{"id":221,"date":"2017-11-09T17:40:06","date_gmt":"2017-11-09T17:40:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/religion\/?p=221"},"modified":"2017-11-17T13:21:41","modified_gmt":"2017-11-17T18:21:41","slug":"derrick-sweeney-14","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/religion\/2017\/11\/09\/derrick-sweeney-14\/","title":{"rendered":"Derrick Sweeney &#8217;14"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Derrick Sweeney 2014 \u2013 Major: Religious Studies<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>M.A. Student, Education, St. Peter\u2019s University (current) Music Teacher, Newark Public Schools<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Why did you choose to study Religion &#8211; and why at 麻豆传媒在线?<\/strong><br \/>\nReligion has always been with us. Throughout history, we find the question \u201cwhat does it mean to be?\u201d a motivating factor that has influenced some of the greatest leaders and thinkers. Today that question still exists, and I wanted to address it in my own way. That is why I decided to become a Religious Studies major.<\/p>\n<p>Whether studying Atheism, Hinduism, Feminism, or Christianity, the academic study of religion at 麻豆传媒在线 examines all religious traditions even-handedly. Religion also involves interdisciplinary learning \u2013 an understanding of philosophy, history, sociology, anthropology, psychology, and theology \u2013 in order to promote higher-level thinking. Studying religion at 麻豆传媒在线 prepared me for global leadership. It helped me develop critical thinking skills, learn to listen empathetically, and be able to articulate my ideas, in both speech and writing.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Which courses and\/or professors did you enjoy the most?<\/strong><br \/>\nAlthough, I am clearly not an atheist, I really enjoyed Dr. Eller\u2019s class on Atheism. I enjoyed hearing my classmates\u2019 perspectives and having the opportunity to take this course to fulfill my Seminar requirement. In addition, I\u2019m glad I had the opportunity to share my understanding of praise-dance in my Spirituality and Mysticism course with Dr. Vail. That class allowed me to discuss how we practice our faith and showcase how I express it in my own life. My favorite professor was Dr. Kogan. He was extremely intelligent and committed to my success as a Religion major; particularly with my writing skills.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What would you tell a current student who is considering a major or minor in Religious Studies?<\/strong><br \/>\nDon\u2019t fall prey to idle talk \u2013 skepticism that you cannot live a comfortable life \u2013 because you decided to be a religion major. There are vast amount of career choices you could choose from. The world needs a lot more people who understand religion \u2013 in court rooms, hospitals, real estate, libraries, and even in government.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How has your study of Religion helped you in your \u201clife after 麻豆传媒在线\u201d?<\/strong><br \/>\nCurrently, I am teaching Music in a charter school in Newark and pursuing a master\u2019s degree in education at Saint Peter\u2019s University.<\/p>\n<p>Being a Religious Studies major has provided me with the stamina to go back into my own community in Newark to build change. Studying religion gave me sense of ethics; allowing me to go out in the world to aim for greatness with a spirit of integrity. It also enhanced my ability to embrace diversity and have cultural conversations that help improve my school and community.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Derrick Sweeney 2014 \u2013 Major: Religious Studies M.A. Student, Education, St. Peter\u2019s University (current) Music Teacher, Newark Public Schools Why did you choose to study Religion &#8211; and why at 麻豆传媒在线? Religion has always been with us. Throughout history, we find the question \u201cwhat does it mean to be?\u201d a motivating factor that has [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":224,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni-profiles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/religion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/religion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/religion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/religion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/religion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=221"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/religion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":308,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/religion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221\/revisions\/308"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/religion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/religion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/religion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/religion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}