Politics of the sacred, implicit theology, mysticism and spatiality: from different directions these three papers take up theologies of movement, silence, and presence. Rather than bounding theologies by the affirmative and dogmatic, these papers ask how theology and the sacred move in and through the world(s) of people. Alongside the kinetic forcefulness of Black Lives Matter protests, Seth Gaiter finds also a spirituality of quiet, a ritual practice of silence and grieving. Considering the affective intensities of engagements with speculative fiction allows Karen Trimble and Maryellen Davis Collett to develop an account of implicit theology beyond explicit religious belonging. Finally, Shoshana McClarence looks at spaces of queer gathering through the dual lenses of mysticism and spatial theory to develop a relational account of mysticism.
Black Lives Matter has entered the cultural lexicon. The phrase in popular culture now invokes forceful images of chanting and marching, blocking freeways and interrupting traffic, and other demonstrations of kinetic forcefulness. In popular culture it is a movement imagined as without leadership, without political program, and with out theological direction. But, contrary to mischaracterizations, in addition to its kinetic assertiveness there are also rituals in BLM which introduce silence as a part of the Du Boisian “spiritual strivings” of Black politics. Thinking with Joseph Winters and Kevin Quashie I want to explore what silence, absence, “quiet,” in die-in rituals reveals about a certain interiority in this Black political movement. BLM has been characterized as “more secular” than and antithetical to the Civil Rights movement and “Black church” tradition, which, by contrast, are seen as emblematic of a larger tradition of Black religious protest. Contrary to this I locate a politics of the sacred at the heart of #BlackLivesMatter even in the silence. What Charles Long calls “the hiatus” touches something beyond and before the legibility of normative theological structures.
Works in theology and religious studies often remain siloed from each other, with barriers built on charged assumptions about insider vs. outsider perspectives. Our shared affinity for speculative fiction serves as a means to explore how theology and religious studies might more fruitfully engage with one another and with the humanities. Attending to the galvanizing emotional states provoked by individual and communal experiences of speculative fictions, we argue that we are all, at times, insiders and outsiders when it comes to the performances and observations of culture—a culture that is dynamic, diverse, and that engages our imaginations. Developing theoretical orientations of implicit theology and secular spirituality to speak to the complexities of religion and popular culture in a contemporary era shaped by increasing levels of polarization and religious non-affiliation, we suggest useful deployments of the secular theological and spiritual meaning-making activity already present in engagements with speculative fictions.
According to the ACLU there are at least 336 bills in state legislatures currently that target LGBTQIA+ individuals as of today. Being queer is indeed a marginalized identity. This paper traces marginalization to mystical spaces and explores queer inhabitance of mystical space. By exploring the turn in 1960s spatial theory and its connection with marginalized individuals I hope to draw connections to mystical theory and the impact of combining mystical and spatial theories. In this was understanding how the marginalized can be drawn into liminal and thirdspaces, it is possible to see mystical experiences and their outcomes as highly relational. I will first consider marginalization and its connection to spatial theory through a Foucaultian lense. Then I will look at 1960’s parisian spatial theories. Finally, drawing together what queer mystical space looks like in the 21st century.