The Politics of Religious Studies » (REV)

Donald Wiebe is Professor of Religious Studies at Trinity College in Toronto.

Debates whether to approach religion as a science, free from the dissemination of beliefs and evangelizing, or to study it as a form of faith and therefore draw lines between believers and nonbelievers.

Library Journal

Sometimes how we study is just as important and intriguing as why or what we study. Wiebe (religious studies, Trinity Coll., Toronto) has gathered an outstanding selection of his essays concerning various approaches to the study of religion. He is not an impartial scholar. He champions the idea that religion at colleges and universities should be studied as a science, as free from proselytizing as possible, and not as forms of belief that separate the faithful from the faithless. The place, he believes, for inculcating theological creed is the denominationally defined seminary. If Wiebe kept his discussion focused on this debate alone, the volume would more than pay for itself. However, he brings up a more important question: what is the true and proper role of an academy faced with conflicting paradigms in a contentious area of study? The essays addressing this question are written mainly for scholars and will be difficult for lay readers to appreciate. Recommended only for academic libraries.--Glenn Masuchika, Chaminade Univ. Lib., Honolulu