American Academy Of Religion Research Articles

Amplifying Religious Literacy Education through the Frameworks of Global Competence

Since the turn of the millennium, many individuals and groups, including Diane Moore, Stephen Prothero, the American Academy of Religion, and The National Council for the Social Studies, have advocated for better religious literacy education (RLE) in K-12 curriculum and public schools [1-5]. Despite these calls, RLE has yet to make significant inroads in K-12 curriculum and public schools. This paper aims to define religious literacy and RLE, provide current rationales for its inclusion in K-12 curriculum and public schools, identify barriers to RLE, and explore the potential of global competence in promoting RLE.

Practicing Reflexivity at the American Academy of Religion

Practicing Reflexivity at the American Academy of Religion

Introduction

Introduction Eric Bain-Selbo More than a decade ago, a relatively small group of scholars worked with Mercer University Press to launch the International Journal of Religion and Sport. The co-editors at the time were Christopher J. Anderson and Gordon Marino. The plan was to publish just once a year. But after that first volume in 2009, it was another four years before another volume was published. The co-editors for that volume were Eric Bain-Selbo and Andrew Parker. That volume was the last one published. Despite the good work of everyone involved, it just may not have been the right time for the journal. So, what’s different now? Just in the decade since the last volume of the journal, incredible strides have been made in the study of sport and religion. There now is a regular session on “Religion, Sport, and Play” at the American Academy of Religion. Springer launched a monograph series in religion and sport. Dozens of books have appeared and more and more young scholars are working on research in this area. So, when Terry Shoemaker and I were contacted by Catholic University of America Press about reviving the journal (with a slight name change), we not only agreed to serve as co-editors, we agreed enthusiastically and with confidence. The field of sport and religion has grown so significantly that we are confident that a journal can not only survive but can thrive. It is with that enthusiasm and confidence that we share this first issue with you. With this first issue, we thought it would be appropriate to have scholars in the field reflect on our history, the current state of scholarship, and where we might go in the future. These relatively short but very rich pieces accomplish several goals. First, they document much of the history of this area of study and memorialize some of the key figures in its development. Second, they provide some critical assessment of the scholarship happening today. And, third, they provide valuable insights as to where scholars can take (or should take) their research in the future. [End Page 1] A feature of every issue of the journal will be “Current Issues Conversations.” We will be bringing together a number of scholars, athletes, fans, and others in the sports industries for focused panels on pressing issues in the area of sport and religion. We kick off this special section of the journal with a panel discussion of the controversial Kennedy v. Bremerton School District case that was decided by the Supreme Court in June 2022. We hope that these discussions help readers expand their knowledge about important current issues and think more critically about a host of issues related to sport and religion. Finally, we’re taking the standard book review section and expanding it to a Book and Media Review section. This expansion will allow us to continue publishing book reviews, but also provides scholars with an opportunity to review relevant video games, television shows, documentaries, and movies. Interested in doing a review? Please let us know. As we move forward with the journal, we hope readers will reach out to us to provide feedback about the journal. And, of course, we are always interested in your scholarship. Please let us know if you have a completed article, something in the works, or just an initial idea for which you would like our feedback. [End Page 2] Copyright © 2023 The Catholic University of America Press

