Why We Want to Study Religion | Dr. Carol Anderson | TEDxKalamazooCollege

A university professor natured in the untold gender and feminine drama of religious history challenges us to return to defining the power of religious and spiritual forces in our lives instead of letting the cultural boxes limit our capacity for growth and spiritual innovation.

Dr. Carol Anderson is an eye-opening marketer for those stories of religious history which often go unseen. Rooted as chair of the Department of Religion at Kalamazoo College, Carol's work travels in the Asiatic hemisphere and focuses on dynamic feminine and gender realities. She currently explores the history of sex-change in Buddhist monks and nuns in the Pali Buddhist canon while encouraging her university students to wrestle with life's big questions one conversation at a time.

[mrsylvester]

this is wonderful and i love kalamazoo MI I went to western and now im using this video to teach my students! thank you Proffesor carol

[priscilla]

Many thoughts to this discussion. She begins and ends with let's "talk" about religion. But if we reduce religion and spirituality to simply a topic of conversation as opposed to a powerful, life changing decision that impacts someone's life forever, doesn't that defeat its purpose? What is the point in living your life by it, if it's ultimately just a feeling and conversation topic with no transformative power or deeper impact? How do we answer the big questions of religion and spirituality if we're defining it ourselves? If it's very definition is what we create it to be, then it comes from us, wouldn't we also have to have all of the answers?

[joecho]

I agree with you Professor.
She is so thoughtful.

[charlesshafer]

Curious what happens if we ask 5000 people, 1000 from each of the five major faiths, "What five quotes from your respective religious texts are most prominent in your mind and life." Then look for correlations. I think it would reveal a lot.

[jeffreyphillips]

In 5 years there's only 20 comments? Must be a great vid

[bubbercakes]

If we only talk to people we “like” about any subject, won’t we be missing alot of viewpoints? Everyone in my family and group of friends that is my age are religious, yet I am not. I often feel that I cannot talk about religion to anyone. Most of the young people I know are agnostics and atheists, yet I do not get to talk with them as much as I do my friends and family. Thank the stars for science and education which is slowly leading us out of the dark age of religious silliness.

[socksumi]

Meaning why "she" wants to study religion. Some of us can't stand religion and want to, as she said, "leave it behind".

[phunnyfilosophy]

Isn't "religion" a latin based (Western, Christian) term from the middle ages? Why are we using that word to describe this? Because we are western.
I'd say "Path" is a more accurate reflection of reality.

[legoracers]

This is helpful lecture by Dr Bilal Phillips what's the purpose of life? Is there true religion? Dr b Phillips 🙂

[francismausley]

Great themes & aims... "Sow the seeds of My divine wisdom in the pure soil of the heart, and water them with the waters of certitude, that the hyacinths of knowledge and wisdom may spring up fresh and green from the holy city of the heart." ~ Baha'i Faith

[benjaminely]

The gospel of go spel how's the Bible Old King James Bible

[freudefreud]

yes, but why do we want to study religion?

[mayms]

‏I left Islam when I read the Qur’an and the biography of Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam
‏Now I live in Iraq and I can't talk about it even with my family I might be killed, and society will reject me, it's very difficult for me
‏and many Arabs leave Islam every day, but they cannot announce that because they may be killed and of course society rejects them
..

[SB-ttyj]

The elevating of feel good ism to the highest value or purpose of finding or having religious beliefs undermines and devalues the fundamental claims to truth/salvation/enlightenment etc. the super majority of religions posses. The truth may not always feel good. Feeling good may be found in finding purpose to your life or at least it makes life’s suffering more tolerable.

[internetmail]

God has already told us the real road to spirituality is through prayer. But we keep finding other distractions to avoid prayer.