Theory in a Time of Excess; Beyond Reflection and Explanation in Religious Studies Scholarship; Aaron w. Hughes

Edited by

Aaron W. Hughes [+–]

University of Rochester

Aaron W. Hughes is the Dean’s Professor of the Humanities and the Philip S. Bernstein Professor in the Department of Religion and Classics at the University of Rochester. His research and publications focus on both Jewish philosophy and Islamic Studies. He has authored numerous books, including Situating Islam: The Past and Future of an Academic Discipline (Equinox, 2007); Theorizing Islam: Disciplinary Deconstruction and Reconstruction (Equinox, 2012); Muslim Identities: An Introduction to Islam (Columbia, 2012); and Abrahamic Religions: On the Uses and Abuses of History (Oxford, 2012). He currently serves as the editor of the journal Method and Theory in the Study of Religion.

The core of the book consists of chapters by leading theorists in the field — an anthropologist of religion, a literary theorist, a specialist in cognitive science of religion, and a philosopher of religion. Each statement is then followed by shorter response papers, and concludes with a response by the theorist.

Introduction

Introduction: Theory in a Time of Excess [+–] 1-10

Aaron W. Hughes £17.50

University of Rochester

What does it mean to “do theory” in the study of religion today? The terms “method and theory” are now found in course titles, curricula/degree requirements, area/comprehensive exams, and frequently listed as competencies on the C.V.s of scholars from across a wide array of subfields. Are we really that theoretically and methodologically sophisticated? While a variety of groups at annual scholarly conferences now regularly itemize theorizing among the topics that they examine and carry out, it seems that few of the many examples of doing theory today involve either meta-reflection on the practical conditions of the field or rigorously explanatory studies of religion’s cause(s) or function(s). So, despite the appearance of tremendous advances in the field over the past 30 years, it can be argued that little has changed. Indeed, the term theory is today so widely understood as to make it coterminous with virtually all forms of scholarship on religion. This volume seeks to re-examine just what we ought to consider theory to signify. After a critical Introduction written by the editor, the first two chapters reflect generally on what the place of theory has been in the study of religion, and what, at this particular moment, its focus ought to be. The remainder of the book comprises four distinct sections by a leading theorist in, respectively, anthropology of religion, cognitive science of religion, philosophy of religion, and cultural/literary theory. Each section is be followed by three shorter response papers, and each section concludes with a response by the theorist.

Part I

1. Establishing a Beachhead: NAASR, Twenty Years Later [+–] 13-18

Luther H. Martin,Donald Wiebe £17.50

University of Vermont

Luther H. Martin is Professor Emeritus of Religion, University of Vermont. He also has been a Distinguished International Fellow at the Institute of Cognition and Culture, Queen’s University Belfast, and a Visiting Professor at Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic. He is the author of Hellenistic Religions (1987) and of numerous articles in this field of his historical specialization. He has also published widely in the field of theory and method in the study of religion, especially, in the area of cognitive theory and historiographical method, and has coedited several volumes in this area, including Past Minds: Studies in Cognitive Historiography (2011). He is a founding member of the International Association for the Cognitive Science of Religion and is co-editor of its Journal of the Cognitive Science of Religion.

University of Toronto

Donald Wiebe is Professor of Philosophy of Religion in Trinity College at the University of Toronto, Canada. He is the author of Religion and Truth: Towards and Alternative Paradigm for the Study of Religion (De Gruyter, 1981), The Irony of Theology and the Nature of Religious Thought (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1991), Beyond Legitimation: Essays on the Problem of Religious Knowledge (Palgrave Macmillan, 1994), The Politics of Religious Studies: The Continuing Conflict with Theology in the Academy (Palgrave Macmillan, 1999) and The Learned Practice of Religion in the Modern University (Bloomsbury, 2019).

This chapter provides a chronological history of NAASR over the past 20 years.

