9(4), 31-51. https://doi.org/10.26529/cepsj.707