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1. Understanding Religion-A Touchy Subject (Original Content Only) (Reply is 2 paragraphs) (APA citation) (In-text citations only) a. The perspectives religious scholars provide in the Religious Studies Project (Feb 20, 2022) regarding the role that a scholar can or should take present formidable challenges to determining how the study of religion is to manifest itself. With their varying methodological approaches, the “insider/outsider” role takes precedent. If we are to take Tairn’s assessment into account, the “insider” description of what a particular religion is and does, that description may highlight only what the insider would like to present. This presentation would seem to possibly, and quite likely, fail to reveal other aspects that may be of concern to others. Lincoln would nevertheless argue, it seems, that we could only truly understand that religious tradition by way of the insider’s account, and as a religious scholar, the “intervention” should only go as far as making the perspective accessible to others. Woodhead takes the emic approach and pushes for the scholar to immerse fully in a particular religious tradition, serving both as a reference/scholar for it and representative/advocate for that tradition. Immersing oneself in this fashion as an outsider would seem to suffice for the scholarly reach, per se, but it is still entering from the outside. The insider may, in turn, never fully accept this outsider, leaving the latter with perhaps an incomplete understanding of that perspective and its concomitant traditions or rituals. On the one hand, the practitioner can provide insights not accessible to the non-practitioner, but on the other, the practitioner is limited to accounting for only what that practitioner can access, thereby bringing in the outsider for a “peek”. It would seem that to fully reveal from the inside, the scholar would need to have been acculturated in that tradition from the outset. As such, the insider account may only be fully viable by way of an active practitioner who has been fully immersed in the tradition since the practitioner’s formative years. For those who are not practitioners of a given tradition, the emic approach is plausible, but the etic approach may be more useful. For instance, the “methodological agnosticism” that Chryssides employs may provide the scholar with sufficient understanding to, at most, describe the tradition. The study of religion need not be an epistemological endeavor, and the philosophical or worldview tenets of the given tradition are not the focus. Rather, the focus is on understanding the behaviors that a given tradition foments. The description is thus sufficient for the outsider, as seeking the “truth” is not of concern.Though a methodological agnosticism may inhibit a full understanding of a tradition’s tenets, the non-practitioner’s insight may suffice to provide some measure of cross-cultural understanding. Doing so, Hedges (2021) might argue, would require taking a reflexive approach, evaluating one’s own experiences and how they impact one’s interpretations. This may help us reach out from what Hedges describes as the Protestant-based World Religions Paradigm, which in turn provides from a framework of distinct, discrete units (pp. 45-46). Sufficient only for clarifying insider/outsider divisions of what constitute institutionalized religious groups, the WRP indeed fails to account for those that are, in practice anyway, not fully sanctioned by religious institutions. If not fully unshackled from the cultural influence of WRP, then how is a Western scholar to understand a religious tradition that cannot readily be categorized by WRP? Hedges’s assertion that exercising a “hermeneutics of suspicion” is required (p.54) may help guide us. It could be argued that any scholar cannot fully separate from the influences of acculturation, and so approaching any subject requires a degree of introspection that allows the scholar to understand how the interpretation is “tainted”. This is to say that any and perhaps all qualifiers must accompany any evaluation. The scholar is thus able to claim an understanding with an assortment of caveats, making clear to others the lens through which the understanding is wrought. References Hedges, P. M. (2021). Understanding religion: Theories and methods for studying religiously diverse societies. University of California Press. (Original Content Only) (Reply is 2 paragraphs) (APA citation) (In-text citations only) b. When studying a religious tradition from a practitioner’s (insider) perspectives comes with pros and cons. The pros of being the insider it is a religion that is already being followed by the person. The insider also knows the practices and understands the religion.The insider is passionate about their own religion and honor the religion being practiced. The religion is not strange because he or she is already familiar with it (2022, February, 20). As the insider they are familiar with the meaning of religion. The cons of being the insider is finding it hard to accept the truths because the insider is only focused on what he or she knows currently. From a non-practitioner’s perspective is being the outsider the non believer who can’t belong to any of the religions being studied. The pros of being an outsider is having the opportunity to learn and represent different religions. Outsiders are able to understand other cultures rather than self. The cons of being an outsider is learning to be familiar with strange and learning to accept it as a practice to get the full experience. The outsider may wonder why people follow the religion and what it means to them when practicing the religion (2022, February, 20). The need to understand believes, what interested the community in the believe and overall the practice they follow. To reconcile these two possible perspectives as an outsider would be to be open to the religion or practices and when speaking about the religion is to always speak the truth and respect it. For the insider would be to be less biased and subjective. They both can work together by accepting one another for whom they are, compromising and overall having respect for one another through thoughts, beliefs, practices and overall not trying to change each other. Both can have really good perspectives and point of views by helping understand a new culture rather than just ourselves. Reference Hedges, P. (2021). Understanding religion: theories and methods for studying religiously diverse societies. University of California Press. 