What if the study of religion started with the African American experience? Instead of privileging a specific tradition, this course examines the history of a people who came to a new world compelled to quickly learn the significance of "religion" itself. We will follow along by plumbing the depths of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, listening to … Continue reading REL 101 (WCH): Signifying Religion: An African American Worldview
To be clear, I'm not against statistics. We can qualify "religion." We can quantify "religion." But words and numbers represent human relationships (and thus, politics). Religious studies is about striving to see them more clearly. The discipline doesn't have a monopoly on this. But it is our intellectual burden, and we take it seriously.
The Institute for Signifying Scriptures is an independent research organization focused on investigating the dynamics associated with "scriptures." The conversation takes serious the category's development and deployment in Western cultural politics, working to surface the very assumptions that it belays. Founded by Vincent L. Wimbush, the collaborative enterprise has as its mission the "excavation of … Continue reading Reflections on the ISS- Scriptures at Their Root
The Wabash Center is a premier space for professional development for educators in Religious Studies and Theology. Through workshops, consultations, a journal, and a number of social media projects, the center has played a substantial part in the development of best practices and best practitioners. At the 2015 Reception for New Teachers, I was invited … Continue reading Wabash Center for Teaching & Learning in Religion & Theology
To work in religious studies is to constantly ask, "What are we talking about again?..Who's doing what?...How does that work?" There's been a lot of cool stuff in the news showcasing what many of us think the discipline is about. Kate Blanchard of Alma College shares the type of issues that keep us up at … Continue reading Religious Studies…It’s Complicating!