Part II

2. On the Restraint of Theory [+–] 21-31

Jason N. Blum £17.50

Davidson College

Jason N. Blum teaches at Davidson College. His research focuses on theory and method in religious studies, and topics at the intersection of philosophy and religion, particularly the relationship between science and religion, religious experience, and religion, society & ethics.

According to some, theory ensures the integrity of religious studies as an academic discipline: it is the development and application of theory to explain religion that distinguishes critical scholarship from the apologetics of theology (and, allegedly, the covert apologetics of phenomenology of religion). In this chapter, Blum acknowledges the necessity of theoretically-grounded explanation of religion, not as a levy to be paid for entrance into the academy or the public university, but as an essential dimension of the task of analyzing the collection of phenomena that we, for better or worse, call religion. Acknowledging the necessity of theory, however, does not tell us when and how theory should be deployed. Within this context, he argues that theory must be restrained in the interpretive phase of the analysis of religion, or else the scholar risks losing the very phenomenon she seeks to study. The legitimacy and integrity of research in religious studies therefore rests not only on the proper application of theory, but on the proper restraint of it as well.

3. It’s Hard out there for a Theorist [+–] 32-36

Michael J. Altman £17.50

University of Alabama

Michael J. Altman is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Alabama where he researches and teaches course on colonialism, Asian religions in America, and critical theory. He holds a Ph.D. in American Religious Cultures from Emory University, a M.A. in Religion from Duke University, and a B.A. in Religious Studies and English from the College of Charleston.

response

4. Signifying ‘Theory’: Toward a method of Mutually Assured Deconstruction [+–] 37-46

Richard W. Newton, Jr. £17.50

University of Alabama

Richard Newton is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Alabama. He is author of Identifying Roots: Alex Haley and the Anthropology of Scriptures(Equinox Publishing Ltd., 2020) and former editor of the Bulletin for the Study of Religion. Newton is also curator of the social media professional development network, Sowing the Seed: Fruitful Conversations in Religion, Culture and Teaching (SowingTheSeed.org).

response

5. On the Restraint of Consciousness [+–] 47-51

Tara Baldrick-Morrone £17.50

University of Tennessee

Tara Baldrick-Morrone is Lecturer in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Tennessee

response

6. A Reply 52-56

Jason N. Blum £17.50

Davidson College

Part III

7. The High Stakes of Identifying (with) One’s Object of Study [+–] 59-68

K. Merinda Simmons £17.50

University of Alabama

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K. Merinda Simmons is Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Graduate Director of the Religion in Culture MA Program at the University of Alabama. Her books include Changing the Subject: Writing Women across the African Diaspora (Ohio State UP, 2014), The Trouble with Post-Blackness (co-edited with Houston A. Baker, Jr., Columbia UP, 2015), and Race and New Modernisms (co-authored with James A. Crank, Bloomsbury, 2019). She is editor of the book series Concepts in the Study of Religion: Critical Primers (Equinox).

Simmons reflects on her training in English to argue for the centrality of critical theory to interrogate power dynamics, specifically the ways in which race, gender, sexuality, capital are constructed. She then juxtaposes this with the study of identity formation in the academic study of religion. The latter, unlike the former, is predicated upon a rejection of post-structuralist critique so as to take stock of “lived experiences” of marginalized groups. What accounts for this inversion, she suggest, is the relationship between scholars and their object of study.

8. New Materialism and the Objects of Religious Studies [+–] 69-73

Martha Smith £17.50

Fullerton College

Martha Smith is Professor of Religious Studies at Fullerton College in Southern California. Her current research and teaching interests include North American religious diversity and pluralism, race and ethnicity studies, diversity and social justice. Her courses focus on the diversity of the American religious landscape, especially the ways in which race, gender, and ethnicity are connected to religious identities and the significance of material culture and lived religious experience in American life.

response

9. Killing the Scholar: Critical Theory, Relevance, and Objects of Study [+–] 74-79

Thomas J. Whitley £17.50

Thomas Whitely, after earned his Ph.D. at Florida State University, worked in university administration before transitioning to politics and local government; from 2018-2022 he served as the Chief of Staff for John Dailey, the mayor of Tallahassee, Florida, and he is currently the Director of Strategic Innovation for the City of Tallahassee.

