RLMgA504 Theory of religion

Faculty of Arts
Autumn 2024

The course is not taught in Autumn 2024

Extent and Intensity
1/0/0. 9 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
doc. PhDr. Luboš Bělka, CSc. (lecturer)
Mgr. Milan Fujda, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Mgr. et Mgr. Radek Kundt, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
doc. PhDr. Luboš Bělka, CSc.
Department for the Study of Religions – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Mgr. Kristýna Čižmářová
Supplier department: Department for the Study of Religions – Faculty of Arts
Prerequisites (in Czech)
TYP_STUDIA ( MND )
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
The capacity limit for the course is 30 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/30, only registered: 0/30, only registered with preference (fields directly associated with the programme): 0/30
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
The course focuses on the different treatment of theory in two research cultures, i.e., how theory is used in them, built and corrected, and when and how it enters the research process. The first of these, the "Hypothesis-driven" research culture, starts with theory and uses it to develop research questions, transforming them out into testable hypotheses and then correcting them based on empirical findings. The second, the "Data-driven" research culture, starts with data and builds theory from it. The approaches of both research cultures are developed in lectures with discussion in two segments. Discussions are based on in-depth reading and on a detailed understanding of selected texts to understand valuable differences and learn ways of overcoming the shortcomings of both cultures.
Learning outcomes
Upon successful completion of the course students will be able to:
  • become more comfortable working with the theory of the two cultures and understand the different roles of each of them;
  • understand that theory can be both a tool and a product of research;
  • reflect on the work with theory in the Study of Religions by reading two specific case studies and will be able to illustrate their specificities in relation to the practices of both cultures;
  • identify pragmatically the strengths and weaknesses of both cultures;
  • apply theory appropriately when working on their research question.
    • Syllabus
    • Introduction to Theory of Religion
    • Introduction to specific "hypothesis-driven" research
    • Identifying gaps in research and culture-changing biology
    • Alternative explanations and data validation
    • Theory as a starting point for generating research questions
    • Hypothesis-driven research culture, gaps and how to overcome them
    • Introducing specific "data-driven" research
    • Theory as critical discussion of empirics
    • Materiality and embodiment in the formation of religious realities: theoretical sensitivity and data construction
    • Environments, situations, interactions: theory, records and the researcher in the field / Ethnography and theory making in the field
    • Data-driven research culture, gaps and overcoming them
    • Student presentations of Master's projects
    Literature
      recommended literature
    • Berryman, E. (2005) Belief, Apparitions, and Rationality: The Social Scientific Study of Religion after Wittgenstein, Human Studies 28 (1): 15-39.
    • Muthukrishna, M., & Henrich, J. (2019). A problem in theory. Nature Human Behaviour, 3(3), 221–229. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-018-0522-1
    • Henrich, J. (2020). The WEIRDest People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
    • Schulz, J. F., Bahrami-Rad, D., Beauchamp, J. P., & Henrich, J. (2019). The Church, intensive kinship, and global psychological variation. Science, 366(6466). https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aau5141
    • Emerson, R. M., R. L. Fretz & L. L. Shaw. (1995). Fieldnotes in Ethnographic Research. in. R. M. Emerson, R. L. Fretz & L. L. Shaw. Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes. Chicago/ London: The University of Chicago Press: 1-16.
    Teaching methods
    Lectures; home readings; class discussions; analytical commentaries to texts; feedback; student presentations.
    Assessment methods
    Overall grade includes:
    - Oral exam
    Requirements for the oral exam - commentaries to selected study readings - active participation in class discussions (presentations)
    Language of instruction
    Czech
    Further Comments
    The course is taught annually.
    The course is taught: every week.
    • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/autumn2024/RLMgA504