WATERHOUSE/1#2

 A short critique of Nick Sutton's paper: "Issues Arising from the Distinctions Drawn Between Theology and Religious Studies."  

Helen Waterhouse
c/o Study of Religions,
Bath College of Higher Education
Newton Park, Bath BA2 9BN, UK


Nick Sutton's paper argues, among other things, for the application of theological methodology to the phenomenological study of religions.  The purpose of this, Sutton argues, is to move Religious Studies away from its "rather narrow parameters". On the contrary however, whilst agreeing with him that there is much to be gained from an interactive approach to the truth claims of all religious traditions, I would argue that this approach is already a part of the discipline,  the parameters of which, it seems to me, are actually rather broad. 

Sutton's need to argue this point appears to lie in his incomplete understanding of Smart's term "outside the field", which he takes to mean not just a position outside a faith commitment to the tradition but also outside in the sense of a student of religion looking at external religious expression.  The phenomenological view however, also speaks of looking from a position within and not without.  That is, taking a view which tries to see religious phenomena and expression through the eyes of, or in the shoes of, the believer.  

Sutton appears to limit his understanding of phenomenology to the doctrinal dimension of the study of religions. He therefore fails to recognize that one of the strengths of such study lies in the fact that its subject matter incorporates any issue which is of interest to those who have a faith commitment to any religion.  He commends Wendy O'Flaherty's study of Hindu theodicy while failing to recognize that O'Flaherty's interest in Hindu mythology is only to be expected within a phenomenological approach to Religious Studies, since both mythology and the interpretation of scripture are of considerable concern to the contemporary Hindu. 

Members of faith communities are often obliged to understand the truth claims of their religion in the light of the particular challenges of the contemporary age and so therefore are phenomenologists. Sutton's argument, far from being an argument about the narrow confines of phenomenology and the necessity to apply theological insights to religious texts, therefore becomes a convincing argument for the discipline of Religious Studies, which is broad enough to incorporate all these approaches.
A short critique of Nick Sutton's paper: "Issues Arising from the Distinctions Drawn Between Theology and Religious Studies."