Ayahuasca as a Gateway Drug (Toward a Less Stigmatized Academic Discussion of Drugs and Religion)

“The assertion that an experience which takes place while under the influence of a drug should not be construed as having religious import implicitly makes a value-judgment about what true or valid religion can consist of, whereas an examination of how hermeneutic and discursive resources are drawn upon to develop a personal or communal account in which drugs and the experiences they elicit are ‘deemed religious’ (Taves 2009) is likely to provide significantly more analytical purchase.”

Andrew Dawson

Andrew Dawson is Senior Lecturer in Religious Studies at Lancaster University, UK, and Co-Editor of the journal Fieldwork in Religion. Having studied at universities in Manchester, Chicago, Liverpool and Oxford, Andrew Dawson holds degrees in the study of religion and the social sciences. Research interests centre upon religion and late-modern society, with particular focus upon South America and […]

Young People of ‘No Religion’ and Religious Education Beyond Religious Belief

“Although this might help pupils develop their critical thinking skills, this approach to the study of religion seems to reinforce the notion that religion is concerned with private, individualized beliefs of an ontological, epistemological and/or moral nature. It does not provide room for pupils to consider how ‘religion’ might be broader than assent to propositional beliefs or to explore further the nature of belief and how it can function in all our everyday lives.”

Pierre-Yves Brandt

Pierre-Yves Brandt was born in Biel, Switzerland. He studied psychology and theology. He received his PhD in psychology (1988) and his ThD (2001) at the University of Geneva. In 1999 he has been appointed as Associated Professor for the psychology of religion at the University of Lausanne. He headed the Faculty of Theology and Religious […]

Religious Studies Opportunities Digest – 18 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.

CESNUR 2013 Conference Report

Not long after I arrived home following the 2013 CESNUR conference, having spent some forty-odd hours door-to-door flying from Sweden to Australia, I tweeted “Great conference, beautiful country, lovely people”. The lengthy transit (dare I say ‘pilgrimage’) usually involved in making one’s way to CESNUR from the Antipodes is never too much to bear, for despite being small the conference is always one filled with enthusiastic colleagues …

Michel Desjardins

Michel Desjardins (mdesjardins@wlu.ca) is Professor of Religion and Culture at Wilfrid Laurier University, in Waterloo, Canada. He is also currently serving as Associate Dean, Research and Curriculum, in the Faculty of Arts. He has taught and published in the areas of comparative religions, early Christianity, the academic study of religion, and the scholarship on teaching and […]

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.

Religion, Neoliberalism and Consumer Culture

According to Gauthier, it is important to note is that religious activity of the day is not haphazard or random pick-and-choose at all. Instead, it is following a new kind of logic, that of consumerism. Marketization and commodification among other phenomena are affecting the field of religion – and vice versa. Listen and find out more!

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.

Authority Online: Construction and Implications

“Buddhist religious authority online is an area which needs further exploration, so that we can truly understand how the internet is providing an opportunity for new forms of religious authority and leadership to develop, while at the same time establishing traditional religious authority. It will also help us to answer questions, such as who has the “true legitimate voice for a particular religious tradition or community” (Campbell 2012, p.76).”

Religious Studies Opportunities Digest – 27 Sept 2013

(From the blurb) The book brings together six essays on the origin and history of the bodhisattva ideal and the emergence of the Mahayana. The essays approach the subject from different perspectives—from scholarly examinations of the terms in the Nikayas and Agamas to the relationship of the bodhisattva ideal and the arahant ideal within the broader context of the social environment

Religious Studies Opportunities Digest – 20 Sept 2013

In this new collection the editors present a selection of key writings that reflect a broad range of voices on the nature and practice of the discipline, illustrating the spectrum of ideas that people throughout history have had when considering how to understand and study religion.

Marzia Coltri

Marzia Coltri was born in Verona, Italy and completed a BA in Philosophy with a thesis on the liberal and scientific thought of Karl Popper. After finishing her MA in Philosophical Counselling, she came to England in 2007 to embark on research on minority ethnic religious groups. She recently received her PhD in African and […]

Venetia Robertson

Venetia Robertson is a PhD candidate and Teaching Fellow in the Studies in Religion Department at the University of Sydney, Australia, where she teaches units in the history of religion, new religions, atheism, fundamentalism, and ‘world religions’. Her PhD thesis analyses other-than-human identity subcultures as a nexus between spirituality, popular culture, and the Internet, and draws on her fieldwork with the […]