07-23-2012, 09:11 PM | #11 | |
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Seattle
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Re: Theology Specialization: Comparative?
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I'm not sure about a religious person being better at comparative theology than a nonbeliever, in part because I think that such a person, while understanding faith, would have the same depths of disdain for other belief systems that the nonbeliever has for all religions -- that is, an abiding belief that those faiths are false.
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07-23-2012, 09:25 PM | #12 |
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Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Montréal, Québec
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Re: Theology Specialization: Comparative?
The issue has little to do with coexistence and much to do with depth vs. breadth. Given finite time to study, if you look at N faiths equally, you will go 1/N as deep into any one of them as somebody who devotes the same time to just one faith. Granted, there will be similarities and duplicated theory, so perhaps you'll attain 2/N or 3/N, but as N >> 2-3, you're still going to be a novice next to a single-faith expert.
And the fact that single-faith experts tend to belong to said faith is self-evident. The faithful have the greatest investment in understanding.
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Sean "Dr. Kromm" Punch <kromm@sjgames.com> GURPS Line Editor, Steve Jackson Games My DreamWidth [Just GURPS News] |
07-23-2012, 11:30 PM | #13 | |
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Portland, Oregon
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Re: Theology Specialization: Comparative?
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But the understanding I think is emotional. When all your Welshmen are down in Rorke's Drift singing Men of Harlech you can sort of understand why the Zulus want to sing whatever it is they were singing.
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07-23-2012, 11:36 PM | #14 | |
Join Date: Jan 2010
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Re: Theology Specialization: Comparative?
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07-23-2012, 11:54 PM | #15 |
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Portland, Oregon
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Re: Theology Specialization: Comparative?
I long thought that Jung sounded more like a mythmaker then a scientist and he should have written his own version of Joseph Campbell rather then try to build a psychological theory. Or better yet a psychological allegory rather then a psychological theory(actually that is what it seems to be but it would be nice to say it) Archetypes and all that are great and even illuminating to the study of the human mind perhaps, but calling them science really doesn't fly.
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"The navy could probably win a war without coffee but would prefer not to try"-Samuel Eliot Morrison |
07-24-2012, 01:39 AM | #16 | ||
Join Date: Mar 2008
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Re: Theology Specialization: Comparative?
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Actual single-specialization theologians will often be even more lacking in analytical framework than a single-specialty secular academic. It's like how a native speaker of a language will often lack a linguistic knowledge of how their languange actually works. |
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07-24-2012, 02:05 AM | #17 | |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: U.K.
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Re: Theology Specialization: Comparative?
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Yes, it'll look hideous on the character sheet and need some explaining. But it's rules-legal and makes some sense. Hmm. Theology gets an IQ-6 default. Makes sense, it that someone like, say, me has picked up a bit about various religions from school, casual reading, talking to believers, and so on. But I know nothing, zilch, zero, about the beliefs of random tribe X in Papua New Guinea (I might be able to extrapolate a bit about what they might believe from knowledge of religion in general, but I don't know the names of their gods) - and if devout space aliens landed on Earth tomorrow, there's no way that anyone on Earth could know anything about their beliefs. So that default should logically be subject to the "if it's plausible that you could have heard about this stuff" rule that applies to, say, Area Knowledge. However, one of the benefits of Theology (Comparative) would, I think, be that you'd have a much better excuse for knowing a bit about the beliefs of obscure tribes and peoples, so its -5 defaults would apply significantly more broadly than the normal IQ-6 default.
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07-24-2012, 02:39 AM | #18 | ||
Join Date: Mar 2008
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Re: Theology Specialization: Comparative?
For Kromms x/N model, the difference between a Theologian and a student of comparative religions is one of methodical approach, but not neccesarily one of focus or lack of focus. You need to learn enough to have a basis for comparison, not become a jack-of-all-trades.
My own issue with believing theologians is that they are often too eager to reconcile the material with itself. Quote:
If I did my own character sheet, I'd have to have a much higher Theology (3rd century Christianity) than Theology (Comparative), but the second one completely dictates my approach to the first one. Quote:
In that case, we could extrapolate quite a bit. |
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07-24-2012, 03:48 PM | #19 | |
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Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Forest Grove, Beaverton, Oregon
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Re: Theology Specialization: Comparative?
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I have a right to despise religion as mankind's greatest flaw. I know and love religious people, but only when they don't really follow the hateful edicts of their religions, but instead pick and choose only the nice parts.
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07-24-2012, 03:54 PM | #20 | |
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Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Forest Grove, Beaverton, Oregon
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Re: Theology Specialization: Comparative?
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So alien religions are likely to have at least a few similarites with humanity's. Pro-society laws like don't kill, steal, lie, mess with important social contracts. In humans this part is all about sex and marriage. In aliens it could be whatever takes its place as a mover and shaker of culture.
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