Jun 17

Podcast: Cross-Cultural Identities Roundtable

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It’s Identities? Week here at the Religious Studies Project, with not one but two specially-recorded roundtable discussions about how identity is negotiated (if indeed it is) through our religious, ethnic, sexual and socio-cultural identities. This first podcast, recorded at the … Continue reading

Jun 12

Networked religion, blurring boundaries and shifts in the field of authority, by Hanna Lehtinen

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Central to questions of authority is the ability to define the tradition; to define how scripture should be interpreted, and to tell orthodoxy from heresy. Networked religion, blurring boundaries and shifts in the field of authority By Hanna Lehtinen, University … Continue reading

Jun 10

Podcast: Heidi Campbell on Religion in a Networked Society

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Media, religion and culture is an emerging area, with much attention being given to four themes, namely authority, community, identity and ritual. Research has focused on a wide range of topics, including different religions in virtual worlds; religion and video … Continue reading

Jun 05

Stereotypes and Dangerous Rituals: A Reflection on the Academic Study of Serpent-Handling, by Travis Warren Cooper

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While Hollywood often takes a critical stance in the name of provocation and artistic freedom, scholars of particular social and cultural groups often find themselves working against the grain of collective assumptions. Stereotypes and Dangerous Rituals: A Reflection on the … Continue reading

Jun 03

Podcast: Paul Williamson on Serpent Handling

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The use of serpents – more commonly known as ‘venomous snakes’ – within religious practices is by no means a new phenomenon within religious and cultural contexts. Certainly there are plenty of examples of where serpents have been power symbols … Continue reading

May 29

A Field Little Plowed? The Study of Religion and the Built Environment Today, by David McConeghy

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[My dissertation] in Religious Studies [...] begins with the premise that the built environment has been over-emphasized to the detriment of other modes of creating and maintaining sacred space. A Field Little Plowed? The Study of Religion and the Built … Continue reading

May 27

Podcast: Peter Collins on Religion and the Built Environment

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In our ‘post-modern’ world, it should come as no surprise that the built environment – skyscrapers or teepees, sports stadiums or roadside shrines – impact upon the daily lives of individuals and communities in multifarious ways. Buildings dominate our skylines, … Continue reading