UWS BA ePDPs

Today’s learning proved to me just how complex the concept of Religion is and the impacting effects it has on society. I learned a number of new aspects today including a new type of religion, Sect. I had previous knowledge of established religions and their role in society, however discussing Cults in depth and learning valuable stories of them helped improve my understanding of a Sect religion.

One main concept I understood fairly was the positive and negative aspects of Religion. Coming from an area in Scotland where religion can be a conflictual subject within my community, I understand how Religious diversity can bring both competition and separation to group of people. I also can see how it can ultimately unites believers to defend the idea of spirituality.

An area of improvement  I have identified within the main concepts and issues of the topic would familiarising myself with the anthropologists and scholars we studied in the lecture. I feel to succeed in understanding Religion and society is to study and investigate deeper into the scholar’s findings.

To sum up, so far I find the topic of Religion and Society very interesting and look forward to looking into it in more detail.

 

Monday 16th January – Reflective Blog

In our first lecture of the module, Society and Lifestyles we were introduced to the topic of religion. After having no education in religion for the last 5 years I found this input to be incredibly eye opening.  I enjoyed the way the concept of religion was introduced to us. From my school experience of studying religion, we would consider individual religions and their beliefs and traditions. However, today I felt we could look at religion from scholarly approach, considering many aspects such as the Functions of Religion and Religious Diversities. From the classes I learned a great deal about theorists and their views on religion. I felt this was beneficial as we could have theory to back up the ideas being presented to us.

In my opinion, we were given a lot of information in a short time. Because of this I am struggling to fully understand some concepts such as functionalism. However, I hope to revise the notes given and complete the past exam papers. Doing so will allow me to have an overall better understanding in the areas I am struggling to comprehend at present and, additionally, allow me to understand how to answer the exam questions to a high standard.

 

eJournal- reflective work for 16th of January. As a result of our first lecture, of the society and lifestyle module, I have now understood religion from a different perspective. Having done higher Religious education in high school, I understand and know a fair amount about religion and how religions differ between one another. However, during … Continue reading Laura Tennent ePDP UWS →

The lecture and tutorial today helped me gain a better insight into what religion is and how it is defined in the world. I learned that there many types of religion and that they can be split into different categories such as established religions, sects and cults. This was something I did not know before as I thought that sects and cults were not classed as religions. I also learned about some of the theorists involved in religion and this helped me to understand religion from a more academic point of view. I also understand a bit better from the lecture and independent task how religion can be influenced and interpreted by theorist views.

                I feel that the notes and concepts were a bit confusing at first as it is such a heavy workload, however I feel that it will be easier to understand the concepts by reading the extra reading materials and trying to link the concepts to modern day society and religion. I also feel that I will enjoy the module and so I will find it easier to learn the concepts and theory.

                I enjoyed the tutorial today as we got to share our opinions with people we didn’t perhaps speak to very often within the class. It was useful to get to hear other people’s opinion on religion and how their own faiths linked in with the information about religion and the research we had found out about the theorists.

                By being a part of this module, I feel that I will gain a better understanding of religion in the world around me and may notice more aspects of religion that I did not notice before. I think that this will be useful in a primary school setting as a teacher because I think that it will be easier to adapt lessons and gain more insight to the different religions and cultures that children are part of. As a future primary teacher, I aspire to be able to make all children in my care feel comfortable expressing their beliefs and practices regarding their religion and not to feel that they cannot in other people’s presence in society.

                Using what I have learned today and my previous understanding of religion, I can see how religion has an impact on societies and lifestyles. I can see from both sides that religion can be both good and challenging. I can see and understand, following Durkheim’s theory that religion brings society together and the benefits that this has. I can also see how religion can be derived and divide societies through cults and negative forces on a religion.

                Overall, through the course of the lecture, independent task and the tutorial I have gained a better insight into religion and societies and lifestyles and how religion impacts society and lifestyles. I feel that I will grasps the concepts better by reading over notes and further reading. I am deeply interested in this subject and I am looking forward to learning more about the topic in the module.