On Teaching Religion: Essays by Jonathan Z. Smith - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0197777015 ISBN 13: 9780197777015

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2024

Synopsis

For more than thirty years, Jonathan Z. Smith was among the most important voices of critical reflection within the academic study of religion. Smith had also produced a significant corpus of essays and lectures on teaching and on the essential role of academic scholarship on religion in matters of education and public policy. Education was not a side issue for Smith, and his essays continually shed light on fundamental questions. What differentiates college from high school? What are the proper functions of an introductory course? What functions should a department serve in undergraduate and graduate education? How should a major or concentration be conceived-if at all? What roles should the academic guilds play in public discourse on education and on religion? Most importantly, what does it mean to say that one is both a scholar and a teacher, and what responsibilities does this entail?

Smith's writings on these crucial issues for education have been largely inaccessible until now. Some pieces in this book appeared in education journals, while others were collected in specialist volumes of conference proceedings. Many were originally delivered as keynote speeches to the American Academy of Religion and other major scholarly organizations, and although scholars reminisce about hearing Smith deliver them, the works themselves are not readily available. On Teaching Religion collects the best of these essays and lectures into one volume.

About this title

About the Author

Christopher I. Lehrich is the author of The Occult Mind and The Language of Demons and Angels.

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2024
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0197777015
• ISBN 13: 9780197777015
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 176
• Editor: Lehrich Christopher I.