"Extraordinary individuals (saints, sages, heroes, etc.) are often transgressors. They cross boundaries (actual and imagined), they break rules (sacred and profane), and they challenge norms (about sex, gender, class, etc.). How does the extraordinary status (or sanctity) of these individuals endow them with the power to transgress, for better and/or worse? How do those who honor such personages make sense of their transgressive power? What can this power tell us about the role of the extraordinary individual for the community that gathers in their wake?
In keeping with the collaborative ethos of the Hagiology Seminar, this roundtable will involve participation in three virtual conversations leading up to an in-person session at the 2024 AAR Annual Meeting."
Annual Meeting 2024 Program Book
Presentations in this panel revolve around passages drawn from Śikṣānanda’s early eighth-century Chinese translation of the *Laṅkāvatārasūtra* (Taishō no.672), which is the focus of a new translation project. The *Laṅkāvatārasūtra* is well-known as an influential if also unorthodox source of Yogācāra-Vijñānavāda thought that was particularly impactful in East Asia. With reference also to other versions of the text, the panel will attend to key passages from Śikṣānanda’s version concerning aspects of earlier Buddhist thought inherited by the *Laṅkāvatārasūtra* and (re)formulated by it, including the substratum consciousness (*ālayavijñāna*), karmic ‘seeds’ that burden it (*bīja*), and some notion of ‘buddha-nature’ (*tathāgatagarbha*). In discussion, the panel will reflect on questions arising from translating Śikṣānanda’s Chinese into English: how best to render its philosophical and doctrinal profundity (and obscurity); what distinguishes it from our other versions of the text, and the perennial difficulties surrounding the translation of what are already translated Buddhist texts.
This panel demonstrates how research on women religious challenges our predominant narratives of Catholic clergy sexual abuse. The first paper, on “The Sexual Economies of Clericalism,” centers questions of agency, subjectivity, and submission for survivors of abuse by Catholic nuns and theorizes the gendered construction of sexual knowledge. The second paper, “Abuse in the Latin American Church,” reframes these questions by arguing that women religious are a distinctively vulnerable population for abuses perpetrated by male clergy – a problem that is particularly pronounced in countries like Bolivia, where the Church’s high social status has continued to silence victimized nuns. The third paper, “Everyday Spiritual Abuse,” draws attention to broader patterns of gender-based violence in Australian Catholicism, theorizing how everyday forms of gendered harm, including misogyny and breadcrumbing, create the foundation for systemic Catholic sexual violence.
Papers
Catholic Women Religious (CWR), also known as nuns, are typically considered to be part of the organisational hierarchy of Catholic elites. However, evidence has emerged of CWR as both victims of gendered violence, as well as perpetrators of historical violence particularly against children in Catholic orphanages and parish schools. Hence, potentially they are both marginalised and centralised players in the abuse crisis. This paper will assess the evidence produced via research reports, public inquiries, court cases and social action initiatives and argue that CWR were both victims and perpetrators of sexual, spiritual, psychological and physical violence. Utilising a new and innovative conceptual and methodological framework - the sexual economies of clericalism - repositions the complex subjectivity and positionality of CWR in the Catholic diaspora and goes forward to understanding how CWR were a vulnerable and marginalised cohort with access to limited forms of institutional power.
Women religious (WR) constitute a vulnerable group within the Church, with a higher risk of experiencing various forms of abuse compared to other groups. Specifically, in comparison to consecrated and/or ordained men, the likelihood of suffering abuse is much greater for them. The abuse of priests over WR, the abuse between nuns, and the abuse of WR towards minors must be understood as framed within the structure of abuse of power that characterizes hierarchical and patriarchal institutions, such as the Catholic Church. What is new is that the victims have begun to denounce their abuses, breaking the silence and defying the culture of secrecy and cover-up that protected those who abused them. Why are they now breaking their silence? What do their narratives reveal? These are two questions that guide the analysis.
Recent research into the faith practices and religiosity of Catholic women has shown that gender-based violence (GBV) is a pervasive part of women’s everyday experiences in Catholic parishes and organisations. This paper will use the narratives of women collected during interviews conducted with Catholic women in Australia to argue that experiences of GBV have been normalized as an ordinary and quotidian part of Catholic women’s lives. It will explore how instances of harm and suffering happen via a systematic pattern of coercive and controlling action defined as “everyday spiritual abuse.” Moreover, it will show how the various technologies of harm associated with everyday spiritual abuse, including misogyny and breadcrumbing, have far-reaching consequences and are often entwined with grooming and sexual violence in Catholic settings.