Holiness and Pentecostal Movements: Intertwined Pasts, Presents, and Futures

This volume is the first in a new Penn State University Press book series Studies in the Holiness and Pentecostal Movements, which has its origins in an ongoing joint session of the Manchester Wesley Research Centre and the Pentecostal Theological Seminary that began at the American Academy of Religion in 2018 with a focus on exploring the intersections between the Holiness and Pentecostal Movements. The introduction to the book gives some of the background to that exploration and presents a potted history, highlighting the pioneering work of those looking to build closer academic relationships between Pentecostal and Wesleyan scholars, which does not always make comfortable reading for those of us in the latter camp. Here some more detail would have been helpful at times to better understand acts of seeming intransigence: why, for example did the Executive Committee of the Wesleyan Theological Society discontinue joint meetings with the Society for Pentecostal Studies in 2020 without even allowing a discussion? (11)The rest of the book is divided into three sections, the first offering perspectives on the beginnings of the emergence of Pentecostalism from the Holiness Movement toward the end of the nineteenth century, beginning with the role of God’s Bible School in the education of early Holiness and Pentecostal leaders explored by David Bundy. Of particular interest to British readers is Kimberly Ervin Alexander’s assessment of the Wesleyan roots of British Pentecostalism in the ministry of Alexander A. Boddy, the Anglican vicar who founded the Pentecostal Missionary Union. The chapter highlights Boddy’s intriguing descendance from Mary Vazeille, a fact Boddy spoke proudly of at a bicentenary celebration of his great-great-great-step-grandfather, where he expressed a feeling of ‘much sympathy with the Methodists’ (77). Alexander rightly highlights the importance of Boddy’s geographical location in Sunderland, where from 1908 until 1914 he hosted an annual convention. She does, however, misjudge the source of Wesleyan and Holiness influences on the area: Lorenzo Dow visited neither here nor Manchester, where Boddy grew up (77) but the influence of James Caughey’s visit to Sunderland in the 1840s and especially Phoebe Palmer’s hugely successful campaign in the town in November 1859 are much more likely to have had lasting impacts. Alexander, though, does offer a much needed and perceptive study of Boddy, a vital British link between the Wesleyan Holiness Movement and Pentecostalism. Here lies one of the strengths of the book, in revaluating the contribution of neglected figures in the development of Holiness and Pentecostal theology and praxis.The second section of the book looks at the unity and diversity of the Holiness and Pentecostal movements as they developed. Daniel Woods gives a captivating account of the role of the railroad between 1880 and 1920, both as a theological metaphor for salvation typified in gospel songs such as This Train Is Bound for Glory and as a practical method of transport for preaching the gospel and establishing new ecclesial communities. As well as rescuing key figures from relative obscurity, the strongest essays in the collection also offer new interpretive tools with which to view them, as when Cheryl Sanders makes imaginative and perceptive use of the lenses of the Womanist perspective offered by Alice Walker and the insights of H. Richard Niebuhr’s Christ and Culture to evaluate the contribution of Black Radical Holiness women like Amanda Berry Smith, Mother Lizzy Robertson, and Mother Lilian Brookes Coffey.The concluding section of the volume offers some theological perspectives and begins with Frank Macchia’s reflection on the role of Christ as Spirit baptizer in Luke 3:16–17 and its relevance for Holiness and Pentecostal views of the atonement. The collection concludes where it began: in the academy, with an exploration of the importance of the work of the Cleveland School of Pentecostal scholars, which emerged from the Church of God Theological Seminary in Tennessee.This is a rich and fascinating collection of essays that offers a variety of historical and theological insights, the fruit of closer academic cooperation between two traditions with deep Wesleyan roots to the benefit of both. Along with the other planned volumes in the Penn State series, it is a hopeful sign that the sometime tendency toward isolationism described in the book’s introduction may become a thing of the past.

