Religious Studies News

In 1491, the king of the west central African kingdom of Kongo was baptized as a Christian by Portuguese missionaries, and in so doing, he ushered a unique and centuries-long relationship between the Kongo kingdom and European political and religious powers. Cécile Fromont, assistant professor of art history at the University of Chicago, describes the unique beliefs and material culture of Christianity that developed in the kingdom as a result of the transatlantic trade of goods and ideas. Cécile Fromont is the author of The Art of Conversion: Christian Visual Culture in the Kingdom of Kongo (UNC Press, published for the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture, 2014), which won the AAR's 2015 Award for the Best First Book in the History of Religions.

What can study of the beliefs and practices of one tradition bring to bear on another? Michelle Voss Roberts, associate professor of theology at Wake Forest University's divinity school, discusses how ethnographic study of Indian and South Asian Hindu rituals and aesthetics can bring new theological space to explore Christian practice. Using the Indian framework of "rasa," loosely defined as emotion or taste, Roberts suggests that Christian scholars, theologians, and practitioners can reexamine and experience the Divine through mood and affect. Robert's 2014 book, "Tastes of the Divine: Hindu and Christian Theologies of Emotion" (Fordham University Press), won the American Academy of Religion's 2015 Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion for constructive-reflective studies.

The 1991 publication of Karen McCarthy Brown’s “Mama Lola: A Vodou Priestess in Brooklyn,” now in its third edition, was a watershed contribution to the field of religious studies and became a perennial favorite among assigned textbooks. Brown’s exemplary ethnographic treatment of the religious practices of a Haitian immigrant humanized the adepts of this much-maligned African diaspora religion, and made social science methodology accessible to religious studies, a field theretofore dominated by (and still largely defined by) textual studies. Brown’s feminist scholarship valued women’s accounts of their religious practices and life experiences as data for research, and provided a self-reflexive interpretation of the relationships she established with field subjects who became her own religious family. The panelists reflect upon the influence of Karen McCarthy Brown’s scholarship on their own research and teaching, and how her work marked, and helped to produce, the “ethnographic turn” in the study of religi

Scholar and filmmaker Ziba Mir-Hosseini, a specialist in Islamic law, gender and development and Professorial Research Associate at the Centre for Middle Eastern and Islamic Law, University of London, is the recipient of the 2015 Martin E. Marty Award for the Public Understanding of Religion. At the Marty Forum, Professor Mir-Hosseini will be interviewed by Diana L. Eck, Harvard University. The Marty Award recognizes extraordinary contributions to the public understanding of religion. Michael Kessler (Georgetown University) and Ayesha S. Chaudhry (University of British Columbia), Presiding

In this interview, Tariq Jaffer talks about the subject of his award-winning 2014 book, Razi: Master of Qur'anic Interpretation and Theological Reasoning. Razi (1148–1210), a post-classical scholar, solidified the rational method of interpretation and reasoning in the Islamic tradition. Jaffer's book won the 2015 American Academy of Religion Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion in the textual studies category.

A 2015 article in The Atlantic by Graeme Wood - "What ISIS Really Wants" – and the controversy it has given rise to, has brought once again to the fore questions about the kind of role scholars of religion can legitimately and usefully play in ‘defining’ religion in the public square. Wood, citing heavily the work of the Princeton Scholar of religion Bernard Haykel, is of the view that ISIS is Islamic, rooted in the textual tradition its supporters employ to authenticate their actions. In a response to this article, also in The Atlantic, Caner K. Dagli, associate professor of religious studies at the College of the Holy Cross, is sharply critical of Wood, writing, "On what grounds do non-Muslim journalists and academics tell Muslims that their judgment that ISIS does not take a full and fair view of the Quran and Sunnah (the example and teachings of the Prophet Muhammad) amounts to a 'cotton-candy' view of Islam, while these non-Muslims retain the right to judge how 'serious' ISIS is in its understanding of c

Using the Hobby Lobby and Holt v. Hobbs Supreme Court decisions as a starting point, the panel will discuss the challenges of valuing religion in law, addressing such questions as: Do court decisions in cases such as Hobby Lobby and Holt v. Hobbs serve or undermine religious pluralism? When are religious exemptions to laws that apply generally to everyone warranted? How ought religious liberty be weighed against other rights (e.g., equal protection of the laws—LGBT rights)? How do the Supreme Court Justices' opinions reflect the broader societal arguments about what counts as “religious exercise” and whether or how religion is valued in public spaces? Panelists: Matthew Scherer, George Mason University Winnifred Sullivan, Indiana University Mark Silk, Trinity College Barbara A. McGraw, Saint Mary’s This audio was recorded at the 2015 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion on Sunday, November 22.