2. What is Involved in Studying Religion? (Original Content Only) (Reply is 2 paragraphs) (APA citation) (In-text citations only) a. Identifying a syncretistic example of religious blending can prove difficult, for as Ireland (2008) points out, there is no such thing as a pure religion. All institutional religions, Ireland argues, have gone through some syncretism, and that syncretism comprises part of religion. Granting this, and given Hedges’s (2021) claim that syncretism is normal and natural (p. 79), how is one to distinguish when, how and what agents are involved in the process? How does one recognize that syncretism is taking place? Surely, its dynamic nature must follow a course or pattern, and perhaps this course or pattern comes into focus when we examine lived religion. The practices involved in lived religion reveal the process of syncretism, such that in and of themselves the practices generate the amalgamation of practices seen in two or more dominant worldviews. Colpe (2005) discusses some historical examples of syncretism, indicating that we have seen large scale transformations. We can certainly see that Islam “borrowed” from Christianity and Judaism, and that Judaism borrowed from Zoroastroism, and that Buddhism borrowed from Hinduism, and so on (pp. 8927-8931). How this process is made more clear, however, requires looking within the practices of lived religion. The core doctrines and tenets of each are distinct, but it is in their practices that we see the blending of sorts, making the practice of one nearly indistinguishable in purpose and method from the other. To an outsider of Islam and Christianity, for instance, the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca and in the Catholic pilgrimage to holy sites throughout the Christian world may appear as serving the same purpose(s). One might be pressed to find the elite, doctrinal figures within such systems as Christianity, Islam and Judaism who would accept that the religions they respectively represent are syncretistic to any degree. It could be argued, too, that the majority of each of these religious institutions’ adherents would also not recognize the parallels. The devout of each seem to contest the devout of the others, and so in the practices of their lived religion they cannot help but to ignore the parallels. At the doctrinal level, the devout tend to subscribe to only one, even when these Abrahamic religions seem to have more in common than what the elite of each dictate. Perhaps identifying singular examples of syncretism is not at all possible, then, for syncretism may simply be defined as a process of cultural “borrowing”. As such, “syncretism can thus be seen as an adaptive strategy on the part of many different individuals and social groups to both cross and maintain boundaries” (Murphy, 1999, p. 714). Once the syncretism, or adaptation, has met the demands of two different traditions, the resulting lived religion stands out as a unique identifier of what could be argued as being a new “sect”. References Colpe, C. (2005). Syncretism [First Edition]. In L. Jones (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Religion (2nd ed., Vol. 13, pp. 8926-8934). Macmillan Reference USA. (Original Content Only) (Reply is 2 paragraphs) (APA citation) (In-text citations only) b. An example I found in Korea that represent syncretism religion is the Unification Church also known as Family Federation for World Peace and Unification. Syncretism religion is when the process of interchange and interaction that occurs when two or more distinct beliefs systems are combined to create a new religion. Unification church first derived from christianity along, Shamanism and Confucianism. “Sun Myung Moon claims that on Easter morning 1935,Jesus Christ appeared to him and asked him to complete the mission that he had begun 2000 years ago”(Sunday School,2024). “Later in 1945 he organized his findings into what later became known as the Divine Principle and began to preach publicly in North Korea”.(Sunday School,2024) During that time he was arrested for disturbing the social order, five years later he was rescued by United Nations forces and began preaching again. “In 1954 he officially established his new church in Seoul, calling it the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity, his church attracted many followers”(Sunday School,2024).1960 Moon married his wife, Hak Ja Han, making it the beginning of the restoration of humankind. By God’s power, Moon and his wife were able to lead a sinless life and establish the position of True Parents. Moon Religion teaches that he is the new Messiah and he and his wife are the true parents that will implant God heart of love to his new followers and complete Jesus work. The Messiah vision is to bring mass weddings by unifying strangers up to 2,000 couples sharing their wedding and create the ideal family through peace and faith. The religion is criticized by ex-members for its teachings and for its social and political influence, calling it a dangerous cult, a political powerhouse, and a business empire. Sun Myung Moon wrote a book called “The Divine Principle” promoted by the Unification Church as having more weight and authority than the Bible(Sunday School,2024). People must marry strangers in the same group and have kids in order to be saved, or be accepted, for the kingdom.The donations made through the church from the embers does not cycle back into the local groups but leaders live a better life than most of the members that attend. Church has been currently being observed by the IRS(Sunday School,2024). The finances of Unification Church is certainly a malpractice (Sunday School,2024). Sun Myung built his own religion with his own beliefs and believed he is the Messiah, he passed away in 2014 and the practice of religion still continues with over 100,000 member. Reference Sunday Schools. (2024). 