In this image of its author, this blog is going to be a mix of subjects: the personal, the academic, the theological. It will include religious news and perhaps Dead Languages. I start, though, with a series of self-reflections on questions I am asked frequently: why study religion? Why study religion academically in the quote-unquote modern secular world? Why be interested in religion at all?
Tackling subjects one at a time is not generally my strong suit in life, but for the moment I’m going to attempt to do just that. So – first question, chickadees: why study religion?
Telling someone that you study religion – academically, professionally – tends to provoke questions and sometimes strong reactions. When I was an undergraduate studying religion at the very secular University of Washington, someone (a Linguistics grad student, if I recall correctly) asked me incredulously why I would study religion, of all things. Living in Seattle, the realm of many a None or devoutly Spiritual-Not-Religious type, I often received befuddled or antagonistic responses to my preoccupation with religious matters. I was prepared for this. So I replied rather breezily that I found religion interesting as it contained some of the greatest heights of human thought as well as some serious trainwrecks of human thought and behavior.
The Ostensible Linguist drew himself up to his full height, eyed me through his hipster glasses, and snorted in disdain. “Greatest thoughts? You mean endless mediocrity and the death of the imagination!” Continue reading
Electric Genizah 