The Religious Studies Project

In our final Discourse! episode of the season, Andie Alexander, Craig Martin, and Paul-François Tremlett team up to discuss the concept of “harm” and religion as it pertains to recent legislation in Texas, the role of religion in politics in Scotland’s recent election for First Minister, and questions of AI, religion, and desire. It’s quite the conversation, so be sure to tune in! Related Articles “Bill to Force Texas Public Schools to Display Ten Commandments Fails” NYT “Texas lawmakers approve bill to allow school districts to replace counselors with chaplains” Washington Post “Unlicensed religious chaplains may counsel students in Texas’ public schools after lawmakers OK proposal” Texas Tribune “Trouble in Texas: Lone Star State legislators are trying to merge religion and public education — and other states are following suit” Americans United “Gov. Greg Abbott signs legislation barring trans youth from accessing transition-related care” Texas Tribune “Can humans ever understand how animals think?” The Guardian “Seeing Spirituality in Chimpanzees” The Atlantic “AI will be everywhere, but its rise will be mundane not apocalyptic” The Guardian “‘They’re afraid their AIs will come for them’: Doug Rushkoff on why tech billionaires are in escape mode” The Guardian “Is No 10 waking up to dangers of artificial intelligence?” The Guardian “AI ‘godfather’ Geoffrey Hinton warns of dangers as he quits Google” BBC “Alabama Legislature votes to ban gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth” NPR “Alabama urges court to revive strict ban on gender-affirming care for minors” Reuters “Alabama becomes the 22nd state to allow people to carry concealed guns without permit” CNN GlasgowGPT “It’s not bigoted to criticize Kate Forbes. Sometimes, in politics, religion is fair game“ “Kate Forbes says trans women are ‘biological males’ as SNP leadership candidate faces more questions“

In today’s episode, Daniel Jones talks with Travis Warren Cooper about Cooper’s recent book, The Digital Evangelicals: Contesting Authority and Authenticity After the New Media Turn (Indiana University Press, 2022) and they discuss how issues of authenticity, authority, and power are deeply intertwined with US “evangelicalism” and its mediatization. Be sure to tune in!

In this episode, Charles McCrary joins Matt Sheedy to discuss the role of sincerity in shaping American conceptions of religion that he explores in his recent book Sincerely Held: American Secularism and Its Believers (University of Chicago Press, 2022). Tracing a cultural history of “sincerely held religious beliefs,” from 19th century court cases on fortune telling and the policing of morality in New York, to conscientious objectors in the 1940s and 1960s, McCrary helps us understand how the U.S. Supreme Court has determined who and what counts as ‘religious’ as American secularism developed over the last century. Questions of race, gender, and sex are also in the mix, as recent cases have shifted the burden of sincerity from the protection of ‘minority’ beliefs to the rights of people and corporations to deny people services if they feel it violates their religious freedom. Also, as noted by Charlie and Matt in the episode, this discussion is a great conversation partner for our recent episode with Finbarr Curtis, “Spitting on the Sacred: Politics and Redefining Profanation“—be sure to check it out if you missed it!

For our May episode, Discourse! heads Down Under once again as ⅔ of our usual suspects—Carole Cusack & Raymond Radford—explore religion, politics, life and death in the Australian religious sphere. They cover a variety of recent issues from the banning of hate symbols and the rise of right groups in the wake of the pandemic, to Australian sovereign citizens and gun deaths, to the deaths of high profile priests and the different (and indifferent) reactions from both politics and media. Be sure to tune in! Articles Discussed “Why were neo-Nazis at an anti-trans rally in Melbourne?“ “Victoria to ban Nazi salute after ‘disgusting’ scenes at anti-trans protest“ “Moves to ban Nazi hate symbols across the nation“ “Queensland police arrest 12 members of religious group over death of eight-year-old Elizabeth Rose Struhs“ “Queensland police say Wieambilla shooting was ‘a religiously motivated terrorist attack’“ “6 dead, including 2 police, in Queensland shooting. How dangerous is policing in Australia?“ “A ‘Lionheart’ to some, a villain to others – George Pell’s funeral proves as divisive as his life“ “Father Bob Maguire farewelled at Melbourne state funeral as John Safran leads tributes“ “Anthony Albanese welcomes Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Sydney“ Depends What You Mean by Extremist: Going Rogue with Australian Deplorables, John Safran

In this week’s episode Sam Gill joins RSP editor Andie Alexander to discuss his recent book The Proper Study of Religion: Building on Jonathan Z. Smith. They consider different methodological and theoretical questions in the academic study of religion, such as comparison, difference-making, play & movement, experience, and “storytracking”—a narrative technique and method for critical self-reflection and scholarly analysis. Gill outlines a playful and proper study of religion that builds on the work of the late J. Z. Smith and demonstrates how a critical scholar of religion might apply Smith’s methods in their own scholarship.