Mormonism's Inside-Outsider

Jan Shipps is Mormonism's “inside-outsider” who transformed the field of Mormon studies and paved the way for many who followed in her footsteps. Her book Mormonism: The Story of a New Religious Tradition remains one of the most widely read and assigned books about the Mormon Restoration, offering a concise introduction to the faith from someone on the outside of it. Her status as an outsider who earned the respect and trust of insiders lent credibility to both her writing and a field that was insular and dominated by believing historians. Drawing on previously published autobiographical writing, oral history interviews by the Church History Department, and lengthy personal interviews, Gordon and Gary Shepherd's biographical sketch of Shipps's life welcomes readers into the life of one of Mormon studies’ pioneering voices.In Jan Shipps: A Social and Intellectual Portrait: How a Methodist Girl from Hueytown, Alabama, Became an Acclaimed Mormon Studies Scholar, the scholar becomes the subject, and readers of Mormon history are given the opportunity to learn about one of the field's leading voices. The biography is written in two parts. The first tells the story of Jan's life, her upbringing, marriage, college career, and arduous journey through the academic job market. Most importantly, her biographers highlight the extent to which Jan immersed herself not only in Mormonism but in the academic study of Mormonism. Jan was among the first to bridge the academic study of the Latter-day Saints and Community of Christ. She was the first non-Mormon to serve as president of the Mormon History Association, advocated for the Mormon Studies Unit at the American Academy of Religion, and published one of the most widely read books on Mormonism in the twentieth century.The second half of the book takes a different approach from the first, which is purely biographical overview. In chapters 5–8, the authors analyze the major events in Jan's life that led to her rise to fame in Mormon studies and place her life alongside other prominent women in the field. The authors chose to compare Jan's life and work to Juanita Brooks and Fawn Brodie because, as they argue, their books are “indisputably the most important or impactful that have ever been written about Mormons and their history” (143). While some may dispute this claim, these three authors represented women's scholarship in a field comprised mostly of men. Along these lines, the Shepherds conclude their overview of Jan's life with a focus on Jan's view of feminism. Although Jan does not identify as a feminist, the authors situate Jan in a long line of “proto-feminists” who impacted both Mormon history and the lives of Mormon women.Readers will be impressed by Jan's determination and intellectual journey. Graduate students and those interested in academic work will find this book particularly compelling. Jan spent years on the academic job market and struggled to find full-time employment, with varied jobs including a brief position at the Kinsey Institute for Sex Research. While her life represents that of an exemplary and groundbreaking scholar, the biographers did not paint an easy ascent in academia. It is honest and represents a reality that many entering the field will find useful, even consoling.It would be dishonest not to admit that this book was not only intellectually but personally meaningful to me. As a fellow non-Mormon woman in Mormon studies, Jan Shipps became something of a role model to me and someone whose scholarship I have admired since graduate school. In their conclusion, Gordon and Gary Shepherd write, “Jan Shipps's salient scholarly contributions to the understanding go Mormon history, and her influential role in legitimating Mormon Studies as a significant discipline area of inquiry, merit deep appreciation of all contemporary scholars of the religious culture and history of the Latter-day Saints” (208). I, for one, am grateful.

Global Racism and International Publishing

Global Racism and International Publishing Kwok Pui-lan (bio) George Floyd’s murder sparked protests globally as protesters connected the Black Lives Matter movement to racial oppression in their own contexts. As I am writing this in the final days of US evacuation from Afghanistan, I am concerned that Islamophobia will rear its ugly head in the future fight against the Taliban and the resettlement of Afghan refugees in the world. I appreciate Judith Plaskow’s insightful, self-critical reflection on racism and Feminist Studies in Religion (FSR) and her tenacity to stay in dialogue even when the conversation became personal and painful. But she has left out the dimension of global racism and feminist publishing. Even as she points out that the Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion (JFSR) remains a largely white Christian enterprise, she fails to interrogate that it is a US-dominated white Christian enterprise. As a former coeditor of JFSR (2000–2005), I want to reflect on the challenges of global racism in knowledge production and publishing. It would be myopic to reflect on racism and JFSR only from the US context. JFSR was founded in 1985, at a time when feminist and womanist religious scholarship gathered momentum globally. Asian feminist theology began in the late 1970s and the journal In God’s Image launched in 1982. The Womanist Approach to Religion and Society group at the American Academy of Religion (AAR) was formed in 1985. The AAR’s Native Traditions in the Americas group was formed in 1987.1 In Africa and Latin America, feminist religious networks also began. For example, the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians was founded in 1989 and published numerous books. In Latin America, the ecofeminist theology and spirituality group Con-spirando was formed in 1991 and publishes a widely read journal. [End Page 19] JFSR supports and promotes international feminist religious scholarship. The editorial board has international scholars; an international board was formed to encourage foreign submissions and networking. As a premier feminist journal, JFSR appeals to international feminist scholars, some of whom would find it prestigious to publish in an American journal. So, why is it difficult to publish more articles by female scholars from the global South? This issue was discussed in some of our editorial board meetings. People said international authors did not know the logistics of writing for an American journal. Reviewers of international submissions said the authors did not reference representative or latest works on the topic (their libraries may not have had these books). Some remarked that these submissions seemed more fit for the Living It Out or Roundtable sections. Even as we encourage board members to solicit international submissions, it would take much time for them to “coach” the authors to make their pieces publishable. This is doubly taxing for board members of color, who are already overstretched. As a coeditor of the journal, I devoted much time to overseeing the editing and proofreading processes, as the journal did not have a paid staff. Instead, we relied on student help and volunteers. This was on top of my full-time job, with no course relief. The editorial team worked constantly under pressure. I worried about meeting the deadlines for each issue and did not have the luxury of thinking about long-term planning or expanding international networks. Thus, we cannot assume that if we have women of color as JFSR’s coeditors or serving on the editorial board, we will increase publications by women of color or women from the global South. The problems are more systemic. As a feminist peer-reviewed journal, are we subscribing to the academic and publishing standards defined largely by the white academy? Do we understand feminist work if it is not done according to the protocols of research methods conceived and developed largely by white scholars? What is allowed as data using these methods and what is concealed? Are we using the master’s tools, only adding a feminist twist? What new feminist research methods in religion have we developed? Can women in the global South be theorists, and not merely providers of data or stories to be incorporated into the theories originating in the...

