Advancing Interreligious Studies: Interactive Workshop

What marks the edges of the field of interreligious and interfaith studies in our current moment? Representatives from the Emerging Scholars initiative of the Association of Interreligious/Interfaith Studies (aiistudies.org) will lead a discussion on current trends in critical theory and interdisciplinary research for this interactive workshop. Brief examples of graduate-level research that will be presented includes affect theory and Christian supremacy in religiously plural contexts; the liberal politics that characterize many common practices developed by interfaith organizations in North America; and the opportunities and challenges of interreligious approaches to environmental projects. The aim of our discussion is to invite other graduate students, junior scholars, and senior scholars into the conversation, working from the idea that the scholarship emerging from different disciplines could help us understand and identify what is on the cutting edge of critical scholarship in the (still) new field of interreligious and interfaith studies. 

This presentation opens a conversation about the evolving landscape of Interreligious Studies (IRS) within the broader taxonomy of the study of religion by asking about its inter- and multidisciplinary nature. How is IRS related to Religious Studies (RS), theological studies, Jewish studies, Islamic studies, and other fields beyond those represented in the AAR? This paper initiates a critical discussion on the academic classification or home of IRS and its relationship to other fields. By likening IRS to RS as ecology to biology, a thought experiment is opened – one that welcomes rigorous critical feedback – to examine IRS's roles, methods, pitfalls, and interdisciplinary potential. The session invites diverse scholarly insights to workshop IRS's academic positioning and identify gaps in scholarship to further enhance the field's future.

Interreligious/Interfaith Studies is an academic field that is inherently interdisciplinary. Engagement with the arts is a multifaceted aspect of this interdisciplinarity. This interactive workshop, facilitated by an interreligious-studies scholar/arts-professional, will enable a robust conversation about the interface between Interreligious/Interfaith Studies and academic study of (or engagement with) the arts. It will feature a brief assessment of the state of the engagement, as discernable in recently released arts-themed Interreligious/Interfaith Studies publications. During the ensuing discussion, attendees will consider questions such as the criteria by which particular engagements between religion(s) and art(s) _qualify_ as examples of Interreligious/Interfaith Studies per se; effective methods of critical inquiry into the arts as an Interreligious/Interfaith Studies theme; personal experiences of the interdisciplinarity of religion and the arts; or projects and publications that will further the practice and assessment of engagement of Interreligious/Interfaith Studies with the arts.

This paper explores the impact of physical spaces on interreligious dialogue by analyzing key works in interreligious studies from the last five years. While cognitive concepts like 'third spaces' and 'sacred space' have garnered significant attention, the actual physical venues of interreligious meetings has received less attention. The paper will investigate how issues of neutrality, inclusivity, and exclusivity manifest in recent literature on meeting spaces. This entails examining each work from an array of perspectives on the topic, including religious perspectives on spaces of other faiths and secular venues, as well as considering intersecting factors such as gender, class, race, and sexuality. Additionally, it explores emerging thoughts on the nature of supposedly neutral spaces. The paper aims to uncover emerging trends and theoretical frameworks while identifying unresolved issues. A brief comparison between theoretical discourse and practical examples will be included to assess the alignment between academic literature and current practices.

Teaching students a hermeneutic process can help them connect what they learn in interreligious and interfaith studies to their lives outside the classroom. The process begins by acknowledging each student’s unique starting point, and then moves through five further steps: first responses to what I’m encountering, self-reflection on those responses, understanding (including listening with empathy and asking with curiosity), reflection on what I’ve learned, and deciding what’s next. Students engage case studies by writing about their first responses and self-reflections on those responses; then, after applying an analytical template and practicing media-literacy skills to research the issues involved, students articulate how and why their minds have changed and how they’d approach a similar case if they encountered it in daily life. The process aims to foster an inclusive environment and help students practice intellectual virtues and metacognition, and students often report using it beyond the course.

How does a syllabus change when your target audience are not religion specialists? The author will discuss how they use "Understanding Religion: Theories and Methods for Studying Religious Diverse Societies" (California UP 2021) in teaching international relations, political science, and other students. Giving some background on the book, it is argued that showing that "religion" is a political category, makes it relevant to understanding society, human interaction, and how people position themselves in groups. The same skills and knowledge are also key in the religious/ interreligious studies classsroom.

In the Western world, we are witnessing the emergence of hybrid forms of religiosity; individuals who do not identify or belong to one religious tradition but identify with or combine elements from multiple religious traditions. Research has shown that people with a multiple religious belonging comprise as much as 24% of the population in the Netherlands, making it one of the largest religious minorities in the country. The word “belonging” has strong emotional connotations. The occurrence of people with a multiple religious belonging, a hybrid religious practice or a multi-religious identity invites us, scholars of religion, to reimagine religious belonging beyond a common understanding of “belonging to a religion”. The multiplicity of religious beliefs and practices to which individuals connect creates a new framework in which individuals experience a sense of rhizomatic belonging, which is both beyond religious traditions.

I propose a new framework that might be called “Way of Life Studies” that invites every person to bring their full self and their whole story to the encounter. This approach begins with the recognition that we are all individuals in context. Our understanding of and ways of approaching our lives is indistinguishable from our experiences alone and in communities with others and with the world. We look to the example of queer studies to help us. Religious identities, like gender and sexual identities are social constructs. If we use labels prescriptively to define people into different categories, we inevitably “straighten” them to fit our boxes and limit their flourishing. In contrast, we can invite each of us to describe ourselves, finding language to tell our stories and illuminate our connections with others

This approach would focus our attention on stories rather than identities, highlighting our experiences as our teachers. We would resist the normative influences of patriarchy and institutional authority and we would also free ourselves to bring our whole selves and hold space for expressing and experiencing transformations in all kinds of interactions. 

This paper will explore the non-violent, interreligious nature of the resistance during the 26-day occupation of the H.E.W. Building in 1977. Since the occupation took place over Easter and Passover, many of the activists celebrated their religious holidays in the building. Many of the organizers, such as Daniel Billups, drew on their own religious practices to lead and sustain the occupation. I will argue that the constraints of the occupation necessitated that these religious practices were interreligious and led to inter-riting among the occupants.

Using archival material from The Healing Community, an interfaith disability rights organization, newspaper articles covering the occupation, and memoirs from key disability activists, I will show that interreligious practice and inter-riting sustained the occupation through non-violent methods. This occupation can expand our notions about where interreligious ritual participation takes place and question the “host and guest” framework of interreligious practices.

We are creating an Interreligious Walking Pilgrimage on campus and its environs. On this pilgrimage designed by a team of faculty and students, college and community members are invited to engage in a multitude of religious experiences along our trails and walking paths. We are actively creating intermittent stations around campus where participants can scan QR codes that will link to meditations, music, poetry, and art from a variety of religious traditions.