logical, historical, and cultural studies touching almost all as-
pects of the academic study of religion from ancient Israel,
Africa, and Europe to contemporary religious, political, and
cultural issues in North America and abroad. Diana L. Eck
(Hinduism and religious pluralism) and Martin Marty
(Christianity and religion in the contemporary world) con-
tinue and defend the humanistic concerns of the mid-
century thinkers that religion is a kind of personal, irreduc-
ible human experience also through careful awareness and
critique of previous scholarship and through specific contri-
butions to Hindu and Christian studies.
Some scholars directly pursue this disciplinary self-
awareness by addressing the theoretical basis of the academic
study of religion and the constitution of the field (especially
under the rubrics of method, theory, or metatheory). In
many cases these approaches focus less on critiquing the dis-
cipline through specific area studies than on the academic
study of religion itself as their area study. Some prominent
voices are Hans Penner, Donald Wiebe, Catherine Bell, and
Russell McCutcheon.
Contributions continue to come from outside of reli-
gious studies as well. Examples include Edward Said (post-
colonial theory) and Talal Asad (anthropology, especially re-
ligion and secularism in the Middle East), whose writings
contribute to specific study of the Middle East while also
providing extensive theoretical and philosophical contribu-
tions on the study of culture. Works from such contributors
include Asad’s Formation of the Secular: Christianity, Islam,
Modernity (2003), which is of interest to anthropologists,
scholars of religion, and area specialists, and a broad general
readership as well. Rodney Stark (sociology, especially ratio-
nal choice theory of religion) represents different, strictly so-
cial scientific principles by offering comprehensive social sci-
entific theories to explain religion.
At one time the study of religion could be divided into
either history or sociology or according to intellectual trends,
such as functionalism, structuralism, or phenomenology.
There is no single or dominant trend in the contemporary
study of religion, although postcolonial studies, critical theo-
ry, performance studies, religion and ecology, feminism, sub-
altern studies, and cognitive science inform the traditional
orientations of history, philology, and the social sciences. As
a field religious studies constantly battles to remain relevant
to the wider public and maintain rigorous scholarly study
while also being subject to intellectual, political, and cultural
fads, trends, and moods.
INSTITUTIONAL TRENDS IN COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s colleges and universities
established departments of religious studies as part of larger
cultural trends. The “red scare” and anticommunist political
mood encouraged interest in and defense of religion as a de-
fining feature of the democratic cultures. It was also a time
of assertive revivalism, creativity, and change within tradi-
tional American religious communities. Vatican II and liber-
al Protestant theology revitalized Christian interests in “reli-
gion.” A new conservatism that emphasized historical and
textual study also emerged. The 1960s counterculture was
fascinated with so-called exotic traditions, such as Buddhism
and yoga, and also antitraditional explorations of occultism.
Changing immigration policies and patterns, the prolifera-
tion of media, international affairs, and geopolitical interests
in the Middle East and Asia all contributed to a vast increase
in international and multicultural interests. U.S. and Cana-
dian trends in higher education reflected these social and in-
tellectual trajectories, and the result was an explosion of lib-
eral arts and cultural studies programs (religious, women’s,
ethnic, and others).By the 1970s institutional boundaries were drawn more
strictly between theology and the secular study of religion.
Conservative Protestant colleges remained committed to
theological study of religion focused on the active promotion
of their particular religious views. Roman Catholic colleges
and universities tended before the 1970s to offer courses in
theology but generally did not offer majors and minors in
the study of religion. Since that time many Catholic institu-
tions have developed religion programs, and although in
many ways unlike the conservative Protestant colleges, they
are generally aimed at preparing students for occupations
within religious industries (churches and counseling). Main-
line Protestant colleges developed along parallel patterns
with public institutions, adopting ecumenical outlooks and
secularizing trends (such as in the divinity schools mentioned
above).During the 1980s and afterward programs expanded to
include a broader range of approaches, especially those of the
social sciences and cultural studies. Religious studies scholars
now regularly employ fieldwork, ethnography, statistical
analysis, demographics, cultural criticism, and performance
studies. These developments have extended the boundaries
of religious studies beyond traditional categories, such as
“scripture” or “Hinduism.” Women’s issues, the politics of
religious violence, religion and medicine, and religion and
the body are particular examples of these transformations.After the 1980s some programs in religious studies con-
tinued to grow and prosper, whereas others suffered due to
political changes and fiscal constraints in higher education.
Changes in public and private funding and the adoption of
corporate business models by many universities have caused
departments and programs to defend their existences based
on costs and enrollment. In these environments religious
studies programs must compete with other departments for
students, funding, and faculty appointments. Many pro-
grams have coped with these fiscal realities by shifting their
emphasis away from competing for majors and minors
through reframing their place within university-wide pro-
grams, such as providing courses for general education, mul-
ticultural and international initiatives, and other circum-
stances in which religious studies is not the students’ major
program of study.STUDY OF RELIGION: THE ACADEMIC STUDY OF RELIGION IN NORTH AMERICA 8787