What Does Genuine Transformation Look Like?: Emphasizing the “D” in DEI

What Does Genuine Transformation Look Like? Emphasizing the “E” in DEI Rebecca T. Alpert (bio) Knowing the deep commitment of Feminist Studies in Religion (FSR) to diversity, equity, and inclusion, I was not surprised that the leadership responded to the murder of George Floyd and the renewed focus on race in the United States by creating a list of “Action Items to Combat Anti-Black Racism.”1 I was curious that these items included no. 5, “Self-reflect[ion] on FSR’s history and current practices,” and so was honored, since I have not been that deeply involved in FSR, to be asked to respond to Judith Plaskow’s deeply thoughtful and provocative roundtable essay to begin this conversation. I was invited to join the Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion (JFSR) board in 2010, and I was both pleased and surprised by the invitation. For some twenty years before that I had actively published in the field (and in the journal) and had been both chair of the American Academy of Religion (AAR) Status of Women in the Profession Committee and director of the (then) Women’s Studies Program at my institution, so I occasionally wondered why I had never been asked to serve. But I also knew that diversity mattered to the JFSR board and so assumed that they were looking for a queer Jew at that time and that it was my turn. I stayed on the board for ten years and enjoyed interacting with an amazing cohort of scholars, including an atypically high percentage of scholars of color—at least 30 percent, as Judith calculated. In terms of representation, that board truly reflected inclusion. Despite those efforts, I, like Judith, failed to recognize how very white both the premise and power dynamics have been. Despite these efforts at inclusion, the results failed to achieve equity. Scholars of color were “invited into projects after their basic parameters have been determined” (10). Ownership has not passed out [End Page 31] of the founders’ control. Inclusion exists, but not power or influence. The idea that white people can, with the best intentions, find ways to be inclusive and diverse but yet fail to achieve the desired goal of equity struck me as Judith’s key insight in this retrospective essay. We must begin thinking long and hard about how to deal with the “container,” as Judith calls it, the system of white privilege and power that, despite our best efforts at inclusion and diversity, remains in place. As I read Judith’s words, I thought about how efforts to be inclusive have failed to achieve the desired goals. In my own case, I would highlight two things that Judith alluded to: • Confusing social position for insight. Assuming that as a queer Jewish woman who spent her childhood in a predominantly Black neighborhood, read widely in Black studies, and taught courses in the race requirement at my university to educate myself, that I really knew anything about the experience of people of African descent. Then compounding that with the assumption that my social location gave me some special privilege, not to ignore Black experience as Judith suggests she did, but to appropriate those experiences by comparing them to mine. • Struggling to get over my own self-importance in the cause of anti-Black racism by being too proud of my own contributions and unable to get over my own mistakes. I also didn’t “die” after my public gaffe at the 2017 meeting in the morning session on breaking boundaries that Judith referred to. But I still fault myself for falling into the trap of making a typical “white feminist ally” move by suggesting a personal solution to a systemic problem (coauthoring an article with a Black colleague) that I compounded by asking my colleague in public to write with me. Then furthering the problem by asking her to deal with my pain when she called me out on that suggestion publicly, not only for finding a personal solution to a systemic problem but for asking her to help me solve it and contributing to the extra labor Black women are perpetually asked to perform in the academy. I found...