In three recently published books the authors draw upon different religious traditions (Christianity, Judaism, and Islam) and use diverse methodologies (theology, philosophy, and political science) to consider the challenges related to law’s authority which have arisen in our pluralistic world. We believe that a roundtable between these authors will provide helpful case studies for different types of engagement with law resourced from different religious traditions in dialogue. Through this discussion, we will explore the potential for engagements with law which is true to various religious traditions and functional in today’s pluralist society, especially given the challenges stemming from the rise of authoritarian regimes around the world.
This panel session is a collaborative effort between the Religion Migration Unit and the International Women's Caucus. The category of gender is a central factor to any discussion of migration including the causes, characteristics, and consequences of migration. This session explores how gendered cross-border relationships, including different and diverse types of marriage, are shaped by and shape the dynamics of religion and migration. Engaging Jordanian, Korean, and American contexts, the papers draw on a variety of methodological approaches to analyze and assess the significance of gender as an analytical category as well as an activist category in the current geopolitical context.
Papers
This article is a theological exploration into the marginalization of Cross-border female marriage immigrants within Korean churches. The author employs a feminist interpretation of Orpah from the book of Ruth—the Moabite widow who chose to return to her mother’s house—to challenge the conventional expectations held by the Korean government, families, and churches that marginalize cross-border marriage immigrants: the unquestioning assimilation into the cultural norms and the performance of the traditional female roles. By revisiting Orpah’s courageous decision not to renounce her mother’s house, the author explores how her story can empower immigrant women not only to retain and pass down their cultures but firmly believe that their decision will be met with blessings (1:8b). Furthermore, by highlighting Naomi’s role in encouraging and blessing Orpah, the author underscores the church’s responsibility to foster a safe environment for women to express themselves rather than legitimizing marginalization.
The U.S. reality is permeated with migration waves that have led to a Hispanic/Latine population of over 62 million. In the present essay, I assess how a sample of Latine married couples within a Catholic parish discern a home outside their birthplace. I interrogate how such a community seeks, creates, and implements a spirituality of migration born out of the struggles before, during, and after the process of forced mobility. I enter this journey by sharing some of the most valuable lessons on the migration journey these couples have had via interviews. I clarify the terms of in-between, lo cotidiano, la lucha, accompaniment, vocation, and Christian Spirituality through the import of relevant theologians and spiritual writers who offer vital wisdom to this complex reality. Finally, attention is given to the implications of an emerging spirituality of migration as this group discerns how to build a home away from home.
This paper focuses on a particular type of Islamic marriage, so-called imam marriages, which are not recognised by the Jordanian state but widely practised among and with Syrian refugees since their influx to Jordan in 2011. State institutions and European faith-based organisations advocate the registration of religious marriages on the basis of fulfilling UN conventions on gender and human rights.
Through a case study of Syrian refugees in Jordan, this paper offers new insights into the ambiguity inherent in the enforcement of marriage registration and the impact of humanitarian interventions on gender rights and the safety of displaced individuals in the Middle East. It further highlights the need for a nuanced understanding of gender justice and security and underscores the importance of considering the broader implications of such interventions, particularly on the lives and well-being of displaced people in the global south.
This Unit provides an opportunity for scholars to engage in emerging research at the intersection of religion and sport, games, and play. We are interested in examining these topics across broad geographical areas, religious traditions, and historical eras. We encourage critical reflection regarding relationships of religious institutions to sport, play, and games; theological and spiritual experiences of participants and spectators invested in these activities; and the cross-cultural applicability of the received categories.
Papers
Pride Nights, events in support of 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals, sponsored by the National Hockey League, have recently caused controversy. A number of players, citing deeply held religious beliefs, have withdrawn from such events. Responding to this controversy, the NHL subsequently cancelled all special events, including Pride Nights. This response, along with the defenses of players, coincides with a cultural shift regarding the privacy and immunity from criticism of religious belief as codified in the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the Hobby Lobby v. Burwell decision. Such events foster a form of fideism, where religious belief, along with is social consequences, is seen as individual and isolable from institutional or collective criticism.
Israeli media coverage perpetuates discrimination against Palestinian and Arab-Israeli athletes through the projection of the Black brute archetype onto these marginalized populations. Examining how Israeli media frames soccer as a symbol of Jewish-Arab coexistence, this paper reveals how Arab players are expected to embody this narrative, at the expense of their cultural identity and rights. Drawing parallels to broader societal dynamics, whiteness operates as a dominant force, reinforcing systemic violence and racial othering against Arab and Palestinian minorities. The analysis uncovers how Israeli media discourse, steeped in nationalistic rhetoric, silences dissenting voices and perpetuates religious and cultural hegemony. Arab athletes are pressured to conform to Jewish norms, including singing the national anthem and carrying the Israeli flag, further marginalizing their identity and perpetuating systemic violence. Ultimately, the paper argues that the portrayal of Arab and Palestinian athletes as "Black Brutes" enables unchecked violence and oppression by Israeli governance.
