The Multicultural Dimensions of Religion

Dr. Timothy Wadkins

Overview

This program will focus on the global, multicultural dimensions of the Christian religion. The program will have two interrelated components.

First, it will be grounded in an Area VI course entitled "Who Do People Say That I Am? Christianity, Cultural Contexts, and Cross-Cultural Communication." This course will be intentionally interdisciplinary. It will combine the disciplines of anthropology, sociology, history, and theology to explore the ways in which the message of Christ has both shaped and has been shaped by diverse cultures worldwide. Specifically it will focus on those cultures and sub-cultures that perceive themselves (and are perceived) as "outside" of the older, historically dominant, and primarily western European Christian institutions, both Catholic and Protestant. Students will not only learn the interplay between the Gospel message and different kinds of culture forces, they will also have the unique opportunity to step outside the familiar - - to study, critique, and appreciate the ways in which the Christian message has taken root in cultures outside their own.

Second, this program will also provide opportunities for selected students to participate in an additional course - - an immersion course entitled Christianity On the Road Less Traveled, which will involve travel to either the Philippines (early summers of 2001, 03) or to Mexico (semester break of 2001/02). Through on site classroom instruction and in actual cultural immersion in Manila, the Philippines and in Nogales, Mexico, students will observe, first hand, themes raised in the initial course - - particularly how the Christian religion is expressed in vastly different cultures.

The Larger Context: The Canisius Center for the Global Study of Religion

The courses proposed herein are actually to be incorporated into the overall focus of a larger center currently being developed by the Religious Studies department. This center, called the Canisius Center for the Global Study of Religion will be formally inaugurated at an ecumenical luncheon on December 3. It will house three separate programs, each of which will emphasize, in a different way, the study of Religious Cultures around the world. One of its programs is "Conversations in Christ and Culture" a lecture series which will be funded jointly by the department of Religious Studies and by the ecumenical community of the Niagara Frontier. This series will bring prominent religious scholars with international reputations to our campus and community on a semi-annual basis. A second program is called the Religious Studies Colloquium. This is an ongoing, broader, and more academically oriented discussion and lecture series sponsored by the Religious Studies department.

This proposal for Oishei funding pertains to the third part of the center called Religious Studies on the Road Less Traveled. This division of the Center will promote classroom courses that study the complex relationship between religion and culture as well as education-by-immersion courses that will enable students to experience the study of religion in cultures which are outside typical venues. The Oishei funded Multicultural Dimensions of Christianity course proposed herein will be part of this larger program as well as part of the normal Canisius curriculum. It is our hope that in the future there will be opportunities for additional courses, pertaining to different religious traditions, and additional immersion trips to other locations.