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Where was God?: Jewish Theological Responses to the Holocaust

Theodical arguments are perhaps some of the most difficult to bring to a firm conclusion, particularly when placed in certain historical contexts. The Holocaust is one such instance, particularly for Judaism. Where was God during this event and how does that impact religion and its practice going forward?

In this episode, long-time friend and former co-editor of the RSP Dr. Breann Fallon sat down with Assistant Professor Barbara Krawcowicz to discuss the multiple perspectives on this question in Krawcowicz's new monograph History, Metahistory and Evil: Jewish Theological Responses to the Holocaust (Boston: Academic Studies Press, 2021). Fallon and Krawcowicz delve into the different streams of Judaism and the differing theological responses to the Holocaust between them. Interestingly the discussion considers differing views both during the War and post-War, looking at the immediate and long terms responses to this historical event. While no firm answers are garnered, the melding of humanity, religion and lived experience combine to raise interesting questions about the place of both history and meta-history in the religious studies context.

Navigating the Discursive Study of Religion

In this episode, RSP editor Andie Alexander talks with Teemu Taira about his recent monograph Taking 'Religion' Seriously: Essays on the Discursive Study of Religion (Brill, 2022). They discuss the usefulness of various discursive approaches to the study of religion and explore the ways in which these methods can be applied to specific studies of how different social groups understand, use, and negotiate the category of 'religion'. Taira outlines how he has applied discursive methods both in his research and in the classroom, so there are a variety of examples for how one might begin to apply these approaches in their own work.

Religious Literacy and Its Discontents | Discourse! February 2023

Benjamin P. Marcus is your host for this month’s episode of Discourse!, the RSP’s monthly, critical take on the category of religion in the news. Ben and his guests, Paulina Gruffman and Charles McCrary, start by looking at a recent Pew survey on religious literacy. What sorts of things do Pew count as knowledge about religion, and what religion(s) do they include? And what does this say about what we as scholars think we are doing when we talk to the public about religion? This leads into a conversation about the coverage of the so-called Asbury Revival. Do we authorise certain voices in the language we use, and whose terms we use? What happens if we describe them differently?

Articles Discussed

Spitting on the Sacred: Politics and Redefining Profanation

In this episode, Dr. Finbarr Curtis joins Jacob Noblett to discuss the growing phenomena of profanation as it concerns American politics and culture. Rather than define a holistic movement, Dr. Curtis explores the relationship between certain "forbidden" taboos and how they affect democracy in both a theoretical and very real sense. Using his book, Going Low: How Profane Politics Challenges American Democracy, as a guide, the "shock" culture of modern politics is broken down into digestible insights regarding the nature of "winning" and the fundamental conflict between private and public spheres of government influence as it pertains to religion.

Update: This episode is a great conversation partner for our episode with Charles McCrary, "What's Sincerity Got to Do With American Secularism?" which published a few months later.

The Church of Saint Thomas Paine: Religion without God

In this interview, Dan Gorman talks with Leigh Eric Schmidt about his 2021 book The Church of Saint Thomas Paine: A Religious History of American Secularism. Despite its title, Schmidt's book is not a religious biography of Thomas Paine, but rather a survey of the ways that atheists and agnostics have used Paine as a symbol or figure of devotion.

Schmidt organizes his book into sections on secular relics (focusing on Paine's exhumed, missing body), secular rituals (focusing on nineteenth-century Americans who sought new frameworks for life events), and secular institutions (focusing on attempts to organize various churches of humanity). An epilogue looks at secularism in the twentieth century. Several atheist and free thought congregations earned tax-exempt status as religious organizations, but religious conservatives from the Cold War onward stoked popular fears that secularists wanted to take over America. Throughout the book, Schmidt highlights a fundamental argument in the atheist/nontheist community: Does an absence of belief in God mean an absence of religion and all the things that go with it? As Schmidt's history of Thomas Paine fans reveals, the answer is no; a religion can operate on functional lines without a belief in God.

Other topics of conversation include the effects of COVID-19 on Schmidt's research and writing process, the design and semiotics of the book's hardcover edition, conservative critiques of Schmidt's support for liberal religion and secularism in public life, and the book's connection to Schmidt's earlier Restless Souls (2nd ed. 2012).