Gill, Rahuldeep Singh: Drinking from Love’s Cup. Surrender and Sacrifice in the Vārs of Bhai Gurdas Bhalla. Selections Translated with Introduction and Commentary. New York/Oxford: Oxford University Press 2017. 296 S. 8° = American Academy of Religion, Religion in Translation. Hartbd. US-$ 105,00. ISBN 978-0-19-062408-8.

Article Gill, Rahuldeep Singh: Drinking from Love’s Cup. Surrender and Sacrifice in the Vārs of Bhai Gurdas Bhalla. Selections Translated with Introduction and Commentary. New York/Oxford: Oxford University Press 2017. 296 S. 8° = American Academy of Religion, Religion in Translation. Hartbd. US-$ 105,00. ISBN 978-0-19-062408-8. was published on December 1, 2021 in the journal Orientalistische Literaturzeitung (volume 116, issue 6).

Review: Dark Persuasion: A History of Brainwashing from Pavlov to Social Media, by Joel E. Dimsdale

Joel Dimsdale begins Dark Persuasion by acknowledging that the term brainwashing is “silly and unscientific” (viii), but adds that it is also a powerful metaphor that describes processes used by political, military, scientific, and religious actors to direct and control human behavior. He also admits that readers may be offended by his grouping brainwashing, torture, and religious conversion in a single chapter. Psychiatrists like himself, however, see the dark side of religious commitment. Scholars are coming to grips with “identifying, naming, and treating harm in NRMs” as well, if the rise of roundtable discussions at Harvard Divinity School and the American Academy of Religion are any indication.The first half of the book is a compelling read, beginning with Pavlov and his famous dogs, Stalin and the show trials, and Chinese reeducation of prisoners of war. Most fascinating, and grotesque, was the experimentation done by American and Canadian scientists upon unwitting or unwilling volunteers—research sponsored by the CIA and laundered through reputable foundations. A chapter on the Stockholm Syndrome provides the backstory to the paradoxical effect hostage-taking may have. It dovetails nicely with an account of the Patricia Hearst kidnapping and trial, in which the jury “concluded that she had been converted, rather than coerced, to join the SLA” (158). So much for being locked in a closet for two months.Two chapters address religious groups: Peoples Temple and Heaven’s Gate. Unfortunately, factual errors mar the discussion of Jonestown. Dimsdale’s assessment of Heaven’s Gate is stronger, and the psychiatrist rejects the argument that its members were delusional or brainwashed, but rather shared “a contagion of belief” (201). The last two chapters of the book, dealing with social media and the future, are the weakest. Nevertheless, they issue a cautionary note. “When Pavlovian behaviorism meets sophisticated neuroscience, the dark potential of coercive persuasion is clear” (221). This book makes that quite evident.

Scholarly Values, Methods, and Evidence in the Academic Study of Religion

Abstract The Values in Scholarship on Religion (VISOR) project collected data on the preferred methods and values of scholars in the academic study of religion. This dataset supports comparisons between members of the American Academy of Religion (AAR) and partner organizations, such as the North American Association for the Study of Religion (NAASR), as well as members of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion (SSSR). The AAR-partner sample differs from the SSSR sample in consistently preferring humanities over empirical approaches. Both samples were modestly aligned with the secular academy in rejecting theological claims as evidence. The subgroups within the AAR-partner sample that were affiliated with the International Association for the History of Religions (IAHR) were the most firmly committed to secular approaches and evidence. These findings indicate the range of perspectives currently present in the big-tent AAR, which deliberately embraces theological scholarship as well as secular religious studies research.