Response

10. The Rhetoric of Disinterest for Authorizing our Critical Position: Historicizing Critical Theory in Religious Studies [+–] 80-86

Stephen L. Young £17.50

Brown University

Stephen L. Young has a PhD in Religious Studies from Brown University. His research focuses on the intersections between mythmaking, discourses about deities, and textuality and sacred books in the ancient Mediterranean.

response

11. A Reply [+–] 87-91

K. Merinda Simmons £17.50

University of Alabama

View Website

response

Part IV

12. What the Cognitive Science of Religion Is (And Is Not) [+–] 95-114

Claire White £17.50

California State University, Northridge

View Website

Dr Claire White is Assistant Professor in the department of Religious Studies at California State University, Northridge. She holds the first position in the United States as a Cognitive Science of Religion specialist in a Religious Studies Department. She is also the Co-Chair of the Cognitive Science of Religion Group at the American Academy of Religion.

Over the past decade or so there has been an exponential growth in research in the Cognitive Science of Religion (CSR). Yet despite this, there continues to be a lack of understanding, and sometimes blatant misunderstanding, about what characterizes the field. This state of affairs is due, in part, to the reluctance of those within the field to commit to a precise definition. In this chapter, White argues that at heart of CSR is a theory that human cognition is necessary (but not sufficient) to explain the presence, persistence and prevalence of human ideas and behaviors deemed “religious.” It is thus distinguished from its often a-theoretical academic counterparts in the study of religion because of the attempt to explain, rather than describe, religion and because of the centrality of the role of the human mind in this explanation.

13. ‘Show me the Money’: Big Money Donors and the Cognitive Science of Religion [+–] 115-120

Brad Stoddard £17.50

McDaniel College, Westminster, Maryland

Brad Stoddard is an Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at McDaniel College in Westminster, Maryland. He has degrees from the University of California at Berkeley, Yale Divinity School, and Florida State University. His research explores religion and public policy, particularly as they relate to criminal justice policies in the era of faith-based initiatives.

response

14. Of Elephants and Riders: Cognition, Reason, and Will in the Study of Religion [+–] 121-128

Matt Sheedy £17.50

University of Bonn

Matt Sheedy holds a Ph.D. in the study of religion and is a visiting professor of North American Studies at the University of Bonn, Germany. His research interests include critical social theory, theories of secularism and atheism, as well as representations of Christianity, Islam, and Native American traditions in popular and political culture. He is the author of Owning the Secular: Religious Symbols, Culture Wars, Western Fragility (Routledge, 2021).

response

15. A Reply [+–] 129-135

Claire White £17.50

California State University, Northridge

View Website

Response

Part V

16. The Study of Religion, Bricolage and Brandom [+–] 139-149

Matthew C. Bagger £17.50

University of Alabama

Matthew Bagger teaches in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Alabama. He is the author of Religious Experience, Justification, and History (Cambridge University Press, 1999), The Uses of Paradox: Religion, Self-Transformation, and the Absurd (Columbia University Press, 2007), and editor of Pragmatism, Naturalism, and Religion (Columbia University Press, forthcoming).

The chief glory of the Study of Religion is its theoretical eclecticism. As a field, claims Bagger, programmatic theoretical approaches should be resisted. Instead, he argues that the use and development of theory should be driven by specific questions that arise in particular studies of religious phenomena. Metatheoretical reflection should generally be closely tethered to works of first-order scholarship. The use of Robert Brandom’s analysis of existential commitments to illuminate so-called narrative theology illustrates these claims and bears implications for the cognitive science of religion.

