Some Students are Satanists: Religion in the Philosophy Classroom

Issues: Understanding Controversy and Society, 2023

Buck, Christopher. “Public Schools May ‘Teach about Religion’—Not ‘Teach Religion’.” In Issues: Understanding Controversy and Society, ABC-CLIO, 2023. Entry ID: 2045124. https://issues2.abc-clio.com/Search/Display/2045124. [ABC-CLIO database subscription required.] Originally published in 2012 in ABC-CLIO’s “World Religions: Belief, Culture, and Controversy” database. • Invited essay, intended as model “argument essay” for undergraduate students. • Introduces Christopher Buck’s “CLEAR Argument Paradigm,” a generative model (based on British philosopher Stephen Toulmin’s paradigm for analyzing arguments) to assist students in writing argument essays: (1) “Claim” (Opinion, Stance, Thesis); (2) “Limits” (Qualifier); (3) “Evidence” (Reasons, Grounds); (4) “Assumptions” (Warrants and Backing); and (5) “Rebuttal” (advance responses to foreseeable objections). • Also introduces Buck’s “DREAMS Paradigm.” “DREAMS” is a mnemonic acronym for the following six dimensions of religion: (1) “Doctrinal”; (2) “Ritual”; (3) “Ethical”; (4) “Artistic”; (5) “Mystical”; and (6) “Social.” Based on the model originally proposed by Scottish scholar (and founder of the academic study of religion in Britain), Ninian Smart (1927–2001), in Worldviews: Crosscultural Explorations of Human Beliefs (1983, six “dimensions”) and Dimensions of the Sacred (1996, seven “dimensions”), but further refined by adding four subcategories within each “dimension” of religion. (See Buck, “Ninian Smart (1927–2001).” British Writers. Supplement XXIV (2018).) Developed as a classroom tool (for university students) for formally comparing world religions (where Smart’s “Materialistic” dimension is subsumed in Buck’s “Artistic” dimension): DREAMS Paradigm Doctrinal Dimension (metaphysics, philosophy of religion) [Acronym: CASE.] • Cosmology (cosmogony/theodicy). • Anthropology (soul/consciousness/purpose). • Soteriology (predicament/salvation). • Eschatology (afterlife/apocalypse). Ritual Dimension (anthropology of religion) [Acronym: CROW.] • Calendar (type/special features). • Rites of Passage (rites of life/life-crisis rites/rites of faith). • Observances (festivals and fasts/pilgrimages). • Worship (communal/domestic). Ethical Dimension (philosophy of religion) [Acronym: LIVE.] • Laws (prescriptions/proscriptions). • Intentions (motives/reactions). • Virtues (saints/saintliness). • Ethics (moral principles/social principles). Artistic Dimension (art history, iconography) [Acronym: MAPS.] • Music (liturgical/devotional). • Art & Architecture (visual arts, temples, shrines, pilgrimage sites/assembly halls). • Performance (dance/drama). • Symbols (literary/concrete). Mystical Dimension (psychology of religion) [Acronym: GASP.] • Goal of Attainment (quest/preparation). • Activities (spiritual exercises/mystical orders). • Stages (path/progress). • Peak Experiences (visions, auditions/transformations). Social Dimension (sociology of religion) [Acronym: DORM.] • Distribution (heartland/diaspora). • Organization (hierarchy/community). • Relations (church/state relations/interfaith relations). • Missions (domestic/foreign).

Conversations about religion can be uncomfortable, awkward, and sometimes even hostile. Why are they conversations that we should have? Moreover, what place do they have at a secular, public university like the U? Should they be confined to religious institutions? What place do students' own religious and non-religious experiences and commitments have in the classroom? I've grappled with these questions as I've taught religious topics at Utah over the past five years. I'm convinced that studying religion remains more important than ever for two reasons. First, religious literacy allows us to understand the values systems according to which so many people operate around the world. Second, religious misunderstandings abound and they have nasty consequences that occur far too frequently, even on our own campus. Let me address each of these reasons in more detail and close with some thoughts about how religion can most effectively be studied in a public university setting by attending to several ground rules.

