Studying Religion in the Era of Trump — Part 1 of a Scholars’ Roundtable | by Anthony M. Petro
For this month's issue of the Forum, we have invited a small cadre of religion scholars to participate in a "scholars' roundtable" reflecting on the implications of a Trump presidency for the academic study (and teaching) of religion. Throughout the month we will be...
A Student Tribute to Professor Bruce Lincoln
This month the Religion & Culture Forum commemorates the retirement of Bruce Lincoln, the Caroline E. Haskell Distinguished Service Professor of the History of Religions at the Divinity School. Lincoln is an alumnus of the Divinity School (PhD, History of...
Which Life; What Enhancement? A Report on the Enhancing Life Project
by William Schweiker and Günter Thomas In this issue of the Religion and Culture Web Forum Professors William Schweiker (The University of Chicago Divinity School) and Günter Thomas (Ruhr-University Bochum) offer a report on The Enhancing Life Project. As Professors...
God in the 2015-2016 Presidential Debates: Using American Civil Religion and Public Religion to Win Party Delegates
by Michele Ferris This month the Religion and Culture Web Forum welcomes Divinity School PhD student Michele Ferris. Her piece, "God in the 2015-2016 Presidential Debates: Using American Civil Religion and Public Religion to Win Party Delegates," considers...
Scripting Acts of Violence: Intersectionality and the Orlando Shooting
by Philip L. Tite At 2 a.m. on Sunday June 12th in the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida gunshots were heard by patrons. The nightmare that they experienced did not end until 5 a.m. when police killed Omar Mateen, the alleged shooter who had been holding hostages...
Believing Scientists in America: Polling from Leuba to Larson to Pew
by Nancy Frankenberry This month the Religion and Culture Web Forum welcomes Martin Marty Center Senior Fellow Nancy Frankenberry. Her piece, "Believing Scientists in America: Polling from Leuba to Larson to Pew," offers an exploration of the findings and...
Failures in Ecstasy
by Christine Libby This paper proposes to rethink the somatic and affective reverberations of ecstasy, in a celibate religious context, as a way of expanding the horizons of sexuality beyond an acts and identities paradigm. Focusing on the medieval mystic text The...
The Time for a Moratorium?: Three Questions on “the Black Church”
with Professor Curtis J. Evans RCWF: How do you understand the term "the black church" as it has been and is being used by both scholars and non-scholars alike? How is it defined? What do people mean when they use it? EVANS: I don’t think most people are conscious...
The Art of Navigation: Discussing Heritage, Sacred Space, and the Academic Study of Religion
with Professor David Carrasco As the Divinity School ushers in a new academic year, the Religion and Culture Web Forum is delighted to share an interview with Professor David Carrasco, the Divinity School's 2014 Alumnus of the Year and the Neil L. Rudenstine Professor...
Encountering When Prophecy Fails, Encountering Cognitive Dissonance
by Betty M. Bayer What does it mean to speak of encountering a work published decades ago--especially when that work exceeds the bounds of time, place and disciplinary field? And how might we create an ethnography of these encounters to understand larger communities...
Religion and Digital Media
by Emily D. Crews In 2010 The Immanent Frame, a website published in conjunction with the Social Science Research Council, released a report entitled, “The New Landscape of the Religion Blogosphere.” The study traced the contours of the changing terrain of writing...
On Islam and The Events at Charlie Hebdo: An Exchange between Jean-Luc Marion, Bruce Lincoln and Anthony Yu, Matthew Kapstein, and Françoise Meltzer
In this issue the Religion and Culture Web Forum features commentary on Islam in France in the wake of the events that occurred at the French magazine Charlie Hebdo on January 7th, 2015. This issue includes an initial article by Jean-Luc Marion, responses to Marion...