6 Sun Myung Moon’s Unification Church. Cults. http://www.cs.cornell.edu/info/people/kreitz/Christian/Cults/6.moon.pdf 3. Imagining a Healthy, Holistic Approach (Original Content Only) (Reply is 2 paragraphs) (APA citation) (In-text citations only) a. Hi everyone! I feel like all these questions could have a million possibilities but no right answers. There are pros and cons to a practitioner versus non practitioner studying a religion from misinterpretation, to lack of acknowledgement of religious problems. In my opinion the only way to truly know a religion similar to knowing and understanding a culture is to come at it from an open mind and experience it fully for yourself. To know a culture you should go live with people who practice it, experience traditions, ceremonies, death. Learn what these mean to those people. This of course is not always academically practical however it could give a good insider view for the individual to obtain their own options. One of the biggest aspects of understanding is to ask questions, ask why they partake in certain rituals or believe certain things. Always be curious of their culture. As we enter the next section of the course I will grabble with how I can better understand religion void of bias and what is encompassed under this term religion, similar to what we focused on last week. One question that came up through reading was is there a downside to exposure to different religions for those practicing the religion? Through the exposure and understandings of religion does it exploit certain things or invite negativity or scrutiny? There is not much else I want clarification on I feel like the things I am questioning are meant to be questioned and discussed and I look forward to doing so. Something that I have learned so far in this course, or a learning that has resurfaced is the need to discuss these questions and topic regarding religion. I feel like within religion you can become comfortable but to continue to seek to understand your religion or the religion of others. (Original Content Only) (Reply is 2 paragraphs) (APA citation) (In-text citations only) b. Through last week and current week religion I learned that religion has certain ways of how it ought to be studied and can be far more complex than I simply thought it was. How language barriers can affect the meanings and have language barrier that can translate different meanings. It is important to understand that every religion tradition involves interpretation. In order to learn a religion you have to study it experience it and be open minded when going in and respecting the practices and religion. Religion can also be involved politically that scholars suggest to only study how it is used but never use it because scholars cannot control how it is used for its advantage or disadvantage (Hedge, 2021). In order to understand a certain religion you must only honor to one set of belief rather than several. Only practice as insider of one religion at a time.(Hedge,2021). Hedges also mentions the three different ways of looking at the world to understanding religion is open book is to read them as we o everything ourselves giving us a traditional way thinking about knowledge and understanding. Second is Hidden Codes is understanding that other cultures will not be obvious to us because peoples outer belief or ideas be based on internal/psychological motivation which is unknown. Third mirror of the Self is we will never understand others peoples cultures because of our own biases and prejudices. (Hedge, 2021) As we enter the next section of the course I may find it it challenging when it comes to learn about other practices and religions to not be bias or judgmental and to look at it in an open book. I also find it challenging and questioning how Hedge is correct about how language causes different meanings to cultures and practices how it causes people like me to not be open to the truths of other perspectives from scholars and other religions. I think something I do find very challenging is when I do not understand a meaning to a word I come across on the book of Understanding Religion by Paul Hedge that I have never heard of and I try looking it up and than I become unsure if its the same meaning to what I googled and Hedge means. No new questions I would like to discuss currently. I think for further in the next section of the course I will look for further clarification through professor in order to make sure I am understanding correctly. Important learning I have encounter was being able to learn that there is people who focus to studying different religions all there lives in order to present it to audience like me in other to know and understand other beliefs, practices that make up their religion. I also thought that the syncretism term is something very unique and different in how more than two religions are merged to make a new one very interesting. It really made me see how it has created so many cultures, beliefs, and practices around the world such like the one I studied on question two of Unification Church. Reference Hedges, P. (2021). Understanding religion: theories and methods for studying religiously diverse societies. University of California Press. 