NZ Scholarship Religious Studies flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Etic perspective

An outsider, analytical description of a religion using scholarly categories such as ritual, myth or institution. It aims at cross-tradition comparability but may miss believers' own meanings.

Emic perspective

An insider account using a tradition's own vocabulary and self-understanding, such as 'worship', 'dharma' or 'ummah'. It preserves meaning but is harder to compare across traditions.

Substantive definition of religion

Defines religion by content, typically belief in or relation to a transcendent being, as in Tylor's 'belief in spiritual beings'. It can exclude traditions lacking such belief.

Functional definition of religion

Defines religion by what it does, such as Durkheim's social cohesion or Geertz's cultural system of symbols. It includes non-theistic systems but may blur religion with other ideologies.

Geertz's cultural system

Clifford Geertz defines religion as a system of symbols establishing powerful moods and motivations by formulating conceptions of a general order of existence, clothing them in factuality.

Smart's seven dimensions

Ninian Smart's framework: doctrinal, mythological, ethical, ritual, experiential, institutional and material dimensions. It provides a comparative checklist for analysing any tradition without ranking it.

Essentialism error

Treating a religion as a single unchanging essence, ignoring internal diversity, historical change and local variation. It produces inaccurate comparisons and stereotypes in Scholarship essays.

Insider/outsider problem

The methodological tension between believers' self-description and analysts' external explanation. Scholarship answers must state which perspective is adopted and justify the choice.

Primary source

Evidence produced within the tradition or period studied: scripture, ritual text, artefact, autobiography or interview. It grounds claims about what a tradition teaches or practises.

Secondary source

Scholarly interpretation or analysis written about a tradition, such as a monograph or journal article. It must be evaluated for method and bias, not simply cited.

Family resemblance approach

Wittgenstein's idea that 'religion' names overlapping similarities rather than one shared essence. It supports inclusive study but complicates drawing firm boundaries.

Comparative method risks

Essentialism, decontextualisation and false equivalence. Comparing practices without their historical setting, or imposing one tradition's categories on another, produces distorted conclusions.

Sustained thesis

A single arguable claim developed across the whole essay, with each paragraph advancing it. Scholarship rewards coherence over a list of unconnected observations.

Counter-argument engagement

Stating the strongest opposing view, naming its proponents and answering it. It demonstrates evaluative depth and prevents one-sided, descriptive answers at Scholarship level.

Phenomenological epoché

Bracketing one's own assumptions to describe religious experience as it presents itself. Associated with Husserl and applied to religion by van der Leeuw and Eliade.

Decontextualisation

Removing a practice or text from its historical and social setting, then comparing it as if it were timeless. It is a frequent flaw in comparative religious essays.

False equivalence

Treating two practices as the same because they superficially resemble each other, such as equating all fasting. It ignores differing meanings, functions and theological frameworks.

Durkheim on religion

Émile Durkheim defined religion in The Elementary Forms as a unified system of beliefs and practices relating to sacred things, uniting adherents into a moral community.

Sacred and profane

Durkheim's distinction between things set apart as forbidden or revered and ordinary everyday things. The sacred is socially produced and marks group identity.

Scripture as constructed category

Wilfred Cantwell Smith argued 'scripture' is not a fixed property of texts but arises from a community's relationship with a text as sacred and authoritative.

Hermeneutics of suspicion

Interpretive stance, associated with Ricoeur, that reads texts as masking power, desire or economic interest. It treats surface meaning as concealing deeper dynamics.

Hermeneutics of trust

Interpretive stance that begins by taking a text's claims seriously and seeking to understand it on its own terms before critique. Contrasts with suspicion-based readings.

Redaction criticism

Study of how editors shaped a text by arranging, adding or modifying sources. It reveals theological emphases of the final editor rather than only original traditions.

Form criticism

Analysis of small units of tradition by their oral form and life-setting (Sitz im Leben), such as hymns or legal sayings, before they were written down.

Source criticism

Identifying the written documents behind a text, such as the hypothesised Q and Markan priority in Gospel study. It reconstructs literary dependence.

Exegesis versus eisegesis

Exegesis draws meaning from a text in its context; eisegesis reads one's own assumptions into it. Scholarship rewards exegetical care with cited textual evidence.

Contextual theology

Theology shaped by a particular social location, such as liberation, feminist or postcolonial theology. It argues all theology is situated, not neutral.

Liberation theology

Movement, notably Gustavo Gutiérrez, reading the Gospel through the poor's struggle for justice, using 'God's preferential option for the poor' and social analysis.

Feminist theology

Theology critiquing patriarchal structures in texts and institutions, recovering women's contributions and reinterpreting imagery for God beyond male dominance.

Postcolonial criticism

Analysis of how colonial power shaped religious texts, institutions and interpretations, and how colonised peoples reclaim or resist those legacies.

Atheism and non-religion studies

Study of disbelief and non-affiliation as positive worldviews, not absences. Scholars examine how secular identities are formed, organised and defended.

Religious literacy

Knowledge of traditions' texts, practices and histories sufficient to interpret public events accurately. It is distinguished from personal commitment or devotional formation.