In the prior exam period, you used your hermeneutics of suspicion to think about how a number of discourses function as tools of social construction. Classification, structure, and habitus became terms by which you could deconstruct essentialist understandings of society and move toward a critical and more sophisticated understanding of how society works. In this … Continue reading REL100 Exam 3 Review
REL 501 Final Project- Social Theory Position Poster

For your summative assessment, you will create a digital presentation of your social theorizing about an issue in the study of religion in culture. This issue may be thought of as a keyword in the vein of entries in Raymond Williams or Russell T. McCutcheon & Aaron W. Hughes volumes. The issue provides you an … Continue reading REL 501 Final Project- Social Theory Position Poster
REL100 Exam 2
In the prior exam period, you observed that "religion," as a category of cultural grouping is unstable in its boundaries (e.g. Who/what makes up a group?) and definitions (e.g. What is a religion?). And in looking at a brief history of the category's diverse use and development, you saw how religion, like other classifications, is … Continue reading REL100 Exam 2
REL100 Exam 1 Review
Your first exam will cover content from Russell T. McCutcheon's introductory essay on the study of religion in culture and the first three chapters of Craig Martin's textbook. This is a multiple choice exam that will test your foundational understanding of social constructionism, the study of religion in culture, and the historical tensions in which … Continue reading REL100 Exam 1 Review
You’re a Historian–Define Your Terms

The paradox of being a scholar is that even when we are complicating matters, our job is always to clarify. ...When I use these terms in my scholarship, I tend to be thinking about the meanings presented here.