In this episode, religious studies scholars Matt Sheedy and Tyler Tully, along with host Candace Mixon, discuss the ramifications of the in-progress Supreme Court case Groff vs. Dejoy, the Catholic Church’s decision to rescind the Doctrine of Discovery, and a recent controversial tweet by the conservative media pundit, Ann Coulter. In threading these discussions together, they consider religion as negotiated in the public sphere and the limits of accommodations across religious boundaries. In Groff vs. Dejoy, one issue at play is the interpretation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, directly related to workplace accommodations, including for religious reasons. Current precedent reflects on the issue of hardship for the employer in accommodating the request, and that hardship must only be minimal for the employer to find it unable to be accommodated. As the court may widely expand the grounds through which employees may seek religious accommodations, our guests consider the ramifications of this (especially for non-Christian practices and on non-linear framings of time) and connect to broader impacts of religion in recent Supreme Court decisions, such as overturning Roe vs. Wade. Tully and Sheedy respond to the Catholic Church’s rescinding of the Doctrine of Discovery, demonstrating the Vatican’s “doublespeak” as it downplays the interconnection between “religion” and “politics.” Finally, Sheedy introduces listeners to the incendiary tweet by Ann Coulter that abortion should be banned “for registered republicans only.” The guests consider what happens when legal debates become part of public rhetoric and who is left out when it goes mainstream. 

In this week’s episode, Raymond Radford is joined by Bradley Onishi to discuss his new book Preparing for War: The Extremist History of White Christian Nationalism—and What Comes Next (2023). In 2021, as the Capitol building was being overrun in an attempt to stop a transfer of power, many of us were glued to our screens. Some such as Bradley Onishi were not only glued to their screen but counting the symbols and motifs he saw amongst the crowd. Onishi recognised the symbols as various religious organisations and thought back to his own past with Christian Nationalism, asking himself if he were still at his old church would he be storming the steps of the Capitol. Onishi’s new book chronicles the rise of the White Christian Nationalism movement in America, and its connections to the Evangelical movements as they navigate to institute a theocratic regime through creative use of politics and bargain-making. What they want to achieve and how they seek to achieve these powers are explored and discussed as Bradley and Raymond discuss history, motives, and the outcomes of these movements, and why hope is still an option to combat them.

This month’s Discourse is hosted by Suzanne Newcombe, who’s joined by Michael Munnick and Carmen Becker. They start by discussing the recent shooting at a Jehovah’s Witness Hall in Hamburg and how it has reopened discussions about discrimination. They then turn to Scotland, where discrimination is again an issue in the election of Nicola Sturgeon’s successor as Leader of the SNP. Are Kate Forbes’ opinions on equality criticised for being religious, or for not being progressive? And finally, they discuss the case of Isabel Vaughan-Spruce, a pro-life activist arrested apparently for the crime of praying as a protest outside a UK abortion clinic. Articles Discussed “Hamburg holds service for Jehovah’s Witness shooting victims“ “Hamburg shooting: Seven killed in attack on Jehovah’s Witness hall“ “Hamburg shooting: seven people killed in Jehovah’s Witnesses hall“ “Zeugen Jehovas beklagen Täter-Opfer Umkehr” (YouTube) “Gedenkfeier für die Opfer: Zeugen Jehovas fühlen sich ausgegrenzt” (YouTube) “BELGIUM: Jehovah’s Witnesses acquitted on appeal for alleged discrimination and incitement to hatred“ “SNP leadership: The perils of mixing politics and faith“ “Scottish nationalism now ‘more religion than politics’ says Better Together strategist“ “Kate Forbes faces backlash over gay conversion therapy comments during SNP leadership debate“ “British pro-life advocate again arrested for ‘thoughtcrime’ of silent prayer near abortion clinic“ Video of arrest (Twitter) “Law and religion round-up – 12th March“ “CPS rejects charges against Catholic arrested for ‘thought crime’ prayers“ “Catholic woman prosecuted for silently praying outside abortion clinic is CLEARED after arrest by police sparked fury among supporters who condemned ‘thoughtcrime‘”