4. Demonstrating a theoretical approach (Original Content Only) (Reply is 2 paragraphs) (APA citation) (In-text citations only) a. The theoretical perspective that aligned with this case would be the Need Theory (Burton 1979.) Needs such as health or working environment conditions that aren’t being met will ultimately cause conflict in the workplace. In this case, the human needs are simply not being met by upper management and this is causing major conflict in Gulf seafood products. What is causing this conflict is the Director of Operations is not listening to the department manager who is pointing out the issues that are causing many issues in the workplace. Issues such as outdated equipment, no health insurance, and employees getting ill or some of the main issues going on in the company. Robinski is reluctant to replace the outdated equipment and fix the lighting that is causing employees not to see the food clearly enough. This was enough for Hue to complain to upper management in order to try and get the help that his employees needed. These human needs were not being met, which caused the need theory conflict to ultimately occur and get multiple managers fired in the process for seeking these needs. My solution would be for one of these managers, especially Robinski, to file a complaint with the Occupational Safety & Health Opportunity Administration (OSHA.) By doing this, you are going to a federal agency that enforces safe and healthful working conditions that enforce safety standards and assistance to those who need it. This also puts pressure on upper management to maintain the reputation of their company, and to ensure that their company overall also does not get shut down. Every employee has a right to work in a safe environment and if the employer fails to do so, and forces their employees to work in hazardous conditions this may cause future damages that a company cannot come back from. Review the attached case study (a real story). Using one of the theoretical perspectives, discuss the sources of conflict, the reasons for the escalation, and potential solutions. (Original Content Only) (Reply is 2 paragraphs) (APA citation) (In-text citations only) b. After reviewing the case study, I feel that a couple of the theoretical perspectives come into play. First off, there is some role conflict going on. Hue is supposed to oversee food processing and is technically doing his job when he raised concerns, but upper management made him feel as though he was causing issues not doing his job. The source of conflict is money and the CEO’s refusal to invest in his business. It wasn’t until a press leak was threatened that he was willing to fix the on-going issues at the plant. There seems to be systemic issues going on at this facility as well. All the members of the organization are not on the same page and this is causing disorder amongst the group. The escalation happened because instead of addressing the root problems which were the equipment and lighting, they chose to fire manager after manager costing them thousands in the long run while solving nothing. In our readings this week, Morton Deutsch spoke about harnessing conflict and removing false perceptions. Some potential solutions could lie in the conflict itself. Lower management perceived that upper management care more about the bottom dollar than the safety of their plant and product. While Upper management perceives that Hue was just trying to stir up issues instead of the employees “taking accountability” in the way of getting glasses to see (which they couldn’t afford) and just making the equipment work. After clearing up inaccurate perceptions, they could hire a maintenance team to survey the equipment and see if it’s more cost effective to fix the equipment or buy new equipment. We learned this week about emotional styles and how they can affect how one perceives conflict. The bosses were turning over management who wanted to genuinely fix issues at the plant. Instead, had they reeled in their emotions, maybe they would have seen it’s costing them more to go through staff than it would to fix the root issues. 5. Example of workplace conflict (Original Content Only) (Reply is 2 paragraphs) (APA citation) (In-text citations only) a. I have recently been rewatching the TV series Parks and Recreation. In the first season, there is an episode where the main character, Leslie Knope, is trying to convince her boss, Ron Swanson, to give her a subcommittee to work on building a new park. The conflict is happening because Leslie is lobbying hard for a subcommittee to build this park, but Ron is resisting because he does not want a new park to be built. Ron says, “I don’t want this parks department to build any parks because I don’t believe in government.” The challenge in this conflict that makes it difficult to resolve is the competing and opposing perspectives and desires. Leslie believes in government and how it can operate to make the community a better place. Ron does not believe in government and does not want the government to play a role in the community. This conflict can be viewed through group (sometimes referred to as field) theory. Leslie and Ron are interdependent, but they have conflicting perspectives. They are not on the same page, so they lack cooperation and team spirit. In particular, Ron’s perspective is impeding Leslie from achieving her (and the park department’s) goals. Eventually, Ron does give Leslie the subcommittee, but not until other employees get involved. A clip of this example for your viewing pleasure https://youtu.be/EwiLMaqGYbo?si=Qy4pGsURTC6ILEX3 (Original Content Only) (Reply is 2 paragraphs) (APA citation) (In-text citations only) b. This week I’m