SBCS Holds Its Second Online Annual Meeting November 19–20, 2021

SBCS Holds Its Second Online Annual Meeting November 19–20, 2021 Sandra Costen Kunz For the second year in a row, the Society for Buddhist-Christian Studies (SBCS) held its annual meeting online due to the corona virus pandemic. For several decades prior to the pandemic, we met face-to-face in conjunction with the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion (AAR) as one of its "related scholar organizations." Having applied in 2020 to continue as an AAR "RSO," we were delighted that AAR renewed our status in March, 2021, because we see our own mission as having some important overlap with AAR's. (For these two mission statements, see: https://www.society-buddhist-christian-studies.org/mission and https://www.aarweb.org/AARMBR/Who-We-Are-/Mission-and-Values.aspx.) This year, in addition to its face-to-face sessions at San Antonio's convention center and downtown hotels, AAR again offered an online video conference platform on which we held our paper sessions late Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. We sincerely hope that conditions are such that early next fall we can commit to meeting in person in conjunction with the 2022 AAR meeting in Denver. Our Friday governing board meetings and members meeting this year were hosted by SBCS President Leo Lefebure on Georgetown University's Zoom platform. board of directors morning meeting Approval of the Minutes and Slate of Nominees The president called our meeting to order at 9 a.m. CST. After the minutes from the 2020 meeting were unanimously approved, the board's Nominating Committee presented the following slate for new board officers and directors and committee members: Vice president:Carolyn Jones Medine Journal co-editor:Kristin Johnston Largen Journal book review editor:Jason VonWachenfeldt [End Page 377] At-large board directors:Elizabeth Tyler (four-year term)Anh Tran (four-year term)Insook Lee (three-year term) Streng Book Award Committee member:Jason VonWachenfeldt Social Media and Website Committee members:Julius-Kei KatoAlaina Keller Using Zoom's anonymous polling function, we voted for each person in turn. The result was that each committee nominee was elected, and the officers and at-large board members were given approval to be presented on the board's slate during the online election during the members meeting. To honor their needs for sleep, we moved next to the reports of our two board members who were zooming in late at night from East Asia. Social Media and Website Committee Chair Jonathan Seitz reported from Taipei. Prior to the meeting, he had emailed the board a summary that included statistics that Chera Jo Watts, executive associate for digital services, had collected. The news was very good—and demonstrated the importance of this committee for the Society's work and growth! In this article, I've included both written and oral parts of Jonathan's report. Website During 2021, journal co-editor Thomas Cattoi, past president Kristin Largen, vice president Mark Unno, Leo, and Jonathan posted articles and announcements on the blog. These totaled seven posts, which were more than in 2020. The traffic on our website increased during the months in which new content was posted: a pattern also noted in prior years. If you're interested in writing for the blog, you can find tips at: https://www.society-buddhist-christian-studies.org/topics/2022/2/7/write-forus-submittinga-blog-post-to-sbcs. Our 6,623 total website visits showed a 25% increase over last year. Membership Statistics We currently have 218 dues paying-members who receive a hard copy of the journal. This is a 25% increase over last year! The membership categories and fees are: [End Page 378] • 79 students (60 in 2020) $10; • 94 (75 in 2020) practitioners and adjunct, independent, or retired professors $25; • 45 (39 in 2020) assistant, associate, or full professors $45. Members' Online Access to the Journal Not long after our publisher, University of Hawai'i Press (UHP), began publishing the journal online as well as in print, issues were made available to our membership electronically through Project Muse via a link from UHP: a very useful research tool for...