In this interview, Dan Gorman talks with Leigh Eric Schmidt about his 2021 book The Church of Saint Thomas Paine: A Religious History of American Secularism. Despite its title, Schmidt’s book is not a religious biography of Thomas Paine, but rather a survey of the ways that atheists and agnostics have used Paine as a symbol or figure of devotion. Schmidt organizes his book into sections on secular relics (focusing on Paine’s exhumed, missing body), secular rituals (focusing on nineteenth-century Americans who sought new frameworks for life events), and secular institutions (focusing on attempts to organize various churches of humanity). An epilogue looks at secularism in the twentieth century. Several atheist and free thought congregations earned tax-exempt status as religious organizations, but religious conservatives from the Cold War onward stoked popular fears that secularists wanted to take over America. Throughout the book, Schmidt highlights a fundamental argument in the atheist/nontheist community: Does an absence of belief in God mean an absence of religion and all the things that go with it? As Schmidt’s history of Thomas Paine fans reveals, the answer is no; a religion can operate on functional lines without a belief in God. Other topics of conversation include the effects of COVID-19 on Schmidt’s research and writing process, the design and semiotics of the book’s hardcover edition, conservative critiques of Schmidt’s support for liberal religion and secularism in public life, and the book’s connection to Schmidt’s earlier Restless Souls (2nd ed. 2012).

In this episode, Dr. Finbarr Curtis joins Jacob Noblett to discuss the growing phenomena of profanation as it concerns American politics and culture. Rather than define a holistic movement, Dr. Curtis explores the relationship between certain “forbidden” taboos and how they affect democracy in both a theoretical and very real sense. Using his book, Going Low: How Profane Politics Challenges American Democracy, as a guide, the “shock” culture of modern politics is broken down into digestible insights regarding the nature of “winning” and the fundamental conflict between private and public spheres of government influence as it pertains to religion. Update: This episode is a great conversation partner for our episode with Charles McCrary, “What’s Sincerity Got to Do With American Secularism?” which published a few months later.

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.

The Research Excellence Framework (or REF) is a major aspect of the institutional environment of academia in the UK—a time-consuming process of ranking departmental research that decides how funding is distributed. While controversial, the process tells us a good deal about the health of different subjects, including religious studies. In today’s episode, the chair of the Theology and Religious Studies panel, Gordon Lynch, joins David Robertson to outline the process for those lucky enough not to have experienced it for themselves, and to tell us what it says about the situation for the discipline, and the social sciences and Arts and Humanities more broadly. See the REF 2021 Report here (PDF).

Our first Discourse! episode for the season features host Emily D. Crews, who is joined by long-time friends of the RSP, Richard Newton and Theo Wildcroft. This excellent and wide-ranging episode addresses present issues of history and identity, social activism and new religious movements, doulas and abortion rights, and much, much more! You won’t want to miss it. Be sure to tune in and check out the video episode! Articles discussed in the episode: “Abortion doulas look to spiritual rituals as they brace for increased demand““Atonement as Activism““How Social Justice Became a New Religion: Our Society Is Becoming Less Religious. Or Is It?““Is History History?: Identity Politics and Technologies of the Present““How Ireland’s Hare Krishna Island went from dream to folly to recovery““Japan PM’s popularity dives over party links to Unification church“ Watch the video episode here:

For our first episode of Season 12, Falguni A. Sheth joins RSP editor Andie Alexander to discuss her new book Unruly Women: Race, Neocolonialism, and the Hijab. In this episode, Sheth explores issues of liberalism, racial discrimination, and religious freedom with regard to Muslim women of color and Black Muslim women in the US through a variety of legal case studies. Sheth demonstrates that the exclusion of Muslim women of color and Black Muslim women works to regulate and manage liberal subjects.

Our June episode of Discourse!, featuring episode host Benjamin P. Marcus, Jade Hui, and Lauren Horn Griffin, covers religion and the news in the United States and Hong Kong. Kicking off the discussion with current issues of religion and the U.S. Supreme Court, they explore notions of religion, history, tradition, and authority in Justice Alito’s leaked draft decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, and consider what the Court’s recent decision in Carson v. Makin might reveal to us about American assumptions vis-à-vis religion, the secular, and religious freedom. They conclude by discussing grieving rituals and performance art that occurred on the streets of Hong Kong on June 4th, 2022. Their discussion of religion in Hong Kong surfaces many of the same questions about history, tradition, authority, and the value of placing discussions about religion in one country in an international context. Be sure to tune in!! This episode was recorded before the 24 June 2022 U.S. Supreme Court Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision. Watch the video episode here: Related Articles Carson v. Makin“Alito’s Leaked Draft Fully Overruling Roe Is Jaw-Dropping and Unprecedented““McConaughey urges gun measures in surprise White House appearance““Tentative Thoughts On The Jewish Claim To A “Religious Abortion“

