The Religious Studies Project

Benjamin P. Marcus is your host for this month’s episode of Discourse!, the RSP’s monthly, critical take on the category of religion in the news. Ben and his guests, Paulina Gruffman and Charles McCrary, start by looking at a recent Pew survey on religious literacy. What sorts of things do Pew count as knowledge about religion, and what religion(s) do they include? And what does this say about what we as scholars think we are doing when we talk to the public about religion? This leads into a conversation about the coverage of the so-called Asbury Revival. Do we authorise certain voices in the language we use, and whose terms we use? What happens if we describe them differently? Articles Discussed “A nonstop worship gathering at a Kentucky school echoes an old Christian tradition“ “‘Incredible’ stories of healing, reconciliation emerge from Christian revival at Kentucky college“ Mike Pence’s Twitter thread on Asbury University Revival Enstedt, Daniel. “Religious Literacy in NonConfessional Religious Education and Religious Studies in Sweden“ “Asbury Outpouring (aka Asbury Revival) | Documentary Film” (YouTube) “How much do Americans know about the faiths around them?”

In this episode, RSP editor Andie Alexander talks with Teemu Taira about his recent monograph Taking ‘Religion’ Seriously: Essays on the Discursive Study of Religion (Brill, 2022). They discuss the usefulness of various discursive approaches to the study of religion and explore the ways in which these methods can be applied to specific studies of how different social groups understand, use, and negotiate the category of ‘religion’. Taira outlines how he has applied discursive methods both in his research and in the classroom, so there are a variety of examples for how one might begin to apply these approaches in their own work.

Theodical arguments are perhaps some of the most difficult to bring to a firm conclusion, particularly when placed in certain historical contexts. The Holocaust is one such instance, particularly for Judaism. Where was God during this event and how does that impact religion and its practice going forward? In this episode, long-time friend and former co-editor of the RSP Dr. Breann Fallon sat down with Assistant Professor Barbara Krawcowicz to discuss the multiple perspectives on this question in Krawcowicz’s new monograph History, Metahistory and Evil: Jewish Theological Responses to the Holocaust (Boston: Academic Studies Press, 2021). Fallon and Krawcowicz delve into the different streams of Judaism and the differing theological responses to the Holocaust between them. Interestingly the discussion considers differing views both during the War and post-War, looking at the immediate and long terms responses to this historical event. While no firm answers are garnered, the melding of humanity, religion and lived experience combine to raise interesting questions about the place of both history and meta-history in the religious studies context.

In this episode, Ting Guo chats with Rebekka King and Tenzan Eaghall about their edited volume, Representing Religion in Film, published by Bloomsbury in 2022. This book points out the “ideological blindspot” of existing studies on religion and film by emphasising the ways in which cinema and filmmakers are situated in, constructed by, represent, and (re)produces the ideologies of our world. This book presents a critical approach to religion and film and engages with the latest debates such as the world religion paradigm and critical theories in the field religious studies. It was my great pleasure to talk to them as both an RSP interviewer and a contributor of this volume.

What unites the death of an emeritus pope, a Brazilian insurrection and the debate about the relationship between science and religion? Oversimplified boundaries! Join us as Lauren Horn Griffin describes reactions to Pope Benedict’s death on “Catholic Twitter,” — how traditionalists (#Trad or #RadTrad on social media) typically hate Pope Francis (as he symbolizes “wokeness” and “modernism”) while Benedict was seen as a symbol of traditional piety and social teaching. Kristi Boone tells us about the parallels between the Brazil insurrection and the invasion of the Capitol Building in Washington DC on Jan 6th, 2021. And your host, co-founder Chris Cotter, unpacks the data from a survey that suggests that different demographics have different ideas about the so-called problem of the relationship between science and religion. Articles Referenced “The Old Pope Is Dead. “Gorgeous Georg” Is About to Come Out Swinging.“ “Science and religion: does gender matter?“ “The shared religious roots of twin insurrections in the U.S. and Brazil“