sourcing an episode of a show I grew up watching called The Gilmore Girls. It was an episode that took a comical stance on something that is actually very serious in the workplace; sexual harassment. The concierge of the Inn (Mishele) where this took place wanted the owner to give a detailed class on sexual harassment and include in it oogling someone else or commenting on their body to be against the code of conduct. The owner simply said don’t touch anyone else or let them touch you end of story. Mishele was outraged that his particular points weren’t made. She didn’t address them because she felt this was a personal issue with the concierge, not the other employees. The difficulty in resolving this is that Mishele did many roles at the Inn and was a valued employee, but his demands were a little over the top and the owner felt like she was picking her battles. The dilemma is, do they risk losing Mishele, a great employee, or risk losing multiple other employees who are offended by having to attend such a seminar especially if they felt it didn’t apply to them? I think by using emotional regulation and thinking about this rationally, they could have, before the meeting, agreed on a negotiated set of talking points that made them both feel comfortable while avoiding making the attending employees feel awkward. The book I’m reading would identify this kind of workplace conflict as an Identity Conflict. “Identity conflicts occur when people sense that the very essence of who they are has been attacked, belittled or ignored” (Angelica, 2004). In this case, Mishele prides himself on his physique and didn’t want it disrespected by being talked about or “oogled” as he called it. This workplace conflict includes both real issues and perceived issues. It’s hard to distinguish which is which until you sit down and break down all the misconceptions to find the root of the problem. I believe a one-on-one with Mishele where he could get out his emotions and frustrations would help get to the bottom of why sexual harassment was a pressing issue for him. Megan K Angelica, M. P. (2004). Resolving conflict in nonprofit organizations: The Leader’s Guide to finding Constructive Solutions. Amherst H. Wilder Foundation. 6. (Original Content Only) (Reply is 300 words) (APA citation) (In-text citations only) a. For this first discussion board assignment, describe the administrative structure at your church. Does the senior pastor lead most of the administration, or is there a staff of people who lead the administrative functions of the church? Identify one strength and one weakness in your church’s administrative structure, and then provide a brief proposal for how you would strengthen the area of weakness. Be gracious with your response, and support your answer with scripture. I am a member of an independent baptist Church. I am part of the ministerial staff. The governance of the Church is vested in its members and subject to their control. There is not a board, committee or pastor who can usurp the voting power of the Church body. The pastor however, leads most of the Church administration; there are two administrative bodies on which the pastor serves in an Ex-Officio capacity. In recent years my Church has incorporated and developed a strategic organizational plan. The elected officers of the Church are as follows: Pastor, Chairperson of the Diaconate, Director of the Trusttee Board, Church Clerk, Treasurer, Financial Secretary, Chairperson of the Finance Committee, Superintended of Sunday School, Chairperson of the Music Committee, Chairperson of the Stewardship Committee and Chairperson of Christian Education. My Church has a standing Advisory Council which serves as a general overseer of all Church ministries’ plans. This Council serves to coordinate and correlate all of the Church organizations and activities in a harmonious manner. They review plans such as long range studies and ministerial programs. The Council also acts as an advisor to the Pastor on all matters that concerns the congregation as a body. The Council is composed of all Heads of Church organizations and are called to meet by-monthly to determine compliance with scripture. The Holy Scriptures dictate the need for structure within the Church. This example can be found in Ephesians 4:11-15; ” (11) It was He who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, (12) to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up, (13) until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. (14) Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. (15) Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Him who is the Head, that is, Christ.” The preceding scripture is how the Church seeks to be in accordance with God. As with most faith traditions, the Pastor of the Church is viewed as all-knowing and the body tends to vote according to the Pastor’s wishes where it pertains to decision making. Weakness rears its head when the body fails to remember the humanity of its leader. We as individuals are fickle, frail and subject to make mistakes. A system of checks and balances should be adhered to at all times as a safeguard to protect the reputation and integrity of the Church. Adhering to the administrative structure protects the Pastor as well. If I were to propose that we do anything differently, it would be that we follow the same God inspired guidelines that are in place. Each of us are endowed with spiritual gifts. 1 Corinthians 12 reminds us that there are different kinds of gifts; 1 Corinthians 12: 4-7 states: “(4) There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. (5) There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. (6) There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. (7) Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.” Order, being a characteristic of God is what we should always strive for.