Whose beliefs get to count and in what contexts? Join Carmen Becker, Susannah Crockford, and Savannah Finver in this month’s episode of Discourse! for their discussion about the leaked US Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson which may overturn Roe v. Wade, the UK’s response to particular kinds of “disruptive” climate protests, and international coverage of the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Which beliefs are rendered sayable or unsayable? What kinds of comparisons between views are we allowed to make? Tune in to find out! Watch the video episode here:

This week, we dive back into the RSP archives to explore conversations about cults and new religious movements. This video aims to disrupt the assumptions about “cults” that students bring to the average 100-level religious studies class. In Part I of Cults & NRMs: An RSP Remix, we address questions like: What is a cult? What is a New Religious Movement? Are cults inherently violent? Be sure to tune in! Studying “Cults”, with Eileen Barker (2012)Minority Religions and the Law, with Susan J. Palmer and David G. Robertson (2015)Millennialism and Violence?, featuring excerpts from Tristan Sturm, Joseph Webster, and Eileen Barker (2017)New Directions in the Study of Scientology, with Stephen Gregg (2018) Watch the video episode here!

What is curanderismo and where is it practiced? How does it connect to the borderlands? Is it a “folk” religion, and what exactly does that mean? For our first episode on curanderismo, RSP co-editor Andie Alexander is joined by Brett Hendrickson, Jennifer Koshatka Seman, and RSP Features editor, Israel Domínguez. In this discussion, we explore issues of power, identity, historical narrative, cultural contact, race, and much more. Be sure to tune in!

In this month’s Discourse!, Sidney Castillo is joined by Chris Cotter and Sierra Lawson to discuss the contemporary localized manifestations of Easter and Passover celebrations, a current US Supreme Court Case relating to the First Amendment, and the entanglement of Catholicism and national identity in television’s “Derry Girls”. Watch the video episode here Articles Discussed “Semana Santa en América Latina: religión y tradición““Easter Celebrations Peruvian Style““Catholic Traditions of Holy Week and Easter in Latin America““‘Blackness Deserves a Seat at the Seder’““Black Jews Get a Spotlight at the Seder““U.S. Supreme Court taking on case of high school football coach fighting for right to pray on 50-yard line““Language in Derry Girls was atrocious yet we just accept it as comedy““Derry Girls creator explains why Spice Girls Union Jack dress was missing from latest episode“

In this episode, Dan Gorman and Jason Ānanda Josephson Storm follow up on their 2018 conversation for the RSP. The topic is Storm’s book Metamodernism: The Future of Theory (University of Chicago Press, 2021). Storm shifts away from the deconstructive and genealogical approach to religion that he pursued in his earlier books The Invention of Religion in Japan and The Myth of Disenchantment. Although Storm finds great value in the critical theories known in the United States as “postmodernism,” he is concerned that postmodernism has led to an intellectual dead end. Humanities scholars can get caught in an infinite cycle of questioning the assumptions of their academic fields. Knowing anything with any degree of certainty seems impossible. Storm argues that scholars should engage in self-reflection and critique, but they must not give up on the pursuit of knowledge. We can learn about the world, even if our subjectivity and the limits of language prevent us from achieving truly objective knowledge. This metamodern mentality balances critique with investigation, emphasizes the process of knowledge-making over static categories or terms, encourages a healthy but moderate skepticism (Zeteticism), and situates human-made signs as part of the larger natural world (hylosemiotics). Join the RSP on a journey down the philosophical rabbit hole. The musical excerpt at the beginning of the episode is from Stephen Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park with George. The song, “Move On”, is performed by Annaleigh Ashford and Jake Gyllenhaal (2017 Broadway Cast Recording). ℗ 2017 Arts Music.

J. Brent Crosson joins the RSP to discuss his most recent award-winning book, Experiments with Power: Obeah and the Remaking of Religion in Trinidad (Chicago, 2020). Based on more than a decade of fieldwork during and after Trinidad declared a state of emergency in 2011, Crosson explores how religion in Trinidad took to the streets to demand justice in the face of brutal governmental crackdowns against protestors crying out against rampant police brutality. Many marching the streets believed that if the legal justice system could not deliver justice for those wrongfully killed by the police, then perhaps obeah could. Using Trinidadian spiritual workers’ own descriptions of their religious practice—obeah—as “science” and “experiments with power,” Crosson examines how these spiritual workers unsettle the moral and racial foundations of Western categories of religion.

