Uncertainty in the study of belief: the risks and benefits of methodological agnosticism

Bell, Emma; Taylor, Scott

doi:10.1080/13645579.2013.798973

Cited by 13 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 62 publications

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“…A more recent variant of this discussion is the implications of research carried out by believers or practitioners of the faith under scrutiny, and the extent to which this may either undermine or enhance research practices. As this stands in contrast to what has become a normative sense of "methodological atheism", many debates about insider/outsider status raise anxieties about research design and methods (McCutcheon 1999;Arweck & Stringer 2002;Knott 2010;Bell & Taylor 2014). This special edition takes a different starting point: that of research experience rather than design or methodology.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plotting belonging: interrogating insider and outsider status in faith research

Katie¹,

Cornish²,

Joyce³

2015

Diskus

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Fifteen years ago an outpouring of new academic material asserted the value of being an insider in religious research. Conventional assumptions that linked objectivity with outsider status were challenged. This valuable burst of scholarship worked hard to critique the kind of research that preceded it, where faith or identity was seen to compromise research values, and undermine integrity and rigour. This special edition interrogates the legacy of the shift towards practitioner-research with religious-spiritual-magical-secular communities, particularly, but not only, when research examines broader social, historical and political concerns as well as the processes of faith and belief. It examines some more experiential dynamics of research to consider how the insider/outsider debate plays out from the inside of the research process.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plotting belonging: interrogating insider and outsider status in faith research

Katie¹,

Cornish²,

Joyce³

2015

Diskus

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“…Methodological agnosticism (Porpora, ; Bell and Taylor, ; Berger, ) is another way of describing a personally distantiated perspective on faith claims: it involves taking in moral and faith claims as they are described by those who hold those positions and curiously inquiring as to the origins and consequences of these claims without accepting or rejecting the truth of the claims themselves. Methodological agnosticism can be productive for understanding religions a gaining distance from the object of study, allowing for knowledge acquisition without debate.…”

Section: Articlementioning

confidence: 99%

Growing interreligious and intercultural competence in the classroom

Lindsay

2020

Teaching Theology & Religion

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Building on various models for intercultural and interreligious competence (IC/IR competence), this essay argues that classroom learning about religious and cultural diversity will engage students' “sociological imaginations” and lead to increased IC/IR competence. The current strategy for increasing intercultural competence (attitude, skills and knowledge, to be developed in that order) does not reflect best practices for educating about social difference. Instead, knowledge acquisition about other cultures and religions is the “front line” task for increasing alterity competence, and the liberal arts classroom can represent a “safe space” for learning about cultural and religious differences in a depersonalized, sociological manner. Supporting this argument are self‐assessments of IC/IR competence collected from primarily European and white American students enrolled in “Religions of the World” or “Intercultural Communications,” allowing an analysis of IC/IR competence in light of the two distinct disciplines and contributing valuable data toward a broader theory of IC/IR pedagogy.

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“…Tout comme l'athéisme méthodologique, l'agnosticisme méthodologique était préconisé pour tous, peu importe leurs croyances religieuses. Celles-ci étaient conçues comme source de biais potentiel pouvant affecter les cadres méthodologiques en vigueur dans les années 1970, et qui persistent encore aujourd'hui (Bell et Taylor 2014). D'où la parution de l'article intitulé : « Must a Scholar of Religion Be Methodologically Atheistic or Agnostic ?…”

Section: L'athéisme Méthodologiqueunclassified

L’anthropologie « post-séculière » du religieux

Meintel

2019

theologi

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Elle travaille actuellement sur des analyses de données d'une enquête sur les religions au Québec qui a touché plus que 230 groupes religieux ou spirituels à travers la province. Elle développe également des projets de recherche sur les migrants catholiques au Québec et sur les collaborations interconfessionnelles. Elle a récemment publié (2018) D. Meintel, et al., L'immigration et l'ethnicité dans le Québec contemporain,

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Uncertainty in the study of belief: the risks and benefits of methodological agnosticism

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Cited by 13 publications

References 62 publications

Plotting belonging: interrogating insider and outsider status in faith research

Plotting belonging: interrogating insider and outsider status in faith research

Growing interreligious and intercultural competence in the classroom

L’anthropologie « post-séculière » du religieux

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