RELS102too

Comparing religious nationalisms - not just Hindu and Buddhist but also in Aotearoa, the UK and elsewhere

Some reflections on the difficulties in recovering a full view of how gender had an effect on the practice of these religions in the past, and how we study them now. Also some responses to the rapid feedback given in class.

In which Ben and Will make up for missing the last episode with a deep dive into why we're teaching the course the way we are this year. With added advice on how best to retain the material you're learning (at the end, shortly before the beatboxing which is mercifully cut short by Ben's recent cosmetic surgery).

We begin our exploration of Buddhism by considering how Buddhism and Hinduism are related to each other. The article mentioned toward the end of the episode is Jonathan A. Silk, "The Fruits of Paradox: On the Religious Architecture of the Buddha's Life Story", Journal of the American Academy of Religion 71 no. 4 (2003): 863-881.

In which Ben and Will discuss the difficulty of teaching controversial aspects of religious traditions and Ben shows guru-like insight into the reasons Will chose to end the section of the course introducing Hinduism with a class on gurus.

Some reflections on the range of Hindu traditions and what we advise you to focus on. And Ben's passion for arguments.

In which Ben concedes some things and Will concedes others. Also includes some suggestions for helping you to organise what you've been learning and (regrettably) more beat-boxing from Ben.

Ben and Will reflect on what happened in the first week of lectures on RELS102 in 2023: what happened, what we got wrong and what we'll do about it.