religion – Page 5 – UWS BA ePDPs

Societies and Lifestyles – Week 1 – 16/1/17

Week 1 – Religion and Society/Religion and Culture The first lecture, independent study and tutorial I found quite interesting for societies and lifestyles. I quite enjoy learning about cultural and religious diversities and modern studies which means this module will be an interesting one for me. As soon as the lecture began it […]

Society and Lifestyles Monday 16 January 2017

Today’s lesson revolved around looking at religion and seeing the different points of view of what people think religion is and what it does. We looked at different types of religion as a social institution. We looked at different theories of religion. An example of this is Bronislaw Malinowski who believed that there were scientific laws of culture could also be applied to religion in that religion serves particular needs of individuals and society. The theories was the area I felt I struggled to grasp and understand fully. To fix this I will read up on the theories and hopefully after looking over it I will eventually being able to increase my knowledge on these theories. I feel even though I struggled with the theories I still came out knowing an awful lot more than I did when I walked in as before today my knowledge on religion was very limited and made me think about what I believe the definition of religion is. This can relate to my general understanding of how much religion actually impacts me and society without me even realising. Like I said early I think I need to improve my knowledge and understanding of the different theories of religion and also become more vocal in group tasks and trying to answer out more.

Week 1 Society and Lifestyles

Religion and Society The concepts discussed throughout the day, on first glance, seemed confusing and challenging to understand as this is a brand new topic we were looking at today and I didn’t know what to expect from it. I had previously studied RMPS at the school and it focused on viewing the specific … Continue reading Week 1 Society and Lifestyles →

Religion and Society

The concepts discussed throughout the day, on first glance, seemed confusing and challenging to understand as this is a brand new topic we were looking at today and I didn’t know what to expect from it. I had previously studied RMPS at the school and it focused on viewing the specific details of one religion, rather than looking at the topic ‘Religion’ as a whole, and then relating ideas to famous works of anthropologists.

Today I learned a lot about religion and how it can be perceived whether a person is looking at it from the inside – so it is a person’s own belief they are looking at from their own view point and from their religion’s teachings (also known as the believer’s approach) – or from the outside – a non-biased view of the religion (also known as the scholarly approach).

I began to comprehend some of the topics covered throughout the course of the day. However, I am still trying understand how to relate the theorist’s ideas to the concepts we are learning. I am sure that once I begin to work through the information, revise the notes from today and look at exam style questions that I will be able to see the connections between the information and theories and apply it to my work.

Today’s lecture and workshop has allowed me to see identify the challenges of religious diversity on society. As I got to look at this topic it allowed me to see how important it is to hold non-biased view to each of them, because, as a primary teacher, I will have to appreciate and respect every child’s religion and needs in my classroom so that they are not left out or feel discriminated against.

Therefore, to continue through this module, I will need to revise all of my notes as much as I can to allow me to look at exam type questions and work on relating what I am saying to answer a question to an anthropologists work to allow me to receive as many marks as possible in my exam.

Society and Lifestyle

What is religion? A question which may have appeared simple to me at first glance. Yet, despite assuming this would be simple to answer, I have been able to take […]

Religion, Diversity and Society

This week’s input opened my eyes to the many differing opinions and definitions of ‘Religion’. I have always been fascinated by religion and enjoy learning about different religions and cultures worldwide. RME was not a subject I was offered and school and therefore I feel that this module will give me a deeper insight and … Continue reading Religion, Diversity and Society →

Religion, Society and Diversity

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 … Continue reading Religion, Society and Diversity →

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.

Religious Diversity

During this lecture I really got a feel for the overall module and started to reflect on how I can teach religious education in schools. As a Catholic myself, it is clear I have to remove myself from the point of view of a religious person and teach each religion as if I as an … Continue reading Religious Diversity →

I was taken a-back when learning about cult cultures, and especially the Jim Jones cult, and the tragic end that his thousands of followers came to.

One quote that really made me think and will probably resonate in my heart and my head for a long time is as follows;

Religion does not kill,
Religion does not make you miserable,
Culture does not kill,
Culture does not make you miserable,
They are supposed to make you whole.
If that does not happen –
Something is wrong.

Dr. Yonah Matemba (2017)

Religion, Society and Diversity 1.

The first lecture of Society and Lifestyles really showed me that there is a lot more to society and religion than I know. Although the class was filled with a lot of new information, I was certainly kept engaged throughout. Throughout the day, I gained a lot of new knowledge. We discussed the meaning of religion … Continue reading Religion, Society and Diversity 1. →

Religion, Society and Diversity

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 […]

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.

Laura Tennent ePDP UWS

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 →