Journal of the British Association for the Study of Religions, 2023

Since the publication of the Commission on RE report for England in 2018, there has been much discussion of the concept of 'disciplinary knowledge' and of which academic disciplines underpin the school subject commonly called Religious Education (RE) e.g. Kueh (2018, 2020); Georgiou and Wright (2020). Study of Religions was notable for its absence. Against these and other more outspoken critics such as Barnes, this article argues for the simple answer, which would seem obvious to members of BASR, the university discipline known as Study of Religions, or previously and more ambiguously, Religious Studies (cf Alberts, Jensen). This is not however to accept that Religion and Worldviews in schools is merely a watered-down version of SR at university level, or that other disciplines including philosophy or even theology cannot make useful contributions. Future RE needs to build upon the insights of the Commission, the Worldviews Project and other recent projects such 'Big Ideas' to construct a vibrant and memorable curriculum which is both academically rigorous and personally inspiring, providing students with the knowledge and skills they need not only for the few who choose Study of Religions at university, but transferable to the many situations in which they will find themselves in in later life, both professional and personal.

The Reformation of Philosophy. The Philosophical Legacy of the Reformation Reconsidered. Mohr Siebeck, 2020

Religious education (RE) in Norwegian schools today is of a so-called integrative kind, meaning that the subject gathers all students, is multi-faith oriented, and its context is non-confessional. Current guidelines for the school subject, which also includes ethics and philosophy, underline that the same pedagogical principles are to be employed for all topics. Furthermore, it is stated that all religions and world views shall be presented in an objective, critical and pluralistic manner. In recent didactical discussions the question of what critical teaching about religions and world views is and should be has gained particular attention. To what extent and in what way should this compulsory school subject also involve a critique of religion in a more focused sense and thematise as problematic various beliefs or practises of religions and other world views? Open Access: https://oda.oslomet.no/oda-xmlui/handle/10642/8656

2013

v gave me the motivation I needed to finish this project. During the final stages of writing, Rick read, re-read, and read again numerous drafts, providing vital feedback that touched every section of this document. I am indebted to him for all of the work he did in the months and weeks leading up to my defense. Along with my committee members, I need to thank Jeanne Connell and Nick Burbules who provided comments on earlier versions of this project, and who were always willing to listen to my ideas and offer suggestions. I also want to thank Jaime Luedtke who generously volunteered her exceptional editing and proofreading skills. Likewise, I am grateful to Nathan Raybeck and Jeff Thibert, my fellow religious education junkies, who served as sounding boards on all things related to religion and education. Finally, none of this would have been possible without the constant love and support from all of my family and friends, including my awesome dogs, Sadie and Maggie, who kept me company during long hours of writing. I am forever grateful to my mom and dad (Jim and Kathy) and my four brothers (Jim, Mike, Dave, and Tim) who always supported me during grad school, even when none of them had any idea what I was doing. My parents worked hard to make sure that all of us kids had access to the best educational opportunities available to us in Chicago, and it's entirely because of their sacrifices that I was able to pursue a higher education. Last but certainly not least, I am thankful to my constant companion and best friend, Randy Dunker. Randy suffered through every step of this process with me, and despite the fact that I wanted to quit at many stages along the way, his steadfast belief in me gave me the reassurance and confidence I needed to complete this project. Along with my parents, this dissertation is dedicated to him. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1 RELIGION AND EDUCATION .

Implicit Religion, 2019

A response to commentators as part of the symposium on "Is Secularism a World Religion?" on the pedagogical value of teaching secularism in the world religions classroom. https://journal.equinoxpub.com/IR/article/view/15422

Svensk Teologisk Kvartalskrift, 2002

The theme that gathers us today -philosophy and religion -already says a lot and yet too little. It says a lot because, pronouncing the con nective «and», it affirms that something joins and disjoins philosophy and religion, evoking a long tradition of discussions about this them e.1 But it says little because it says nothing about what makes us think today about the relationship between philosophy and religion. Instead of trying to trace a history of ideas and positions about this relationship, I would like to propose a reflective disposition, that should be called a disposition of the fugue, in the very musical sense of «searching» and «escaping», riccercare e fuga. Religion and philosophy will be here treated as theme and counter-theme, as subject and counter-subject in a fugue.2