Religion under Attack? | Discourse! March 2023

This month’s Discourse is hosted by Suzanne Newcombe, who’s joined by Michael Munnick and Carmen Becker. They start by discussing the recent shooting at a Jehovah’s Witness Hall in Hamburg and how it has reopened discussions about discrimination. They then turn to Scotland, where discrimination is again an issue in the election of Nicola Sturgeon’s successor as Leader of the SNP. Are Kate Forbes' opinions on equality criticised for being religious, or for not being progressive? And finally, they discuss the case of Isabel Vaughan-Spruce, a pro-life activist arrested apparently for the crime of praying as a protest outside a UK abortion clinic.

Articles Discussed

Keep Hope Alive: Preparing for White Christian Nationalism

In this week's episode, Raymond Radford is joined by Bradley Onishi to discuss his new book Preparing for War: The Extremist History of White Christian Nationalism—and What Comes Next (2023). In 2021, as the Capitol building was being overrun in an attempt to stop a transfer of power, many of us were glued to our screens. Some such as Bradley Onishi were not only glued to their screen but counting the symbols and motifs he saw amongst the crowd. Onishi recognised the symbols as various religious organisations and thought back to his own past with Christian Nationalism, asking himself if he were still at his old church would he be storming the steps of the Capitol. Onishi's new book chronicles the rise of the White Christian Nationalism movement in America, and its connections to the Evangelical movements as they navigate to institute a theocratic regime through creative use of politics and bargain-making. What they want to achieve and how they seek to achieve these powers are explored and discussed as Bradley and Raymond discuss history, motives, and the outcomes of these movements, and why hope is still an option to combat them.

Supreme Court to Coulter: Negotiating Religion in the Public Sphere | Discourse! April 2023

In this episode, religious studies scholars Matt Sheedy and Tyler Tully, along with host Candace Mixon, discuss the ramifications of the in-progress Supreme Court case Groff vs. Dejoy, the Catholic Church’s decision to rescind the Doctrine of Discovery, and a recent controversial tweet by the conservative media pundit, Ann Coulter. In threading these discussions together, they consider religion as negotiated in the public sphere and the limits of accommodations across religious boundaries.

In Groff vs. Dejoy, one issue at play is the interpretation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, directly related to workplace accommodations, including for religious reasons. Current precedent reflects on the issue of hardship for the employer in accommodating the request, and that hardship must only be minimal for the employer to find it unable to be accommodated. As the court may widely expand the grounds through which employees may seek religious accommodations, our guests consider the ramifications of this (especially for non-Christian practices and on non-linear framings of time) and connect to broader impacts of religion in recent Supreme Court decisions, such as overturning Roe vs. Wade.

Tully and Sheedy respond to the Catholic Church’s rescinding of the Doctrine of Discovery, demonstrating the Vatican’s “doublespeak” as it downplays the interconnection between “religion” and “politics.” Finally, Sheedy introduces listeners to the incendiary tweet by Ann Coulter that abortion should be banned “for registered republicans only.” The guests consider what happens when legal debates become part of public rhetoric and who is left out when it goes mainstream. 

Charting the Playful & Proper Study of Religion

In this week's episode Sam Gill joins RSP editor Andie Alexander to discuss his recent book The Proper Study of Religion: Building on Jonathan Z. Smith. They consider different methodological and theoretical questions in the academic study of religion, such as comparison, difference-making, play & movement, experience, and "storytracking"—a narrative technique and method for critical self-reflection and scholarly analysis. Gill outlines a playful and proper study of religion that builds on the work of the late J. Z. Smith and demonstrates how a critical scholar of religion might apply Smith's methods in their own scholarship.

What’s Happening Down Under? | Discourse! May 2023

For our May episode, Discourse! heads Down Under once again as ⅔ of our usual suspects—Carole Cusack & Raymond Radford—explore religion, politics, life and death in the Australian religious sphere. They cover a variety of recent issues from the banning of hate symbols and the rise of right groups in the wake of the pandemic, to Australian sovereign citizens and gun deaths, to the deaths of high profile priests and the different (and indifferent) reactions from both politics and media. Be sure to tune in!

Articles Discussed

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