Canthestudyofreligionbejustified?Scholarshipinreligion,especiallyworkin“theoryandmethod,“ispreoccupiedwithmattersofresearchprocedureandthusinarticulateaboutthegoalsthatmotivatescholarshipinthefield.Forthatreason,thefieldsuffersfromacrisisofrationale.RichardB.Milleridentifiessixprevailingmethodologiesinthefield,andthenoffersanalternativeframeworkforthinkingaboutthepurposesofthediscipline.Shadowingthesevariousmethodologies,henotes,isaWeberianscientificidealforstudyingreligion,onethataspirestovalue-neutrality.Thisidealfortifiesa“regimeoftruth“thatundercutseffortstothinknormativelyandteleologicallyaboutthefield’spurposeandvalue.Miller’salternativeframework,CriticalHumanism,theorizesabouttheendsratherthanthemeansofhumanisticscholarship.WhyStudyReligion?offersanaccountofhumanisticinquirythatisheldtogetherbyfourvalues:Post-criticalReasoning,SocialCriticism,Cross-culturalFluency,andEnvironmentalResponsibility.Orderedtosuchpurposes,Millerargues,scholarsofreligioncanrelaxtheircommitmenttomattersofmethodologicalprocedureandadvocateforthevalueofstudyingreligion.Thefutureofreligiousstudieswilldependonhowwellitcanarticulateitsgoalsasabasisformotivatingscholarshipinthefield.
STUDY MILLER POST RELIGION CROSS