The construction of the introductory textbook in the academic study of religion is an incredibly fraught enterprise. What will you include? What will you exclude? What organizing rubrics will you have in mind? Which voices will you highlight and who will be excluded? And particularly in our contemporary world, where attention spans are short and so many resources are online, what would even be the purpose of producing a textbook? This week, RSP co-founder Chris Cotter is joined by Paul Hedges, who has taken on that monumental task in his recently published Understanding Religion: Theories and Methods for Studying Religiously Diverse Societies. During the interview, they discuss the role of the positionality of the author/scholar, the use of case studies, the selection of topics and themes, what the term ‘critical’ might mean in such an endeavour, and what decolonization mean in the context of textbook production.

This month’s episode of Discourse! covers issues of misinformation as it pertains to the upcoming Philippine presidential elections in May 2022 and to debates in the Orthodox church following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Be sure to tune in with Paul-François Tremlett, Daniel Gorman Jr., and Andie Alexander to find out more! Watch the video episode here Podcast Information Correction: The Ukrainian Catholic Church is in full communion with Rome. Learn more here. Related Articles “A Church (Further) Divided: Putin’s Patriarch Now Faces a Rebellion from within the Russian Orthodox Church” Religion Dispatches“The bride wore fatigues. The wedding party carried rifles and RPGs.” The Washington PostRussian Orthodox Church in America“Head of US Ukrainian Catholic Church urges Americans to ‘call out people like Tucker Carlson’” Insider“Why white evangelical Christians are Putin’s biggest American fan base” MSNBC“Putin is ‘making it a religious war’ — Head of U.S. Ukrainian Orthodox Church slams Russian leader, Moscow Patriarch Kirill” The Salt Lake Tribune“Pope Francis criticizes the war while Orthodox Patriarch Kirill echoes Putin’s rationale for fighting” The Washington Post“Pat Robertson Insists Putin ‘Compelled by God’ to Invade Ukraine and Kick Off ‘End Times’” The Daily Beast“‘Baka matanso kayo’: Moreno warns Muslim youth of ancestors’ sacrifices during martial law” Inquirer News“Duterte said kill the bishops – and his word became flesh” Rappler

In this episode, Dr. Méadhbh McIvor joins Savannah Finver to discuss her recent book Representing God: Christian Legal Activism in Contemporary England. Dr. McIvor provides our listeners with the background for her project; the method of ethnography, as well as its challenges and implications for the study of religion; and how the belief in a certain kind of afterlife impacts the kinds of legal and political activism that her interlocutors are willing to engage in.

Throughout the entirety of WWII and the Cold War, U.S. intelligence agencies invested an immense amount of resources into the “religious approach” to information gathering and distribution. Beginning with the leadership of William Donovan, the OSS and CIA implemented these religion-focused initiatives with the assistance of Orientalist scholarship, such as the World Religions Paradigm. Imperial Japan, Colonial Vietnam, Soviet Russia, and the Puppet-state of Iran all felt the impacts of these operations, often resulting in widespread propaganda, resistance, and war. In this episode, Dr. Michael Graziano and Jacob Noblett discuss the misguided strategies used by these agencies and their partners with the goal of establishing the United States as a global champion of freedom over “Atheistic” Communism.

This month’s episode of Discourse! is hosted by Candace Mixon who’s joined by Craig Martin and Suzanne Owen. Their articles all coalesced into thinking through the importance of technicalities and words in the study of religion—when we are used to seeing the big picture, why does it matter to pay attention to things that seem small? Whether legalism comes through within a church community, local or federal judicial and legislative bodies, or nationalistic rhetoric, the stories we review all deal with the small details that make a big difference, and of course considers power and who gets to decide which details count, and why. Watch the video episode here: Articles Discussed: Dhume, Sadanand (2022). “India’s Hijab Debate Is Both Nuanced and Nasty.” The Wall Street Journal. Liptak, Adam (2022). “Supreme Court to Hear Case of Web Designer Who Objects to Same-Sex Marriage.” The New York Times.Migdon, Brooke (2022). “Virginia House passes bill to exempt religious organizations from nondiscrimination laws.” The Hill.Triesman, Rachel (2022). “An Arizona priest used one wrong word in baptisms for decades. They’re all invalid.” NPR.

