There’s a timely project — happening now, right before our eyes — that someone in the study of religion could (should?) tackle, concerning the strategic use of origins tales in the present — not just that, but the self-beneficial way in which groups choose to use and sanction them (or simply ignore them).
continue readingGrist for the Millstone
I recall a conference, quite some years ago, where, as part of a panel discussion, I was once called “a vulgar Smithian”; it was a criticism that responded to my interest in the category “religion” itself, thus linking me to Jonathan Z.’s often-cited (and, these days, often-criticized) claim from the opening to his 1982 essay […]
continue reading“It’s not about eating pork”
If you’re watching the Netflix series Master of None (starring the comedian Aziz Ansari), or if you’re a scholar of religion on social media much, then you may know about season two’s episode entitled Religion.
continue readingResearch Suggestions, #48: To Cover or Not to Cover?
Have you been following the new U.S. President’s first overseas trip–including stops in Saudi Arabia, Israel, and Italy…? Many news sources have commented on the fact that (as evidenced in the above photo), while in Saudi Arabia, Melania Trump, the First Lady, and her step-daughter, Ivanka, did not cover their heads (as is customary for […]
continue readingFaculty Relinquish the Cup: Students Rejoice
Yes, it’s that time of year again — the Spring semester’s classes are winding down but the competitive spirit is ramping up, in preparation for the what is now almost a decade old tradition: the Manly Cup.
continue readingA Lesson in Comparison
Yes, that’s the reaction Symone Sanders had to her fellow CNN commentator’s comments favorably comparing Donald Trump to Martin Luther King. Didn’t catch this yesterday, or the fall out for much of the rest of the day?
continue readingYes, Patches O’Houlihan is My Pedagogical Mentor
You seen “Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story” (2004)? No? Well it provides some important pedagogical lessons.
continue reading“The Craziest Thing I’ve Ever Seen”
Over on social media the other day, I came across the following tweet, posted at NPR’s site. These turkeys trying to give this cat its 10th life pic.twitter.com/VBM7t4MZYr — J… (@TheReal_JDavis) March 2, 2017 My comment, used above as this post’s opening pic, wasn’t completely sarcastic.
continue readingJim and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
In the close to Fabricating Origins — a recent collection of short essays, by a wide array of scholars, on the problem of origins — I used the example of Jim and Pam, from the U.S. adaptation of the British series, “The Office,” to illustrate how malleable, and thus useful, the archive of the past […]
continue readingIt May Be Simpler Than You Think
I saw the above tweet yesterday, which prompted me to mull over why we generally think that the role of religion is such a complicated thing to study. It occurred to me that it is complicated (i) if you fail to recognize that there’s been trained scholars of religion out there for well over 100 […]
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