Development of New Theories and Expediency of Reviewing Academic Tradition in the Study of Religion in Nigerian Universities
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Date
2024
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HUMANUS DISCOURSE
Abstract
For several decades now, it seems the study of religion and the evolution of new
theories about the scientific study of religion in Nigerian tertiary institutions have
been one of the major critical areas in which religious scholars have been
seriously engaging in the academic discourse. In the recent milieu, scholars have
been attempting to make the scientific studies of religious practices and traditions
relevant and more fascinating through various academic lens of methodologies,
approaches, and functional theories. This is to make the studies of religion
multidisciplinary, multidimensional, and multifunctional in their approaches both
in learning and practices. This, hitherto, would bring about empirical
manifestations of practical knowledge of religious traditions and the scientific
studies of religions through reliable data. Of course, structured activities in terms
of accumulating knowledge and progressive critical dispassionate research in the
scientific studies of religions, which are well disseminated through teaching,
learning, and literature are what is taken to be the manifestations of reality of
academic tradition in the study of religion in Nigerian Universities. It is observed
that some religious scholars in Nigeria have different views, opinions, and
standpoints, which do not consciously build on academic traditions and a well reviewed academic curriculum that is indigenous based on different approaches
in the study of religions. In most cases, the viewpoint on religious issues by the
scholars seems not to either be well known or practically engaged in thorough
academic scrutinizing. However, this paper adopts a descriptive-analytical
method and content analysis of historical research in this study area by explaining
the current practices of academic culture and identifying the observed practices
that do not engender robust academic tradition, discourse, and literature in the
study of religion in Nigerian Universities. The paper proposes that there should be
an attempt to promote interactions among Indigenous scholars with engaging
academic works in the study of religion. This is not a view to advocating for
ethnocentrism but organized efforts to domesticate indigenous knowledge with
academic framework in the study of religion.