Does Hinduism constitute an Area of Knowledge (AOK) or a Way of Knowing (WOK)?
A.002: The answer to the question depends on the way we construe the word Hinduism, or, more accurately, the way it is studied. The study of religion can be carried out in two ways: (1) as a study about it, and (2) as a study of it. When we study a religion in a university or high school class on Theory of Knowledge, we study about it: we study about its history, its doctrines, its practices, and so on, without the implication of either being a believer or a follower of it. When, however, a Christian studies Christianity in a seminary, or a Muslim studies Islam in a madarasah, he or she is engaged in a study of Christianity or Islam, as distinguished from a study about it. Hinduism constitutes an Area of Knowledge in the first sense of study (that is, study about) and a Way of Knowing in the second sense of study (that is, study of .) –Dr. Arvind Sharma, Birks Professor of Religion, McGill University, Montreal, Canada; and a Patron of DANAM.