In this conversation with Kristian Petersen, scholar Winnifred Fallers Sullivan discusses how the role of chaplains in the United States developed alongside understandings of the First Amendment. Chaplaincy, she argues, provides a legal solution to the fragile problem posed by the free exercise and establishment clauses in the Constitution. Sullivan is the author of "A Ministry of Presence: Chaplaincy, Spiritual Care, and the Law" (University of Chicago Press, 2014, which won the American Academy of Religion's Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion in the analytical-descriptive studies category.

Just over fifty years ago, on October 22, 1965, Paul Tillich died, just days after having given his final public lecture. Consideration of the theological endeavor between then and now highlights how seminal his thought has been within the field of religion. In contemporary parlance, it could be said that in many ways today’s Academy is Tillich gone viral. On this panel, leading scholars address how Tillich’s ideas have contributed to their work in religion and science, theology and culture, theology and psychology, black liberation theology, feminist theology, ground of being theologies, and theology and world religions. The vibrancy of Tillich’s contribution to the constructive work of these scholars indicates the lasting nature of his influence on the field. A Q&A with the panelists and respondents (see below) follows. Panelists: Harvey Cox, Harvard University Robert Russell, Center for Theology and Natural Sciences, Berkeley, CA Pamela Cooper-White, Union Theological Seminary Willie J. Jennings, Yal

This roundtable brings together public health experts and religion scholars to ask what we can learn from the epidemic in relation to the potential of religion to help or hinder effective responses to threats like Ebola, both in and beyond Africa, and how religious studies can nuance public health understandings of African realities. Epidemics always highlight or exaggerate the power relations and inequalities that characterize everyday life--no less so in the case of the West African Ebola epidemic. The epidemic has revealed the inadequacy of medical infrastructures in Africa, the influence that international institutions have over African public health crises, and the prejudices that inform popular understandings of the continent. Religion has played a key role in these dynamics. Not only have ritual practices allegedly contributed to the epidemic's spread, but religious leaders have tried to educate their followers in collaboration with public health authorities to stem the epidemic. Panelists: Elias Ki

Pressure on humanistic disciplines like religious studies is enormous in the modern academy. From budget cuts and threats of downsizing, the professionalization of students and the instrumentalization of higher ed, to the adjunctification of faculties and STEM orientations that demand ever-increasing career-oriented outcomes for graduates, religious studies departments are no longer self-justifying in many colleges and universities. This Special Topic Forum, recorded at the 2015 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion, explores how religious studies departments have been and can be successful in defending their programs in the face of budget cuts or other pressures, and thus how we articulate the "value" of the study of religion to administrators and boards, to the broader academy, to funding sources like donors and legislatures, and to the public at large. Panelists, from community colleges, and private and public institutions, will share their experiences of navigating funding crises and share s

This roundtable session features a discussion of Frans de Waal's Work on the theme of the development of "moral" practices outside of religion. Dr. Frans B. M. de Waal is one of the world’s leading primatologists, known for his work on the behavior and social intelligence of primates. His book, The Bonobo and the Atheist, examines the origins and evolution of morality and the role of religion in human society. He is C. H. Candler Professor in the Psychology Department of Emory University and Director of the Living Links Center at the Yerkes National Primate Center, in Atlanta. He has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences (US), the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences. In 2007, he was selected by Time as one of The Worlds’ 100 Most Influential People Today, and in 2011 by Discover as among 47 (all time) Great Minds of Science. Panelists: Frans de Waal, Emory University Sarah Brosnan, Georgia State University Edward Slingerland. University of British Colum

