The Religious Studies Project

In this last regular episode of the first half of our 2020-2021 season, Breann Fallon talks to Dr. Kathleen McPhillips about her work on the Catholic Church and the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (2013-2017). In her research, Dr. McPhillips utilised Erving Goffman’s work on stigma, and in this episode, she speaks on the process of stigmatisation of survivors by the institutions in which they experienced abuse, both at the time and during their process of disclosure. The conversation turns to the impact of this abuse on the survivor’s religious experience, a topic she has written on in her article “Soul Murder” (2018). In discussing the impact on faith, Dr. McPhillips highlights the impact of the commission’s findings on the broader religious community, where many experienced the shaking of faith foundations due to the central position of religious institutions in the creation of their worldview. The episode ends with Dr. McPhillips sharing her critically important pilot podcast series, The Survivor Story Podcast, which explores the experiences of 5 survivors of church-based institutional child sexual abuse in the Newcastle-Maitland diocese.

This month’s Discourse! – with Chris Cotter, Ray Kim, and Theo Wildcroft – kicks off with a festive twist on our now-traditional focus upon Covid-19. The panelists discuss the recent decision in the UK to relax lockdown over the Christmas period, and how this intersects with the category of ‘religion’. Sticking with Covid-19, the discussion then moves to the production of vaccines and whether these will be considered ‘halal’ in Islamic communities. This leads to some fascinating conversations around bodily autonomy, agency, the interaction between ‘science’ and ‘religion’, and much more. The discussion then moves to an emotional long-read from The Guardian focusing upon an individual who emerged from a ‘locked-in’ state and was able to tell the tale. Again, bodily autonomy and agency are the order of the day here. And again, so much more. Finally, a seemingly amusing story about an unlucky holy stone in Ireland once again raises critical issues surrounding power, agency, and classification. Links to stories: Bittersweet sentiments on lockdown easing in the UK from ‘non-Christian’ leaders…And some not so diplomatic sentiments Halal vaccinesJake Haendel’s lock-in storyThe unlucky stone

Area studies often are defined by their object of inquiry in substantive terms: the study of a more or less defined set of cultural characteristics or civilizations encompassed in a historical, geographical, or linguistic horizon. Among these, one of the area studies that first emerged was Jewish studies, which focuses on the study of Judaism and Jewish communities throughout the world in different historical times. And while it is certainly important to study Jewish history on its own terms, this can hardly be done without observing the cultural context in which that history developed and took form. In this week’s podcast, Dr. Carsten Wilke talks to Sidney Castillo about the different processes that Judaism and Jewish identities underwent throughout modern European history. Wilke first briefly presents the scope of research of Jewish studies and then outlines how Jewish identity, belief, and community have been shaped by elements of local culture in Europe and beyond. To further delve into this relationship, Wilke discusses the topic of his presentation at the international conference “Imperial Mysticisms: Piety and Power in Early Modern Empires from a Global Perspective” held at Central European University last November 2019. There he analyzed how the spread and development of modern Kabbalah corresponded with the migration of Sephardic Jews from Iberian empires (Portuguese and Spanish) to Ottoman Palestine. No doubt this podcast will spark interest in those who are studying/researching in area studies, mysticism, or early modern history, and are actively looking for ways of problematizing their own scope of research.

How are Brazil and Australia connected by global flows of Pentecostalism? In this episode, Dr. Cristina Rocha shares her work on transnational Christian communities in Australia. The movement of goods, ideas, people, and culture between Brazil and Australia in the last century has meant thriving transnational communities in the Southern hemisphere. At Hillsong, one of Australia’s dynamic Pentecostal groups, members use community groups to navigate intercultural obstacles like finding a job, paying taxes, or learning English. Blurring the boundaries of religious and secular, Hillsong’s megachurches play a powerful role in helping Brazilians find their way in modern Australia.

The study of religion has been dominated by two approaches to religious change: the secularisation thesis, and the “lived religion” paradigm. They form a contradictory pair, one stressing decline, and the other stressing innovation. One stresses reason, the other stresses experience – yet both center on the individual as the “source” of religion. What would a post-humanist model of religion and society look like? This question is at the core of Paul-Francois Tremlett’s new book, Towards a New Theory of Religion and Social Change: Sovereignties and Disruptions. Drawing from scholars including Deleuze and Guattari, Jane Bennett, and Bruno Latour, Tremlett argues for an approach to religious and social worlds that does not begin with immutable things like religion, class, society, or the self, but instead prioritises flux, dialectic, and transformation. This is a new model that rejects both the teleology of modernity and the heroic individual.