In this edition of RSP Remix, we go deep into our archives to explore the insider/outsider problem in the study of religion. We explore questions such as “What is an ‘insider’ or ‘outsider’?” and “How do scholars of religion study and engage ‘insiders’?” to begin unpacking what all is at stake in this process of group formation. This episode features clips from the following episodes: “The Insider/Outsider Problem” with George Chryssides (2012)“Should Scholars of Religion be Critics or Caretakers?” roundtable with excerpts from Russell T. McCutcheon and Linda Woodhead (2012)“Identity or Identification?” roundtable with excerpts from Steven Ramey and K. Merinda Simmons (2013)“The Critical Study of Religion” with Bruce Lincoln (2015)“Categorising ‘Religion’: From Case Studies to Methodology” with Teemu Taira (2016)“Discourse Analysis & Ideology Critique in the Study of Religion” with Craig Martin (2021) Check out our classroom-ready video episode below:

Over the past few years, a number of religious studies scholars have collaborated on events on the theme of ‘spiritual abuse’. While this has been a topic of research and debate for some time, these events have worked especially hard to bring together survivors, researchers, practitioners and pastoral workers in respectful dialogue. This roundtable brings together a few of those scholars, in the wake of the Spiritual Abuse conference at the University of Chester, and a series of online seminars for INFORM. Join host Theo Wildcroft and panelists Wendy Dossett, Dawn Llewellyn, Suzanne Newcombe, and Lisa Oakley as they discuss the difficulties and opportunities of such events, where they might develop next, interdisciplinary boundaries, and the limits of professional commitments to justice. Is this perhaps the start of an ‘ethical turn’ in the study of religion?

What sort of discursive traps to we fall into when talking about ‘Islam’ or ‘the West’? How might we reframe our discussions with a critical humanist approach? In this episode, Khurram Hussain joins Andie Alexander to discuss his recent book, The Muslim Speaks (Zed Books, 2020). Hussain unpacks issues of binary discourses about “the Muslims world” and “the west” and explores the benefits of critically engaging Islam in a way that works to re-politicize rather than de-politicize Muslim voices by taking seriously the human-focused study of religion. Need a preview? Try this:

How does the media report religion when religion doesn’t “behave”? What happens when religion becomes part of discourse that promotes civil disobedience, or to promote conspiracy theories? What if someone wants to make a robot rabbi or name their child something you think is blasphemous? When religion doesn’t behave — that is, doesn’t fit the implicit idea that it should be quiet, personal, liberal and “nice” — we are given an opportunity to observe boundary-making in the public sphere in real time. The first Discourse! of 2022 is hosted by Michael Munnik (Cardiff), who is joined by guests Beth Singler (Cambridge) and Richard Newton (Alabama) to discuss how the media is talking about “religion” this month. Watch the video episode here: Further Reading “Tim LaHaye had some choice words for Wheaton College when the evangelical school hosted a memorial service for Martin Luther King Jr.““After opposition to her MLK Day speech, Nikole Hannah-Jones swapped her words for his“Mason Mennenga on Twitter“Presenter Maajid Nawaz is axed by LBC: Anti-extremism activist who was accused of tweeting ‘deranged rubbish’ about vaccines by host Iain Dale and faced criticism for spreading Covid conspiracy theories leaves radio station““Lior Cole Is the Model Combining Artificial Intelligence With Religion““Parents hit back at trolls over baby name and say ‘we are not Satanists’“

In recent years, there has been an increased interest in the “psychedelic renaissance” for the development of medical psychotherapy and spiritual growth in countries of the global north. From alternative therapy centers in the USA and Canada, to tourist retreats in the Amazon, and spiritual communities in Europe, psychedelics have taken a new breath of life for the past 20 years in each of these locations. Their current popularity is due to the surprising results they achieve in the betterment of mental health disorders and personal fulfillment. Thus, plants and substances like the San Pedro cactus, psilocybin mushrooms, cannabis, LSD, MDMA, and more prominently, ayahuasca, have become “magic bullets” of sorts, all-powerful solutions to all-pervasive problems of the western world. Unfortunately, critical issues related to their consumption are lost from sight in the face of the enthusiasm and amazement of their effects. On the other hand, psychedelic substances, i.e., substances that enable powerful bodily and visionary experiences, have been used in different societies across the world, and for a wider array of purposes than the previously described. For instance, indigenous peoples of the Peruvian rainforest like the Awajún, Huni Kuin, or Matsigenka ritually consume ayahuasca for purposes of divination, rite of passage, bolstering of social bonds, healing, exercise and countering witchcraft, etc. Thus, a key question comes forward, why does such a gap of emphasis exist between the purposes that arise in western contexts and the ones from other societies? Moreover, in the case of ayahuasca, why the particular concoction of the ayahuasca vine (Banisteriopsis Caapi) and the Chacruna plant (Psychotria viridis) has become so salient in the contemporary psychedelic landscape, despite being one of the possible plant admixtures among the many that indigenous people use? In this episode, Sidney Castillo talks with Dr. Bernd Brabec de Mori and Dr. Olivia Marcus about their respective research on critical approaches for studying ayahuasca. Both have carried out ethnographic research in the Peruvian amazon in different settings; Brabec de Mori with the Shipibo of the Ucayali region, and Marcus among the mestizo populations of Tarapoto and Iquitos. Their critical discussion elaborates on the meanings and motivations for the indigenous and mestizo people to use ayahuasca, framing into context the major socio-cultural processes that allowed for it to be discovered, spread, and “rediscovered” in recent times. In this sense, they address issues of inequality, power relations, ownership, and reciprocity that lie at the core of ayahuasca consumption in the Peruvian Amazon. In consequence, they discuss what would decolonize our approaches to ayahuasca entail, if this is a possibility at all, and what would be the course of action for this to happen. This episode results from the workshop “From Ritual to Justice: Towards a Decolonial and Feminist Approach to Ayahuasca”, organized by Olivia Marcus and Silvia Mesturini. It was part of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America (SALSA) XIII Biennial Conference, June 21-June 25 and June 28-July 2, 2021. Hosted virtually by the University of Virginia due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