Playing with Religion: Delight at the Border between Epistemological Worlds

AbstractThis article builds on conversations that began here in the Journal of the American Academy of Religion in 2019 on Jonathan Z. Smith’s legacy to the study of religion. Specifically, in this article I take up and elaborate on Heather Blair’s tentative proposal for thinking about religious studies as a kind of play. Beginning with Blair and engaging with the work of Sam Gill, Tyler Roberts, Robert Orsi, and others, I put forward a strong argument for adopting a playful approach to the study of religion. A programmatic alternative to reading religion against the grain and between the lines, a ludic approach to religious studies enables the scholar to engage with religion in ways that fruitfully combine at least provisional commitment to its rules with ironic disavowal, inviting the scholar to play between the incommensurate epistemologies of enchanted religious worlds, on the one hand, and the disenchanted modern academy, on the other. It is here, I argue, in this frictive space between these mutually exclusive and logically incompatible positions that religious studies finds its niche (or should), trafficking—and delighting—in the creative insights generated by the oscillation between fit and no-fit.

Overcoming Religious Illiteracy: Towards a More Inclusive Approach to Islamic Bioethics

Abstract Islamic bioethics is an emerging phenomenon, with a recent proliferation of introductory literature seeking to describe the scope, parameters, and players of the field. However, this paper critically assesses the enterprise of Islamic bioethics as it stands today and argues that it lacks conceptual clarity. This leads to some very problematic assumptions made by Muslim and non-Muslim authors alike, which results in essentialist and reductionist discourses that privilege majoritarian, authoritarian, and conservative forms of religious and state authority at the expense of competing, dissenting, and reformist voices. I suggest using the principles of religious literacy (as endorsed by the American Academy of Religion) to bring much needed conceptual clarity to the field, to understand Islamic bioethics as a contested space of academic theology, and to promote a more inclusive discourse.

ECOLOGIES OF RESONANCE IN CHRISTIAN MUSICKING. By MarkPorter. American Academy of Religion: Religion, Culture, History. New York, NY: Oxford University Press USA, 2020. Pp. ix + 172. $99.00.

Religious Studies ReviewVolume 47, Issue 1 p. 105-105 Short Reviews On Recent Publications: Christianity: Modern/Global ECOLOGIES OF RESONANCE IN CHRISTIAN MUSICKING. By Porter, Mark. American Academy of Religion: Religion, Culture, History. New York, NY: Oxford University Press USA, 2020. Pp. ix + 172. $99.00. First published: 30 May 2021 https://doi.org/10.1111/rsr.15121Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onEmailFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume47, Issue1March 2021Pages 105-105 RelatedInformation

In 2020 SBCS Sails Skillfully Through First Online Annual Meeting November 20 and December 1–2