In this episode host Candace Mixon and guest Schirin Amir-Moazami use Amir-Moazami’s new book, Interrogating Muslims: The Liberal-Secular Matrix of Integration (Bloomsbury, 2022) as a starting point through which to discuss topics such state categorizations of religion in the liberal state and considerations of religion and secularism. They discuss the concepts of assimilation and integration, governmentality, and the liberal state’s patronization and discipline of minoritized subjects, primarily in the context of German efforts towards integrating Muslims into the state. In considering assimilation and integration for example, Amir-Moazami shows that there is a legacy of constructing the national body (using Zygmunt Bauman’s terminology related to assimilation) and the state’s “need” to care for the not yet liberated subject. Amir-Moazami highlights the urgency to reflect critically on the secular state’s role in structuring religious plurality, and the need to consider the liberal state’s role as a player in Islamophobia or anti-Muslim racism. In their conversation, Mixon and Amir-Moazami consider the corporeal state and corporeal conformations Muslims are expected to adhere to, thinking about the enforcement of undetermined abstractions of national gender norms on Muslims. Through examples of German swimming classes and citizenship tests, Amir-Moazami suggests that in relational moments, there are places to look for state reinforcement of its own bodily needs and governing of subjects that cannot govern themselves.

Sidney Castillo is your host for the bumper final Discourse! episode of 2022! Join Sidney, Sharday Mosurinjohn, and Jordan Loewen-Colón to discuss some recent stories about religion and different altered realities. Sidney describes the use of ayahuasca among Peruvian indigenous peoples, and how this relates to animism–and COP27. Sharday Mosurinjohn talks about the founding of a new entheogenic church, and the prominence of religious language within the broader “psychedelic renaissance”. And finally, Jordan Loewen-Colón tells us about the use of VR to induce altered states of consciousness, which has earned the name “technodelics”. Articles Referenced “Los guardianes de la Amazonia buscan recursos: indígenas lanzan una propuesta financiera en la COP27“ “COP27 must create a climate agreement that protects 80% of the Amazon by 2025, Indigenous leaders, researchers and environmental organizations urge“ “The Rebirth: A Veterans Day Celebration Exploring Psychedelic Medicine“ “Psychedelic Conversations | Greg Lake – World’s First Psilomethoxin Church #59” (YouTube) Benjamin Moore’s LinkedIn Post “Forget LSD, virtual reality is just as trippy“ “Facebook’s Next Target: The Religious Experience“ “Group VR experiences can produce ego attenuation and connectedness comparable to psychedelics“

This month’s Discourse! welcomes back Founding Editor Chris Cotter to the host’s chair, along with guests Ting Guo and Carmen Celestini. They first discuss Queen Elizabeth II and “mourning” in Hong Kong, and then more broadly. This segues neatly into a conversation about the Filipino conspiracist who has dubbed herself the “Queen of Canada”. They talk about the Iranian protests, and “compulsory hijabs”. Finally, they have a wee rant about how religion and spirituality is presented in mental health surveys.

This month’s Discourse! centres on questions of the secular and the religious in the contemporary public square. What does it mean to be a secular space? How do institutions “deal with” religious ideas and identities in such a space? We talk about religious bias in universities, how religious spokespeople affect politics, and how religious freedom sometimes trumps other forms of freedom. Tune in with host Jacob Barrett and guests Richard Irvine and Jacob Noblett to learn more! Articles Referenced “Investigation underway into antisemitism at U of Vermont““The media was all over BYU’s racism scandal. So why did no one care about Oregon’s cruel chant?““Supreme Court Says Yeshiva University Must Allow L.G.B.T. Group as Case Proceeds“

For our 400th episode of The Religious Studies Project, Carmen Becker joins Andie Alexander to introduce the new international MA program Religion and the Public Sphere at Leibniz University, Hannover. Find info for their Home program degree track and double degree track. And for more information, contact the program coordinator, Dr. Carmen Becker.