For our final interview of the semester, tune in to our co-founder David G. Robertson discussing his new book Gnosticism and the History of Religions with our co-editor Andie Alexander. In this episode, Robertson outlines the history and use of the term ‘gnosticism’ to examine how gnosticism has come to work as a ‘free-floating’ signifier. Robertson then considers how the ‘strange charm of gnosticism’ has helped keep the term and idea prevalent in the study of religion, particularly in how understanding gnosticism as a special knowledge is linked with notions of religious experience. It’s a great episode—be sure to check it out! Need a preview? Try this!

In this episode, Dr. Breann Fallon sits down with Professor Daniel Boyarin to discuss his monograph Judaism: Genealogy of the Jewish Notion makes the bold argument that the very concept of a religion of ‘Judaism’ is an invention of the Christian church. Before discussing the monograph, Boyarin outlines how Judaism is commonly defined in religious studies, as well as the potential problems with those definitions, particularly with regard to the sometimes competing conceptualisations of Judaism as a ‘religion’ or a ‘culture’. Boyarin highlights the importance of memory and memorialisation as deeply-rooted elements of Jewish practice, especially of moments of genocide and massacre such as the Shoah, which subtly addresses notions of the World Religions Paradigm discussed in previous episodes. Boyarin also argues against “religifying” studies of Jewish texts and instead emphasises both the ideas of inclusivity inherent in the Talmud and its broader applicability, regardless of the religiosity of the reader, in order to fully encapsulate all the life forms and practices that exist in the Jewish community. To bring the conversation to a close, Fallon asks of the humour in the Talmud and Boyarin’s favourite comical moments in the text. Need a preview? Try this!

In this month’s episode of discourse we have an update from Australia. Professor Carole Cusack (University of Sydney) and Ray Radford (University of Sydney and RSP) sit down with Dr. Breann Fallon (Sydney Jewish Museum and RSP) to discuss religion in Australian current affairs. This team of three first consider a conservative article on the amendments Equal Opportunity Bill in Victoria which claims “religion cancelled” and “parents cancelled.” Yet, there is no denying that the three are speaking from lockdown and the conversation turns to religious exemption from vaccination, including the history of this in Australia, as well as religious symbolism at anti-lockdown protests. To end the episode, the trio discuss the interesting timing of opening up in time for Christmas — is this an offering at the temple of consumerism? Whilst there is no answer, it is an interesting take on the impact of COVID-19 on religious festivals. “Is there likely to be a religious exemption for the COVID-19 vaccine?““A pattern of anti-family, anti-religion legislation is emerging in Victoria““‘Australians are very sceptical’: Michael Kirby warns against ‘excessive protection’ of religious freedoms““Scott Morrison pushes premiers to stick to vaccination plan and allow interstate travel by Christmas“ Check out the video of this episode!

What is the world religions paradigm? In this RSP Remix, David McConeghy presents an abridged version of David Robertson’s 2013 interview with James Cox. Cox explains how the world religions paradigm came to be the dominant model for teaching undergraduates comparative religion, and he offers an introduction to a few of the strongest critique of this model. These critiques include the paradigm’s essentialism as well as its emergence as a tool of colonialism and imperialism. Reducing the original episode to 20 minutes presents a great opportunity for this conversation to be employed in more classrooms. If you would like to see other RSP Remixes on specific topics or questions, reach out to us on our social media accounts and let us know!

