A Survey of Religious Studies in Japanese and American Higher Education Systems

由于宗教几乎完全被排除在日本公共教育的学校课程之外，对于大多数学生来说，大学是他们能够实质性学习宗教和宗教研究的第一个地方。具有讽刺意味的是，由于经济困难，这样的本科生宗教课程最近已经缩减了规模。鉴于宗教在世界范围内受到越来越多的关注，而且宗教教育是宗教学者在日益多样化的社会中可以承担的主要公共角色，这种情况尤其严峻。在这样的背景下，这项调查第一次给出了以宗教研究为中心的本科课程的硬数据。其结果在本表格所附的小册子中有英文版本。它最初是以论文形式在2005年3月第19届国际宗教史协会世界大会上发表的。主要成果与分析1。最受欢迎的课程之一是“日本研究”，主要从民族学的角度研究日本的一般文化传统，包括其宗教方面。可以假定，美国大学的“基督教或圣经”课程对应于“日本研究”的课程，而不是“神道学”(即研究神道教历史、经文等)的课程。在日本的大学里。宗教课程在公立大学中相当均衡，但在私立大学中则不是。“生物伦理学/环境伦理学”课程越来越受欢迎，其中40%的课程是从宗教角度授课的。生命伦理学和环境伦理学日益被认为是人们期待自然科学和宗教研究合作的新领域。《性别与宗教》课程由男性教授的比例是女性的五倍，这与美国大学的情况大相径庭。

Since religion is nearly entirely excluded from school curricula in Japanese public education, colleges, for most students, are the first places where they can learn about religions and religious studies substantially. Ironically, such undergraduate programs of religion have recently been downsized due to economic difficulties. The situation is especially critical, given that religion is gaining more and more attention worldwide and teaching about religion is a major public role that scholars of religion can undertake for an increasingly diversified society. Against such a background, this survey gives, for the first time, the hard data about undergraduate curricula in which the study of religion is a central focus. Its results are available in English in the booklet attached to this form. It was originally presented as a paper at the 19^<th> World Congress of the International Association for the History of Religions in March, 2005.Main Results and Analyses1. One of the most popular courses falls under the category of "Japanese studies," a study of general Japanese cultural traditions, including its religious aspects, from a largely ethnological perspective. It can be assumed that courses in "Christianity or Bible" in American colleges correspond to courses in "Japanese studies" rather than those in "Shinto studies" (that is, the study of Shinto history, texts etc.) in Japanese colleges.2. Courses in religion are fairly balanced in kind among public colleges but not among private colleges.3. Courses in "Bioethics/Environmental Ethics" are becoming popular, and 40% of them are taught from religious perspectives. Bioethics and environmental ethics are increasingly recognized as new fields where people expect the collaboration between natural sciences and religious studies.4. "Gender and Religion" courses are taught five times more by men than by women, which is quite different from the case of American universities.