Contemporary Views on Comparative Religion - In Celebration of Tim Jensen’s 65th Birthday - Peter Antes
16. The Study and Making of Christian Religion in Danish Academic Theology
Contemporary Views on Comparative Religion - In Celebration of Tim Jensen’s 65th Birthday - Peter Antes
Jens-André P. Herbener [+]
University of Southern Denmark
Jens-André P. Herbener is Assistant Professor of the History of Religions at University of Southern Denmark. Previously he has worked as a project manager and editor at the Department of Oriental and Judaica Collections, the Royal Library of Denmark. His research and teaching cover especially monotheism, ancient Israelite religion, Judaism, classical Hebrew and Bible translation. He has published extensively on Bible translation from a non-confessional perspective. His publications include for example “Ny bibeloversættelse på videnskabeligt grundlag: Introduktion” (ed., 2001) and “Bibeloversættelse mellem konfession og videnskab” (2004). Currently he is working on a two-volume monograph on monotheism
Description
Throughout his career, Tim Jensen has called for a secular study of any type of religion within academia. However, with limited success. The present article gives a number of examples of (semi)religious approaches to, as well as religious purposes with, the study of Christianity within Danish university theology, which is responsible for 90 percent of the education of clergymen in the Danish National Church. Secondly, the article discusses and questions the legitimacy of these types of studies within a modern university. A fundamental question is: Is it possible to be a critical scholar and a defender of a religion at the same time?