What do we mean when we talk about secularism, religion, or culture? In this episode, Matt Sheedy joins RSP co-editor Andie Alexander to discuss his recent book Owning the Secular: Religious Symbols, Culture Wars, Western Fragility (Routledge, 2021). Sheedy discusses how “religion” and “secular” categories are necessarily intertwined as he considers the ways in which those categories are contested in the public sphere—particularly with regard to Islam and gender in the post-9/11 era.

Christianity is one of the most ubiquitous religions in the world. In reality, it would be more plausible to rather speak about Christianities given the wide variety that can be found adapted to different contexts, languages, and histories. In this sense, its own internal diversity makes it most pervasive and enduring despite the passage of time or cultural boundaries. But it is worth asking, what happens when Christians from different sides of the world, apparently, meet each other for the first time? In this week’s episode, RSP associate editor Sidney Castillo talks with Dr. István Perczel who presents a highly detailed history of the Saint Thomas Christians (or Syrian Christians) of Kerala, a religious group that has been present in Southwestern India since late antiquity. His discovery of a corpus of Syriac manuscripts from their archives in 1998, has allowed for a turning point in the current understanding of the colonial relations, religious disputes, and overall historiography of the region. One of the takeaways of the episode is how the discovery of new sources allows for further outline the cultural environment in which such texts are produced. Among the many sources, some of them refer to theological debates regarding mystical conceptions of God, and which were translated and re-read from Syriac, to Malayalam, and to Latin. The translation avatars of these documents, and the discussions that arose from figures such as Jesuit priest Francisco Roz, and Nestorian priest Mar Abraham, show the dynamism of the Syrian Christian community during the early modern period. Such “cultural wars” and disputes for truth narratives are certainly no strange to us in our present time, especially when looking at them through the lens of colonialism, political polarization, or cultural appropriation. Need a preview? Try this!

In this episode, Dr. Craig Martin joins Savannah Finver to discuss his forthcoming book, Discourse and Ideology: A Critique of the Study of Culture. Dr. Martin shares with us his motivations for writing this book, describes his primary methodologies and the key concepts he introduces in the text, and explains some of his thoughts on the utility of religion as a category of analysis in religious studies scholarship. Can discourse analysis and ideology critique be done together successfully? What can these methods reveal to us about power relations of domination and subordination in societies? Why is poststructuralism so important to the study of religion, and what do we miss if we don’t attend carefully to the writings of key thinkers such as GWF Hegel, Edmund Husserl, Martin Heidegger, Michel Foucault, Judith Butler, and Jacques Derrida? Tune in to find out! Need a preview? Try this!

On this month’s Discourse!, join Emily D. Crews, Alison Robertson, and host Theo Wildcroft for a collection of topical stories on how religion mediates how the state treats human bodies in different ways. They discuss debates over the presence of pastors in executions in Texas, how the secularist French state is reacting to the abuse revelations in the Catholic Church, and the role of religion in legal arguments over the ownership of a site sacred to a Los Angeles Apache community. Oh – and Jesusween! Related Links On Death Row in Texas, a Last Request: A Prayer and ‘Human Contact’ Supreme Court Stays Execution in Dispute Over Pastor’s Role in Death Chamber Catholic priests in France ‘must report abuse allegations heard in confession’ In Los Angeles, spiritual convoy urges unity to preserve Apache sacred site Oak Flat Need a preview? Try this!

With over 350 episodes in our archives, we’ve seen many scholars discuss the issue of fieldwork and how their research goals have been modified by their time in the field. Today’s special episode featured clips from seven recent interviews with brief comments by Dave McConeghy. This “remix” is our first attempt to try to bring greater attention to the many different ways our podcast can be used in the classroom. We hope these clips might support a discussion of how fieldwork changes scholars and their scholarship. If you’d like to see more episodes highlighting past interviews to support specific research questions or pedagogical issues in the study of religion, please let us know by reaching out to one of our social media channels such as our Twitter or Instagram.

In this episode, Dan Gorman speaks with Christopher Cantwell and Kristian Petersen about their anthology Digital Humanities and Research Methods in Religious Studies (2021), which is part of DeGruyter’s “Introductions to Digital Humanities—Religion” series. They discuss the ethics and management of ongoing Digital Humanities projects, the opportunities afforded by mapping technology for understanding religious life, and the question of whether digital projects are recognized as genuine scholarship. Need a preview? Take a look…