The Four Themes

For nineteen years I have taught courses in World Religions at a small residential college in New England.  One of my greatest challenges has been finding textbooks I want to use.  For the most part, textbook authors start with the history of a religion, its founder (if there is one) and foundational stories, its growth and dispersion, the teachings or beliefs of that religion, and the practices commonly found among adherents. The approach is essentially historical and sociological. There's very little engagement with the content of religious belief or teaching, no attempt to delve into what part of the human person a religion touches, animates, motivates.

The longer I taught and studied various religions the more I began to intuit some common themes among them.  I make no claims for religions that I do not practice, and I am only a practitioner of Christianity.  Insofar as I can see, though, religions seem to address a set of concerns that occur, with variations, across cultures and time periods.

The first theme derives from the Latin root for the word "religion."  "Ligio" refers to the act of tying or binding two (or more) things together.  The English prefix "re-" suggests that these elements were once unified, then became separated, and the goal of "re-ligion" is to bind them back together.  Thus the essential questions become, what has been pulled apart, how did this happen, and how can that separation be overcome?  This theme works most clearly with Christianity as it defines sin as anything that separates us from God, and salvation as the work of Christ which reconciles us to God.  

This led me to the next theme, the idea that religions exist, at least in part, to offer solutions to problems that each religion considers to be universally human.  In this case, Buddhism is the clearest example: All life is suffering, dukkha, according to the Buddha, and the entire rest of Buddhist teaching aims to clarify the causes and remedies for human suffering.  Note that in both Christianity and Buddhism, one does not need to "belong" to that tradition for that particular problem to affect one.  In Christianity, all humans sin, not just Christians.  In Buddhism, all humans suffer, not just Buddhists.  The "diagnosis" is universal; the remedy applies to those who choose that particular path.  Note, too, that the "universal diagnosis" is different in the two religions - their definitions of the underlying problem in human existence is quite different, hence the different methods to address them.

The third theme addresses the genesis of various practices - practices are physical expressions of beliefs.  In Islam, a devoted Muslim practices submission to Allah, and expresses that submission physically by bowing to the floor in prayer, salat. Members of other faiths may also choose to bow in the presence of images of a deity or saint, but reverence is not the same as submission.  While the acts appear similar, the beliefs that generates them are different, giving the gesture a different meaning.  

The fourth theme has to do with the nature of narrative in various religions.  As 21st century people we tend to regard religious narratives as historical accounts of central persons or events.  That approach has led to the deeply felt conflicts between science and religion, and between and within religions themselves.  I teach these narratives as "symbolic stories," stories whose intention is to point beyond their factual basis (if any) toward a dimension of truth that exists both within and beyond the reported "facts."  It's easier to see this symbolic level at work in other people's religious stories; it's more difficult to accept in one's own.  I find it helpful to appeal to the practice of telling parables as a way to make this theme more approachable. 

That fourth theme - the notion that the stories we tell about our creation, our gods, our prophets, and ourselves point to a larger truth than just the characters themselves - is the idea that will take me into the next post - the heroic biography as the essential human story.  I'll be teaching that course next spring, and I can't wait!!