The flow concept developed by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is well-established and applied in the field of sports, especially in sports psychology. Relating to previous studies of the relationship between flow and spirituality in sports, this paper explores experiences of spirituality in long-distance running by taking advantage of the concept of flow. The paper’s particular take is to bring this concept into dialogue with the notion of resonance, developed by sociologist Hartmut Rosa, thereby establishing a theoretical framework for analyzing spirituality in running. More precisely, the paper presents a study that analyzes written autobiographical narratives of long-distance runners. In these narratives, flow experiences are identified primarily in the subject’s resonant relationship to nature, the body, and the self. It is also argued that the concept of resonance proves helpful for a deeper understanding of spiritual flow experiences in long-distance running.
This panel focuses on the book review, as genre and form, arguing for its centrality within scholarship, insisting on its creative possibilities in terms of style and approach, and investigating ways to make review-writing more legible to department and university administrators who, too often, dismiss this labor as (merely) general “service” to the profession. This panel also commemorates Religious Studies Review, the only journal devoted entirely to publishing reviews in religious studies and theology, on the occasion of its 50th anniversary. Panelists, a selection of current RSR editors as well as administrators from academic institutions, will discuss the function and necessity of reviews and reviewing. Attention will also be given to advice on review-writing for graduate students and junior scholars, and audience members will also have the opportunity to sign up to review books with RSR during this panel.
The new boom in research and interest in non-human sentience and sapience (in particular, “critical plant studies” and the Rights of Nature movement) calls for a deeper theoretical engagement with ethics, ontology, religious studies, and metaphysics. This panel explores the biological and ethical promises of these new frameworks, while critically analyzing their incompleteness. While welcoming the agency and personhood of our non-human kin is one way to enter into deeper, and perhaps decolonial, relationships with the more-than-human world, this panel explores the complexities involved, asking questions like: When do our frameworks of analysis perpetuate the very violence and colonial assumptions we seek to do away with? When do our imaginaries and cosmologies promote ecological hope? And what philosophical and religious frameworks can create mutually beneficial relationships nonhumans? Muslim environmentalism, Black Studies, Hindu perspectives on animals, Buddhist perspectives on trees, Dark Green Religion, and Korean mythology on big cats are considered.
Papers
This paper explores the role of non-human agency in addressing ecological violence through the lens of W.E.B. Du Bois's "The Comet" and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Employing the concept of "melancholic hope," the paper argues that by centering celestial bodies and non-human entities, these works of speculative fiction challenge anthropocentric narratives and expose the slow violence of systemic racism, imperialism, and extraction. Drawing on religious frameworks that consider non-human sentience and sapience, this paper examines how marginalizing these perspectives perpetuates ecological imbalance and undermines the sacred equilibrium necessary for the survival of all species. Engaging with literature and art that re-centers the non-human nurtures our moral imagination and makes possible alternative paradigms for a more inclusive and sustainable Anthropocene. This paper invites scholars of religion to consider the transformative potential of melancholic hope in fostering a responsible and empathic relationship with our planetary cousins.
One of the little examined margins of ecological thought is the kinship between human and arboreal beings. The recent emergence of “critical plant studies” tries to remedy this, and we find ourselves in the midst of a boom of popular books on trees. Both graft enchantment at trees’ newly (re)discovered sentience and sociality onto inherited ideas of sacred groves, world trees and the apparently unstinting generosity of trees. Entwining easily with what Bron Taylor calls “dark green religion,” these discussions also often recapitulate dubious ideas of planty passivity and selflessness which are both biologically and ethically incomplete. In this talk I weave together representative contemporary discussions with the more complicated and profound sentience and sociality of the enlightenment-hosting ficus religiosa and the San Diego native Torrey Pine, precious to the Kumeyaay, to ask: what can trees teach us about the spirituality of non-violence?
This paper explores the entangled reality of coloniality in the relationship between human and non-human animals, drawing on the insights of Jacques Derrida and Donna Haraway as well as the gaze of Beom in the Korean tradition. Derrida generates a profound rupture in the discussion of human and non-human animals where the problems of ability and passivity resurface through the symbolic actions of gazing and naming. Haraway expands on Derrida’s insights, advocating for an interdisciplinary approach that incorporates a more comprehensive understanding of animals. In furthering this discussion, I invite beom, Korean-origin big cats, to serve as a lens through which to explore animals and animality from a non-Western tradition and reveal the intersection among colonialism, Western imperial power, and the naming of species. Through the gaze of the beom, the notion of passivity in animality will be challenged by a deeper appreciation for the shared experience of living together.
