Lived Religion and Jewish Studies: Possibilities, Politics, and Publics

Since the 1990s, building on a broader turn towards the study of practice, American religious studies scholars developed the approach of “lived religion,” a methodology that approaches religious practice as it is enacted, perceived, experienced, and embedded in everyday activities. This roundtable will bring together four scholars of Jewish life who work within, utilize, or theoretically consider lived religion as a methodological approach to Jews and Judaism in the United States for a state-of-the-field discussion that will reflect on the intersection of American Jewish studies and lived religion. How has lived religion helped Jewish Studies scholars to reimagine or reconceptualize the religious worlds that Jewish people make? This panel will consider whether a lived religion approach has democratized the study of Jews and Judaism, whether it has the potential to do so, and whether there are other models that would serve us better.