This brief primer explains why Christian students should study religion, how they should go about it, and why it is important in our contemporary, pluralistic context. Terry Muck, who has been a scholar of religion for over thirty-five years, introduces the discipline and explains how the study of religion can be approached by Christian students. He explores the contemporary significance of studying religion in a complex, multicultural world, which requires engaged Christians to develop an understanding of other religions and religious movements along with their adherents. Muck concludes by addressing the skills and perspectives students must bring to the study of religion in the twenty-first century.
Why Study Religion? explores how committed Christians can be excellent “objective” students of religion, active and accepted in the academic guilds of religious studies scholarship without shortchanging their own deeply held religious beliefs. Written in accessible prose suitable for undergraduates, it can be used to supplement any standard religion textbook in an introductory religion course.