Some challenges of religious studies, with Thomas Tweed [MIPodcast #58]

Maxwell Institute Podcast

Christianity, Education, Religion & Spirituality

4.7 • 809 Ratings

🗓️ 17 January 2017

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

People are usually more comfortable talking about their strengths rather than their weaknesses. It’s human nature. The same can be said about religious studies. When scholars talk about it, you can expect them to emphasize the positive. But like many academic fields, religious studies also faces challenges. Some come from the outside—say, when schools and governments and religious traditions want to know why religious studies ought to be pursued at all. Other challenges come from within, when different scholars disagree with each other about what the field should even be. In this episode, a former president of the American Academy of Religion joins us to talk about challenges of religious studies. Professor Thomas Tweed of the University of Notre Dame has spent a lot of time thinking about external and internal challenges to religious studies. His proposed solution to these challenges may sound surprising. He says religious studies scholars should think and talk more about values. You can read Tweed’s AAR presidential address here, or listen to it here. About Thomas Tweed Thomas Tweed is the Welch Professor of American Studies and a professor of history at the University of Notre Dame. He served as president of the American Academy of Religion in 2015.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	It's the Maxwell Institute podcast.
0:14.0	I'm Blair Hodges.
0:16.0	People are usually more comfortable talking about their strengths rather than their weaknesses. It's human nature.
0:21.6	The same can be said about religious studies.
0:23.6	When scholars talk about it, you can expect them to emphasize the positive, to talk about what they love about it.
0:29.6	But like many academic fields, religious studies faces some challenges.
0:33.6	Some of these challenges come from the outside, like when schools and governments and religious
0:38.1	traditions want to know why religious studies ought to be pursued at all.
0:42.3	But other challenges come from within when different scholars disagree with each other
0:46.8	about what the field should even be.
0:49.4	In this episode, a former president of the American Academy of Religion joins us to talk about
0:53.2	the challenges of religious studies. He's named Thomas Tweed. Religion joins us to talk about the challenges of
0:54.3	religious studies. He's named Thomas Tweed. He's currently a professor at the University of Notre Dame.
0:59.3	Some of you might recognize his name from the Maxwell Institute's Mormon Studies Review,
1:02.8	where he's previously published. Thomas Tweed spent a lot of time thinking about external
1:07.6	and internal challenges to religious studies. His proposed solution to these
1:11.3	challenges might sound surprising. He says religious studies scholars should think and talk more
1:17.0	to each other about values. He explains in this episode of the Maxwell Institute podcast,
1:22.9	please send your questions and comments to MI Podcast at BYU.edu. And thanks for listening.
1:31.0	We're joined today by Thomas Tweed.
1:33.2	He was the president of the American Academy of Religion in 2015, and he's currently the
1:37.7	Welch Professor of American Studies and a professor of history at Notre Dame.
	...

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