When does the recognition of “humanity” or “personhood” to nature’s bodies enable, rather than restrict, certain kinds of violences? I focus on a few key examples: bestiality practices in medieval England, the violent taming of wild elephants in 19th century Malaya, and the sacrifices of goats to deities in rural India. In understanding the relationship between ontology and violence, does it matter what kind of “violence” we are discussing, whether it is operating within an intimately interpersonal home or at the large-scale of mass factories? How can thinking with Black scholars, such as Saidiya Hartman and Zakiyyah Jackson, give us resources to understand when recognition of humanity licenses, rather than restricts, violence? For those who are invested in both more-than-human cosmologies and environmentalism, we need a more precise ontological and ethical framework than a generic respect of agency or personhood of nature’s bodies to conceptualize nature-human relations.
2024 marks the twenty-year anniversary of the publication of Saba Mahmood’s Politics of Piety: The Islamic Revival and the Feminist Subject. Its five chapters have shaped conversations across anthropology, religious studies, political science, philosophy, and beyond. Through an ethnography of a women’s piety movement in Cairo, Mahmood offered an analysis of Islamist cultural politics, where “politics” has less to do with the state form than the embodied infrastructure of everyday ethical practices. In addition to its account of this under-studied aspect of the Islamic revival, Politics of Piety developed a rigorous theoretical critique of the secular-liberal assumptions that dominate/d academic and public discussions on religion and politics. This roundtable brings together six junior scholars in conversation, taking it as an occasion to revisit these chapters: not to offer an account of their reception or to contextualize their arguments but to reread them in view of our own disparate projects today.
The Lutheran tradition is not without its own history of colonialism and of working with governments to settle people on colonized lands around the world. Papers in this session engage historical, theological, and other perspectives that critically address the complexity of past or present relationships between Lutheran theology, land appropriation, indigenous rights and settler colonialism. This session also reflects towards future possibilities for action and scholarship.
Papers
In many contexts Lutheranism has been deeply entangled with settler colonial efforts to appropriate Indigenous lands for white settlers within an extractivist capitalist economy while seeking to eliminate the Indigenous population. However, there are notable exceptions to this dominant arrangement of Lutheranism and white settler colonialism that involves important Indigenous agency within a settler colonial order. This paper contrasts such different relationships between Lutheran churches, white settler colonialism, and Indigenous populations by describing the situation of the Southern African ELCSA church and the North American ELCA. Specifically, this paper compares the relationship of the ELCSA and the Bafokeng in the North West Province with that of the ELCA and Indigenous peoples in North Dakota, including these churches’ relationships to Indigenous lands and resource extraction.
Lutheran churches in Brazil have emerged through migration from 1824. The paper argues that there were three struggles for its citizenship: a first one in the 19th century for the civil rights of immigrant settlers. At the same time, black and indigenous people were fought as enemies. With expanding pan-Germanic tendencies after 1871, not too few claimed the "Protestant church and Germanness must remain indissolubly linked". The second struggle for citizenship, after 1945, implied the clear positioning as a Brazilian church. This was severely tested under the military regime (1964-85). From 1970 onwards, the church took an increasingly critical stance on issues of democracy, civil rights, and issues of social justice in its third struggle for citizenship: standing up for others' rights. However, prejudice and land struggles against indigenous peoples continue. The Bolsonaro government (2019-22) brought to the fore a strong polarization between ministers and members around such issues.
Historically, Norway is constituted by Sami tribes and Norse settlers. These historical groups are still referenced, and in 2013 a conflict evolved between Sami tribes and the Norwegian state. The state will erect 277 wind turbines on a specific site, not taking into account that the location is an important Sami winter pasture for reindeer. Huge wind turbines disturbing 2000 grazing reindeer may violate the Sami people's rights. Despite protests, the government decided (March 6, 2024) to build the turbines as planned. As a consolation, Sami reindeer herders are promised “compensation”. I will use this complex case to ask “Who are the ‘hegemonic humans’ in Norwegian thinking and theology?” I will discuss the case by comparing two influential traditions: inherited Sami Nature Spirituality and modern Scandinavian Creation Theology.
Fifty years ago, Dr. Vine Deloria’s challenged American white settler churches to begin an “honest inquiry by yourselves into the nature of your situation,” a situation where “you have taught [humanity] to find its identity in a re-writing of history.” Turning to Vitor Westhelle’s *After Hersey*, my “beginning of honest inquiry” interrogates the pseudo-theologies that funded European colonialism and settler claims to Indigenous lands in what became the United States. Deploying an anti-colonial *theologia crucis*, I follow Westhelle’s critique of the history of European colonialism allowing “naming the thing for what it is.” This theological approach then funds a critical look at my own family story of pioneer life in the Upper Midwest chronicled famously by my relative Laura Ingalls Wilder. I conclude with a case study of the Northeastern Synod of the ELCA engaging in truth telling and repair in relationship to the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe.