Resisting Conformity at the Margins of Marginal Christianity

Acknowledging the difficulties surrounding the identification and definition of a subject of study that is not only deliberately diverse but also intentionally resistant to definition, Ganiel and Martí nonetheless discern within emerging Christianity a distinct religious orientation built around the practice of deconstruction.
In what her interviewer has reckoned to be the first Religious Studies Project podcast to focus solely on the study of an expression of contemporary Christianity,…

The Faith of the Killable: A Faith for Empowerment?

This framework of socioeconomic disparity and violence is key to understand how entire population sectors in Río become and remain killable people, and to assess the serious restraints that inmates who proceed from these sectors will face again, once their time in prison is finished.
As one listens to Dr. Johnson describe the high homicide rates of Río de Janeiro, the gap in between the haves and the have nots, as well as the appalling conditions he witnessed –through use of an admirable methodology– in this city’s prison system, …

Carmen Guevara

Carmen Eugenia Guevara Guardado is an analyst at the University Institute for Public Opinion (IUDOP) of the Universidad Centroamericana “José Simeón Cañas”. In recent years, she was the main researcher of the study conducted in El Salvador as part of the Central American research project “The impact of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements on Community Organizations […]

Nathan Schneider

I’m Nathan Schneider, a writer and editor based in Brooklyn. I’ve written a book each on God and the Occupy movement. Writing articles for a variety of publications—from The New York Times and Harper’s and The Nation to this Row Boat—keeps my notebooks filled. Editing the online religion magazine Killing the Buddha keeps me weird. Waging Nonviolence, a publication I co-founded, keeps me up on struggles for justice around the world. And […]

Religious Studies Project Opportunities Digest – 25 MARCH 2014

Welcome to this week’s opportunities digest! RSP is not responsible for any of the content presented below. If you have questions regarding any of the opportunities listed, please contact the respective organizers directly. If you have material you would like to see in next week’s digest, or at some point in the future, please send an e-mail to oppsdigest@religiousstudiesproject.com If […]

An Outline of Norenzayan’s ‘Big Gods’

When belief in God was distilled into belief in a mean God (i.e., vengeful, and punishing) versus belief in a nice God (i.e., compassionate and forgiving), participants endorsing a mean-God concept were less likely to cheat relative to nice-God supporters.
In his book Big Gods: How Religion Transformed Cooperation and Conflict, Dr. Ara Norenzayan addresses two “puzzles” about human existence. First, how were large-scale societies able to develop?

Religious Studies Opportunities Digest – 24 January 2014

Welcome to the fourth RSP Opportunities Digest for 2014. As ever, please remember that we are not responsible for any content contained herein unless it is directly related to the RSP. If you have any content for future digests, please contact us via the various options on our ‘contact’ page. If you are enquiring about any of the opportunities listed below, please contact the organizers directly.

Religious Studies Opportunities Digest – 17 January 2014

This week, the digest contains details of a position at the RSP, calls for papers, new journal issues, new books, conferences, a summer school, a job, and some podcasts on esotericism.
Welcome to the third RSP Opportunities Digest for 2014. As ever, please remember that we are not responsible for any content contained herein unless it is directly related to the RSP.

Religious Studies Opportunities Digest – 13 Dec 2013

Given that the RSP has been running for nearly 2 years now, and in light of the website redesign, David and Chris thought it was about time to have another major publicity push. The email at the link below has already been circulated around the DOLMEN, BASR, and NSRN lists. If you are a member of any other vaguely relevant mailing list – particularly of academic associations – please considering copying it and circulating among friends, colleagues, and interested parties.

What is the Study of Religion/s? Self-Presentations of the Discipline on University Web Pages

What is the study of religion\s and how is the nature of the discipline communicated to the public? This article provides a content analysis of the self-presentation of the study of religion\s on the internet by providing a content analysis of a sample of 101 university webpages (departments and programs) from 70 universities from 15 countries. In general, the meta-analysis of the state of the discipline according to its public self-presentation on the university web pages point to a rather limited degree of intellectual coherence. Reflexive statements, i.e. statements that self-critically address the parameters of the study of religion\s on a meta-level, are almost absent in our sample. In light of this analysis, this article suggests some “best practices” for online presentations of the study of religion\s.

Religious Studies Opportunities Digest – 15 Nov 2013

Given that the RSP has been running for nearly 2 years now, and in light of the website redesign, David and Chris thought it was about time to have another major publicity push. The email at the link below has already been circulated around the DOLMEN, BASR, and NSRN lists. If you are a member of any other vaguely relevant mailing list – particularly of academic associations – please considering copying it and circulating among friends, colleagues, and interested parties.

Religious Studies Opportunities Digest – 8 Nov 2013

Given that the RSP has been running for nearly 2 years now, and in light of the website redesign, David and Chris thought it was about time to have another major publicity push. The email at the link below has already been circulated around the DOLMEN, BASR, and NSRN lists. If you are a member of any other vaguely relevant mailing list – particularly of academic associations – please considering copying it and circulating among friends, colleagues, and interested parties.

Religious Studies Opportunities Digest – 11 Oct 2013

Given that the RSP has been running for nearly 2 years now, and in light of the website redesign, David and Chris thought it was about time to have another major publicity push. The email at the link below has already been circulated around the DOLMEN, BASR, and NSRN lists. If you are a member of any other vaguely relevant mailing list – particularly of academic associations – please considering copying it and circulating among friends, colleagues, and interested parties.

Religious Studies Opportunities Digest – 4 Oct 2013

Discount for the History of Western Philosophy of Religion, edited by Graham Oppy and Nick Trakakis, published by Acumen. Acumen are offering members of the BASR a discount of 25% off the full price of the five volume set.

Special Introductory price of £75/$115 on the 5-volume paperback set * if you order before 31 December 2013. Please quote discount code 9EN.

S. Francesca Po

S. Francesca Po is currently a doctoral student of Theology and Religious Studies at King’s College London, and is teaching modules on Buddhism. The working title of her thesis is ‘After “Spirituality”: An Emerging Common Sociality Among the New Age, Religious, and Religiously Unaffiliated in the United Kingdom and the United States’ under the supervision […]