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Studying religions as they have emerged, flourished, and changed throughout time has been a preoccupation for millennia, but for this tutorial, the emphasis will be on the 18th and 19th centuries. These centuries were pivotal moments in the establishment of religious studies or historical studies of religion.
Reason was dominant in the Middle Ages, but it was coupled with faith in a way that wasn’t a threat to religion. With the breakdown of the monarchies in the 18th century, religion also became dispersed. Europe began a rapid course of secularization or modernization. It began having a non-religious orientation.
The subjective truths of religious experience and romantic political ideals, such as freedom and individuality, converged with new ideas and methods in science that could now explain some of the mysteries of the material world. Many took on the task of using this science as a new method of detached observation of the world to explain it and to present new information and material to the world as knowledge.
Under the umbrella of science, there were new historical approaches to the study of religion. This was appealing to many because the observer could be impartial and refrain from judging the material. One such approach was the historical-critical study of the Bible.
Religious events and phenomena in history were studied through the social and physical sciences, philology, or language-based text analysis to verify the presence of religious ideas. It was also used to verify their changes and consistency over time. Similarly, it is used to observe the religious beliefs, practices, and behaviors as they change over time.
During the 18th and 19th centuries in Europe, there was a thriving interest in religions of the world. With exploration and colonization in full gear, mostly due to industrialization, Europeans were encountering cultures, languages, and religious traditions that they hadn’t experienced as directly before. Translation of religious texts and materials, therefore, became an industry applied to this modern quest for understanding.
So where is religion again? Well, let's look at Christianity in Europe. It was being looked at and compared with other religions that were being encountered in the world, such as the Eastern Taoic religions.
These comparisons could be made objectively using the tools of the scientific method and detached observation. This is significant because both believers and non-believers could adhere to the supposed objectivity of the approach.
This gives a modern study of the Bible new vitality that continues to inform our understanding of Christianity in the world today. This includes how it developed in Europe, as well as how it has interfaced and exchanged with the world at large socially, ideologically, and scientifically. There are many texts available on the overall and in-depth history of Christianity.
Source: THIS TUTORIAL WAS AUTHORED BY TED FAIRCHILD FOR SOPHIA LEARNING. Please see our Terms of Use.