Aronov Lecture at UA: How to Teach Religion Without Espousing a Particular Group

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Is it possible to study and teach about religion without proclaiming the truth of particular religions, indiscriminately celebrating religiousness of any kind as a human necessity, or broadly dismissing all forms of religion as an outmoded cultural fetish?

Dr. Martin S. Jaffee, professor of rabbinic Judaism and comparative religion at the University of Washington, will be on The University of Alabama campus to deliver a lecture to discuss these points.

His lecture “Can I Share a Personal Example With You?” will take place on Nov. 4, 2002, at 7 p.m. in 205 Smith Hall and is free and open to the public. A reception will follow.

Jaffee is the department of religious studies’ Fall Aronov Lecturer. He will offer some suggestions about how classroom teachers might acknowledge and negotiate the historical pitfalls of religious studies. In particular, he will illustrate a method of introducing the teacher’s own experiences with religion — both positive and negative — into the theoretical inquiries and historical discussions that shape the curriculum of religious studies departments in public universities.

“Having paid careful attention to the relationship between ones own religious identity and work as a publicly-funded scholar of religion, Professor Jaffee stands out as an example to anyone concerned with the difference between being a member of a group and knowing something about how groups happen to work,” said Dr. Russell T. McCutcheon, chair and associate professor of the department of religious studies.

Jaffee served for 10 years as the chair of the comparative religion program at the University of Washington and in 2000-01 was director of the Jackson School of International Studies. His primary area of teaching and research is the history of Judaism, but he has longstanding interests in developing theoretical and practical approaches to the academic study of religion.

The Aronov Lecture Series is an annual event organized by the department of religious studies in the College of Arts and Sciences and is sponsored by the Aaron Aronov Endowment for Judaic Studies. The lecture series highlights nationally known scholars of religion doing innovative work that will be of interest to people from a variety of backgrounds in the University community.

The department of religious studies is housed in the College of Arts & Sciences at UA. By focusing on the cross-cultural and comparative study of religion, members of the department offer courses in the study of Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, Judaism and Native American religious traditions, as well as courses on the history of scholarship, on myths and rituals, the relations between science and religion and courses in such thematic areas as religion and literature and religion and film.

Members of the department examine the history of religions in a non-evaluative manner, describing and comparing the many ways in which systems of belief and behavior are put into practice throughout the world, both past and present.

For more information call 205/348-5271.