Anya Bernstein talks to Religious Studies News about her book Religious Bodies Politic: Rituals of Sovereignty in Buryat Buddhism (University of Chicago Press), which won the American Academy of Religion’s 2014 Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion in Analytical-Descriptive Studies. Music is Dexter Britain, "Fresh Monday"(www.dexterbritain.co.uk)

This panel session was added to the 2015 AAR program only a week before the Annual Meeting in response to the November 13 terrorist attacks in Paris, France. The panel of scholars, whose areas of focus range from interreligious dialogue to political Islam to French secularism to ancient Christianity. They discuss the media, Islamophobia, religious violence, geopolitics, rational actors, and activism. They engage questions including: what are the connections between the Paris attacks, other recent attacks in Europe, and ISIS-inspired attacks in Beirut and Baghdad? What should the role of scholars of religion be in contesting Islamophobia and debating appropriate responses to terrorism? How can scholars of religion help shape attitudes and conversations about Islam, religion and violence in the general public? How might the attacks in Paris, Beirut, and elsewhere open up classroom conversations about broader issues in the study of religion? The panel discussion is followed by a Q&A with the audience. Pane

In this plenary 2015 AAR president Tom Tweed addresses urgent issues we face within and beyond the academy by asking about how the study of religion is valued. First, he analyzes how it is valued—and devalued—in the public arena and discerns what that can tell us about how to refine the usual arguments for the importance of the study of religion and, thereby, help endangered programs fare better in negotiations with administrators and stakeholders. Second, he encourages the Academy to identify the epistemic, moral, and aesthetic values it enacts to confront two challenges we face in the AAR: how to advance the divisive conversation about divergent approaches and how to enhance our ongoing discussion about professional obligations and professional ethics—from institutions’ duty to report graduate student placement rates to individual researchers’ obligation to adhere to standards of professional conduct. We must remain vigilant in addressing trends that violate shared commitments and endanger professional life

This conversation focuses on one of the most enduring and difficult issues facing the Academy: what is the relationship between theology and religious studies? 2015 AAR president Tom Tweed presides over the exchange between Ann Taves, a distinguished scholar of religious studies (University of California, Santa Barbara) and Graham Ward, a distinguished scholar of theology (University of Oxford), by asking each to identify the epistemic, moral, and aesthetic values that inform their work.

Recorded at the 2015 Annual Meeting of the AAR in Atlanta, GA. The 2015 annual meeting focused on “Valuing the Study of Religion,” which includes pondering how religion has been valued—and devalued—in public spaces. Addressing a variety of social spaces from the legislature to the streets, this panel analyzes religious responses to racial injustice. In 2015, the fiftieth anniversary of the historic march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, attending to injustice seems more morally urgent than ever. Considering both the historical trajectory that led us to this painful moment and the religious resources activists have employed, this conversation brings together notable voices to offer their assessments of the contemporary situation. Ruby Sales, the human rights activist and public theologian who joined the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in the 1960s and later founded a non-profit organization dedicated to “racial, economic, and social justice,” joins Cornel West, distinguished religion

Leela Prasad, Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Duke University, was awarded an American Academy of Religion’s 2014 Individual Research Grant. She talks to Religious Studies News about her project Moved by Gandhi -- A Documentary Film. Music is Dexter Britain, “Fresh Monday” (www.dexterbritain.co.uk)

Mark Rowe, Associate Professor of Religious Studies at McMaster University, was awarded an American Academy of Religion’s 2014 Individual Research Grant. He talks to Religious Studies News about his project Female Priests in Japanese Temple Buddhism. Music is Dexter Britain, “Fresh Monday” (www.dexterbritain.co.uk)

Brian Pennington, Director of the Center for the Study of Religion, Culture, and Society and Professor of Religious Studies at Elon University, was awarded an American Academy of Religion’s 2014 Individual Research Grant. He talks to Religious Studies News about his project Natural Disaster and Divine Agency: Hindu Theodicies of Climate Change. Music is Dexter Britain, “Fresh Monday” (www.dexterbritain.co.uk)