In this conversation with Elizabeth Pérez, we explore her book Religion in the Kitchen: Cooking, Talking, and the Making of Black Atlantic Traditions. Dr. Pérez explains what drove her interests in the Lucumí tradition and how she became acquainted with her interlocutors at Ilé Laroye. We discuss her role in her fieldwork as a participant-observer and how her positionality as such alerted her to the importance of preparing ritual meals in the construction of religious subjectivity at Ilé Laroye. We also examine how gender roles are constructed and understood in and through the processes of preparing ritual sacrifices and the ways in which these constructions challenge traditional Western gender norms.

The U.S. is quickly approaching the 2020 presidential election. Join Andie Alexander, Hina Muneeruddin, and Leslie Dorrough Smith in this month’s episode of Discourse! (recorded after the 2nd presidential debate between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden) as they explore the rhetoric and affect of the presidential campaigns and debates thus far. The panelists discuss how presidential debates are forms of public spectacle designed to reinforce ideas of “presidentialism” and how claims of nationalism are a type of religious rhetoric. The panelists recommend exploring the related links: “Some Reflections on Separatism and Power” by Marilyn Frye “The War on Masks Is a Cover-up for Toxic Masculinity“ “’Might as Well Carry a Purse with That Mask, Joe’: COVID-19, Toxic Masculinity, and the Sad State of National Politics“ Maria Hinojosa – One on One

The question of the origins of ancient Christianity has puzzled believers and skeptics alike. For the first, the history of Christianity is the anchor point for claims of authenticity. For the second, a search for origins opens religious traditions to questions about their contingency and sui generis status. So the perspectives most often speak past each other, both sides internalizing their structure of authority and creating logics of practice to sustain themselves. In this week’s episode, the RSP’s Sidney Castillo talks with Professor William Arnal of the University of Regina about his research on ancient Christian origins. First, Prof. Arnal uses the perspective of Religious Studies to interrogate the question of origins. He points out how this field differs from theology and how it attempts to demystify religious phenomena. This bracketing of the miraculous and supernatural is of special relevance today, since many scholars (certainly in the past and some still even today) have regarded Christianity as sui generis either in kind, origin, or truth. The second part of the conversation is directed towards the discussion of the Gospel of Thomas and the Q, two important New Testament sources that, through Arnal’s sharp contextualization, help reveal the diverse social contexts of early communities that saw themselves as followers of Jesus. Prof. Arnal argues that one of the main causes for the emergence of these early communities and their discourses related to salvation and denial of this world come was because they faced great social change. From the expansion of the Roman Empire in the 1st century to the 2nd century, we see greater and more deliberate use of “Christian” identities alongside growing traditions and practices. Arnal concludes that we can “put to bed” the historical Jesus once and for all, as it is less valuable for scholars to debate the accuracy or authenticity of our sources as many scholars have done. We should, rather, find what insights are available to us to show how the people of the time related to the discourse of a folk hero. What agency was gained by becoming a Christian in this era? What social and economic privileges might be gained or lost? Reconfiguring our approach to early Christianity shifts our focus on this era towards religious studies and the tools we have to study social phenomenon and away from the desire to use historicity or authenticity as a cover for older understandings of the purpose of our field’s efforts.

What is the current climate of climate change in a variety of religious communities? Why is food such an important part of discussing climate and religion? In this episode, the RSP’s Candace Mixon talks to Dr. Gretel Van Wieren to get the current climate of climate change responses from religious communities. An expert in environmental, agricultural, and food ethics, Dr. Van Wieren shares her research on small farms run by religious communities. Such farms, whether in Upstate New York or Michigan, have changed their traditional practices in order to directly address ethical and environmental concerns. Dr. Van Wieran shows the way climate activism has often been a concern for religiously-connected farms, but current events make this a more pressing concern today than ever before. Can large scale agricultural productions learn from the adaptations of their smaller, religious competitors? Those teaching undergraduate courses on Christian, Jewish, or Muslim groups will also find this conversation a source of practical advice for integrating the current climate crisis into our religious studies curriculums.

In this episode, RSP co-editor Breann Fallon speaks with Assistant Professor Richard Newton about his new book Identifying Roots: Alex Haley and the Anthropology of Scriptures (Equinox 2020). At issue is the concept, use, and function of “scripture,” particularly through the example of Alex Haley’s 1976 book Roots. Newton explains the success of Haley’s best-selling novel about the life of Kunta Kinte and his descendants and the novel’s place in the canonical narrative of America for both Black and White Americans. By examining Roots as a piece of scripture, Newton illustrates the grounding power of the book’s narrative — a wellspring of theology and culture for Americans for almost fifty years. Following an anthropological approach to the study of scripture more broadly, Newton sees the function of scripture as multiple, relying on diverse meanings of the root of the terms, uproot, and route. Drawing attention to Roots as a scriptural text that plays an active role in both power and identity politics, the discussion concludes by turning to the Black Lives Matters movement and the recent use of Haley’s Roots by American politicians.