In 2020 SBCS Sails Skillfully Through First Online Annual Meeting November 20 and December 1–2 Sandra Costen Kunz Due to the corona virus pandemic, the 2020 annual meeting of the SBCS was entirely online. Although we genuinely missed our formal and informal face-to-face gatherings, the board and membership were delighted by the outcome. The board decided not to use American Academy of Religion (AAR)'s platform due to the expenses that this would have involved for our participants. Instead, we accepted the gracious offer of Georgetown University's Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs to host us on Zoom. The happy result was that our board meeting completed its agenda effectively in a compressed time frame with our usual good humor and camaraderie. Several of the presentations in our two sessions included beautiful slides, something we've missed at AAR because the convention center and hotel venues charge extremely high projector fees. The first session drew 175 viewers from 14 nations and the second drew 110 viewers from 15 nations. Canada had the second-most viewers after the United States, and Italy was right after Canada. This is, by far, our highest attendance in the past twelve years. We are still very committed to continuing as a "related scholarly organization" within AAR, having had our status reviewed and renewed at the beginning of this March. We thus look forward to meeting face-to-face in conjunction with their meeting in San Antonio the weekend before Thanksgiving, 2021. The board is also weighing whether or not to hold online events in the future so that we can again make our programming available to people outside the United States, and to faculty, monastics, chaplains, and other people without travel allowances. We welcome your thoughts about this at https://www.society-buddhist-christian-studies.org/contact. board of directors meeting: friday, november 20 President Leo Lefebure called the meeting order at 10 a.m. EST. After the agenda and last year's minutes were approved, we moved immediately to the international advisor's reports, due to the time difference. European Network of Buddhist Christian Studies Advisor Report Elizabeth Harris in Britain reported that the papers from the Network's 2019 conference: "Buddhist-Christian Encounter – A Visionary Approach: A Conference [End Page 299] Inspired by Lynn A. de Silva (1919-1982)," held in cooperation with the World Council of Churches, will be published in 2021. Some SBCS members who contributed are Wesley Ariarajah, André van der Braak, Thomas Cattoi, Jim Fredericks, and Amos Yong. They've postponed their conference in Salzburg, "Euro-Buddhism and the Role of Christianity," until June 30 to July 4, 2022. Liz reported that the discussion in the online meetings of the Buddhist-Christian Dialogue Forum in the UK, which she co-convenes, have sometimes reflected the anger around the trustworthiness of public leaders and institutions. Topics have included: "Resilience, Responsibility and Wise Action in the Current Crisis," "Wise Action in Public Life: How to Speak the Truth without Violence," and "Caring for our One World." Some of the papers from the 2019 Sri Lanka meeting of the Special Committee of the Red Cross's long-term project on "Buddhism and International and Humanitarian Law" will be published online in the Journal of Buddhist Ethics. A book will be published, too. Because the project is not a mere academic exercise, activists, military and legal experts, and others are involved. Their next conference is scheduled to meet in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Liz hopes it will draw more Mahayana participants. Japan SBCS Advisor Report Kuni Terasawa reported from Tokyo where he's teaching online for Wartburg College. Last fall in Hong Kong, he met with Daniel Young who's researching Dao Fong Shan, the Norwegian Lutheran center for Buddhist-Christian dialogue begun there in the early twentieth century. Many Hong Kong Christians are participating in the protest movement, but some people in Hong Kong still hold a bit of resentment about the British government's favoring Christians over Buddhists. Better Buddhist-Christian cooperation could be important for human rights and the democratic movement in Hong Kong, he thinks. In Korea, where he spent last spring, young Rissho...

Introducing Jeri Wieringa

Despite the rising popularity of digital scholarship in the humanities, there still exists a great deal of tension between this new scholarship and more traditional methods. Primarily the concern lies in how to measure the work done between the two, with many seeing the former as less taxing than traditional methods and requiring additional work out of those pursuing digital scholarship. In a recent meeting of the American Academy of Religion (AAR), Jeri E. Wieringa spoke on a panel that showcased the digital work in the humanities so as to highlight the need for academia to better incorporate digital scholarship. Her talk, discussed prominently in this paper, highlighted her doctoral work and clearly expressed the similarities between traditional and digital methods of scholarly research.

#METOO

Abstract The #MeToo hashtag is a welcome contemporary addition to the long struggle to end sexual harassment against women. An American Academy of Religion (AAR) iteration of this struggle began at the first meeting of the Committee on the Status of Women in the Profession (SWP) in 1990. One of the issues the members considered was to create a sexual harassment policy for the AAR; it was the discussion of the sexual harassment policy at that first meeting that first unfolded the deep layers of harm that women of the academy had endured over the years.

SCIENCE FICTION AND METHODOLOGY

SCIENCE FICTION AND METHODOLOGY

THE NUTS AND BOLTS OF TRANSFORMATION: SCIENCE FICTION'S IMAGINED TECHNOLOGIES AND THE CIVIC IMAGINATION

AbstractThis is an introduction to the thematic section on Science Fiction's Imagined Technologies, which includes three articles that were presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion (AAR) in San Diego, CA on November 24, 2019.

Racial profiling?: Theorizing essentialism, whiteness, and scripture in the study of religion

AbstractLeaders in the American Academy of Religion have committed the guild to resisting the current wave of white nationalist and white supremacist machinations, presenting our discipline as particularly suited for the task. But given the study of religion's intimate historical relationship with the modern Christian colonial project, scholars can equally find themselves reinforcing the socio‐interpretive modalities—namely essentialism—upon which whiteness is premised. This paper presents critical scripture studies, particularly its elaboration of processes abbreviated in biblical interpretation, as an avenue for deconstructing assumptions about how whiteness works.