World Religions: Belief, Culture, and Controversy

Christopher Buck, “Public Schools May ‘Teach About Religion’—Not ’Teach Religion’.” World Religions: Belief, Culture, and Controversy. (Academic Edition.) Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2012. Argument essay, introducing the present writer’s “CLEAR Argument Paradigm,” a generative model (based on Stephen Toulmin’s analytical model) to assist students in writing their own arguments: Claim (Position), Limits (Qualifier), Evidence (Reasons, Grounds), Assumptions (Warrants & Backing), and Rebuttal (to objections). Introduces Buck’s “DREAMS Paradigm.” “DREAMS” is a mnemonic acronym for the Doctrinal, Ritual, Ethical, Artistic, Mystical, and Social dimensions of religion. Developed as a classroom tool (for university students) in formally comparing world religions.

Ethics and Education, 2021

To what extent should teachers promote the view from nowhere as an ideal to strive for in education? To address this question, I will use Mark Twain’s The Mysterious Stranger as an example, illustrating the stakes involved when the view from nowhere is taken to be an attainable educational ideal. I will begin this essay by offering a description of Thomas Nagel’s view from nowhere. Having done this, I will return to Twain’s story, providing some further examples of how access to the view from nowhere comes to influence the educational process in different ways. I will then connect the educational question raised by Twain’s story to two radically different versions of the exemplar found in the works of Benedict de Spinoza: the philosopher and the prophet. These figures will help illustrate how the striving for philosophical truth can sometimes be educationally inapt, as education always needs to account for humans being human, all too human.

Online Submission, 2007

Purpose: The Other Voices project provides the principles and tested pedagogies to answer the question "How do we teach to and about those who differ radically from each other religiously in classroom?" Methodology: Eight institutions of higher education in upper New York State pooled their resources for eighteen months to enable twelve representatives, six of whom were administrators, to survey and offer focus groups for students and faculty, and to design and test nine pedagogies in response to this question. Results: As a result they gathered the opinions of how students and faculty view those who differ religiously from them. They also received opinions of why and how everyone must learn from each other. Through intense dialectical interchange the team brought these opinions together with other contemporary research and produced Curricular Principles for a Listening Curriculum, Nine Pedagogies for Dealing with the Radial Other, and other principles for encouraging dialogue among oppositional others as well as possible dangers and limits to such curricula and pedagogies. The summary of the results are found in the body of the paper and the support for these conclusions in the four appendices. Conclusions: These pedagogies continue to be used in these institutions and the principles have been implemented in most of the departments. From continued attempts to involve other institutions of higher education in this project the majority of the participants are convinced of its necessity -especially among those who deny the premise of the project, that significant learning occurs from those who radically differ from each other when done with the appropriate pedagogies.

Political Theology, 2022

The authors offer advice for those teaching about prisons and criminal justice in religion, ethics, and theology contexts. They examine such issues as the use of language about crime and incarceration, the way race and economics can enter the conversation, and the role carceral thinking can play in pedagogy in general. Each piece of advice is accompanied by a list of resources to explore it in more depth.

So read a bright poster on the campus bulletin boards at Louisiana State University, where I designed my first introductory course four years ago. This thought took hold of me, and still holds my attention in a fierce grip: why don't we teach what we know? I did not understand this to be asking me why I taught things that were inaccurate, but why the material I taught was simplified to the point that it became uninformative or misleading. What follows is a description of my attempts to address that question for myself in the context of the introductory course.

At the Wellesley College Ruhlman Conference in April 2015, I presented the culmination of religious independent study work that explored the implications of teaching about religions in public schools and consider how decisions are made about permitting religious observances and practices in public schools in the United States.

'The Relationship of Philosophy to Religion Today' is a collection of texts authored by philosophers with an interest in contemporary philosophy of religion, its merits and its limitations. The collection has been stimulated by such questions as: "What ought philosophy of religion be?" and "How ought philosophy relate to religion today?" In pursuing such questions, the editors have asked the contributors to offer their insights and reflections on issues that they see as important to contemporary philosophy of religion, with the goal of producing a collection of texts offering the reader with a variety of perspectives without privileging any particular philosophical, religious or irreligious orientation. The book covers such themes as the relationship between religion and modernity, faith in keeping with reason, contemplation, the merits and limitations of the atheism, and the relationship between philosophy, religion and politics.