Worldviews, Part 1

Well, it's a pretty nice deal when you finish grad school (in my case, seminary) and right off the bat get an offer to ply your new trade.  :) Just last week I found out I have a teaching gig in Spring, teaching REL 120 at a local college (as an adjunct instructor, of course; no plans to quit my day job yet). So I've been thinking about how to approach the class (it's a survey of world religions).

My current thought is to begin with presuppositions - what we bring to any study of religion before we even crack a book. There are things we each know (or at least presume) to be true about life, the world, and ourselves, regardless of what religions may say. We come to the table with a set of beliefs, whether we have spent any time thinking about them or not. And whatever lens we're looking through will determine how we view a religion or philosophy. So we really should start there, with the assumptions, spoken or unspoken, that precede and help determine our world view.

Some can be pretty simple and basic, like...

• I think, therefore I am (i.e. I am self-aware, a sentient being) 
• Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so 

or more philosophical and thought out, like...

• What we see is all there is; all is matter & energy 
• What we see is an illusion; reality is in your head
• What we see was made by someone; someone greater than us 

So maybe I'll open the class with a discussion of presuppositions and assign some supplementary reading on worldviews, like "Naming the Elephant" by James Sire, before moving on to a categorization of religions.  Which brings up another matter: how to categorize them? What is the taxonomy to be applied to religions (or worldviews for that matter)?

I can sort of envision a decision tree, made up in part of some presuppositional questions, like:

• Is materiality everything (nothing exists but matter & energy)?
• Is materiality real or illusory (can we trust our perceptions)?
• Should God be understood as a being or a force?
• Is God one, or are there many gods?
• Is(are) the God(s) personal or impersonal?
• Does God interact with the world?  With humanity?

It seems to me that the religions of the world could be grouped according to some scheme like this.  I haven't found one like it yet, but then again... I haven't seen the textbook either.  :)  Maybe it's way ahead of me.

Regardless, I'll keep looking.  No doubt I will require of the students a research paper describing their presuppositions and how they have influenced their "choice" of religious practice.  What's more, I have a feeling that at the end of such a class, I will owe the students a working example... my own.  Part two of this post will deal with that, assuming I can articulate it.  We'll see.

*********updates for taxonomy links*********

http://www.interfaithcalendar.org/Familiesofreligions.htm

http://firstthings.com/blogs/evangel/2010/08/multiple-constituencies-in-the-science-and-religion-debate/

http://www.uta.edu/philosophy/faculty/burgess-jackson/A%20Taxonomy%20of%20Religions.pdf

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/497215/classification-of-religions