17. Precision and Excess: Doing the Discipline of Religious Studies [+–] 150-154

Rebekka King £17.50

Middle Tennessee State University

View Website

Rebekka King, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Middle Tennessee State University. Her research focuses on the negotiation of boundaries within North American Christianity. Her first book (under contract with NYU Press) charts the development of progressive Christianity in North America as a movement that spurned Christian orthodoxy in pursuit of a resolutely skeptical faith. She teaches courses on method and theory, anthropology of religion, and contemporary Christianity.

Response

18. On Druids, the Dude, and Doing Excessive Theory [+–] 155-164

James Dennis LoRusso £17.50

Princeton University

James Dennis LoRusso is Associate Research Scholar for the Faith & Work Initiative in the Center for the Study of Religion at Princeton University. LoRusso is interested in Theories and Methods in the study of religion, the intersection of religion and business management thought and praxis, and the workplace as a site of production for the category of religion. He is the author of Spirituality, Corporate Culture, and American Business: The Neoliberal Ethic and The Spirit of Global Capital (Bloomsbury, 2017), which traces how “spiritual” discourses in business have have contributed to the establishment and continue to sustain neoliberal norms. In his current role, he is co-researcher for a mixed-methods study of corporate chaplaincy in US companies and is developing his next qualitative project, which will explore “faith-based” and interfaith employee networks in corporate America.

Response

19. Reliabilism and the Limits of Pragmatism [+–] 165-171

Robyn Faith Walsh £17.50

University of Miami

Robyn Faith Walsh is Associate Professor of the New Testament and Early Christianity at
the University of Miami, Coral Gables. An editor at the Database of Religious History, her
articles have appeared in Classical Quarterly and Jewish Studies Quarterly, among other publications. Her first monograph, The Origins of Early Christian Literature: Contextualizing the New Testament within Greco-Roman Literary Culture was recently published with Cambridge University Press.

response

20. A Reply [+–] 172-176

Matthew C. Bagger £17.50

University of Alabama

Response

Part VI

21. Theory is the Best Accessory: Branding and the Power of Scholarly Compartmentalization [+–] 179-189

Leslie Dorrough Smith £17.50

Avila University

Leslie Dorrough Smith is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Avila University, USA, where she is also the Director of the Women’s and Gender Studies Program. She is the author of Compromising Positions: Political Sex Scandals and American Christianity (Oxford University Press, 2020), Constructing “Data” in Religious Studies: Examining the Architecture of the Academy (Equinox Publishing, 2019), and Righteous Rhetoric: Sex, Speech and the Politics of Concerned Women for America (Oxford University Press, 2014).

If we are to seriously consider what circumstances cause so many scholars of religion to tout themselves as people who “do” method and theory – and yet nevertheless end up with analyses that are relatively empty of both – then perhaps this has something to do with the very ways that we are first taught to professionally barter in those terms. In this chapter, Smith grapples with how the ghettoization of theory has transformed it into what is marketed as an attractive but ultimately unnecessary appendage to scholarship, which remains the model that is still embraced by many graduate programs in religious studies today.

End Matter

Afterword: Feast and Famine in the Study of Religion [+–] 191-202

Russell T. McCutcheon FREE

University of Alabama

Russell T. McCutcheon is Professor and Chair of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Alabama. His major publications include Manufacutring Religion (Oxford University Press, 1997), The Guide to the Study of Religion (Bloomsbury, 2000), Critics not Caretakers: Redescribing the Public Study of Religion (State University of New York Press, 2001) and The Discipline of Religion: Structure, Meaning, Rhetoric (Routledge, 2003).

Reflection on the content of the volume, the history of NAASR and the state of the academic study of religion in the academy today.

Index 203-205

Aaron W. Hughes FREE

University of Rochester

Reviews

A compelling and stimulating read.
In light of this plurality of approaches to understanding and implementing theory, Hughes's expectation that "a multi-hued theoretical vision" might emerge from the volume accurately reflects the book's potential contribution to the meta-reflection on the mode, manner and scope of doing religious studies.
Reading Religion

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Theory in a Time of Excess

Beyond Reflection and Explanation in Religious Studies Scholarship

Aaron W. Hughes [+–]

University of Rochester

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