In the last feature of the "semester" we're continuing with the video format. A couple of months ago the RSP attended the Open University's conference on Contemporary Religion in Historical Perspectives. I went about asking the pundits a couple of questions about Religion and its Publics. This week we have the second question (link for Part 1 in the sidebar).
David G. Robertson is Lecturer in Religious Studies at the Open University, co-founder of the Religious Studies Project, and co-editor of the journal Implicit Religion. His work applies critical theory to the study of alternative and emerging religions, and to "conspiracy theory" narratives. He is the author of UFOs, the New Age and Conspiracy Theories: Millennial Conspiracism (Bloomsbury, 2016) and Gnosticism and the History of Religions (Bloomsbury, 2021) and he is co-editor of After World Religions: Reconstructing Religious Studies (Equinox, 2016) and the Handbook of Conspiracy Theories and Contemporary Religion (Brill, 2018).
David G. Robertson is Lecturer in Religious Studies at the Open University, co-founder of the Religious Studies Project, and co-editor of the journal Implicit Religion. His work applies critical theory to the study of alternative and emerging religions, and to "conspiracy theory" narratives. He is the author of UFOs, the New Age and Conspiracy Theories: Millennial Conspiracism (Bloomsbury, 2016) and Gnosticism and the History of Religions (Bloomsbury, 2021) and he is co-editor of After World Religions: Reconstructing Religious Studies (Equinox, 2016) and the Handbook of Conspiracy Theories and Contemporary Religion (Brill, 2018).
Suzanne Newcombe researches religion within the disciplines of sociology and social history. Much of her time is now focused on Ayuryog (www.ayuryog.org), an ERC-funded project lead by Dagmar Wujastyk. More generally Suzanne has specialized in the study of new and minority religions (particularly those with their roots in Hinduism and Buddhism) and the social history of yoga, Ayurveda and complementary/alternative medicine in Britain. She has a continuing interest in prophecy and has edited a collection on the subject for the Ashgate-Inform series on minority religions and spiritualities with her colleague Sarah Harvey. Additionally, she teaches as an Associate Lecturer for A332: Why is Religion Controversial? for the Open University in London.
Suzanne Newcombe researches religion within the disciplines of sociology and social history. Much of her time is now focused on Ayuryog (www.ayuryog.org), an ERC-funded project lead by Dagmar Wujastyk. More generally Suzanne has specialized in the study of new and minority religions (particularly those with their roots in Hinduism and Buddhism) and the social history of yoga, Ayurveda and complementary/alternative medicine in Britain. She has a continuing interest in prophecy and has edited a collection on the subject for the Ashgate-Inform series on minority religions and spiritualities with her colleague Sarah Harvey. Additionally, she teaches as an Associate Lecturer for A332: Why is Religion Controversial? for the Open University in London.
Theo Wildcroft, PhD, is a teacher, trainer, writer and scholar working for a more sustainable relationship between our many selves, the communities that hold us, and the world that nourishes us. Her research considers the democratization of yoga post-lineage, and meaning-making in grassroots communities of practice. She is an Associate Lecturer at the Open University, UK, Coordinator of the SOAS Centre of Yoga Studies, editor of the BASR Bulletin, and the author of Post-lineage Yoga: From Guru to #MeToo.
Theo Wildcroft, PhD, is a teacher, trainer, writer and scholar working for a more sustainable relationship between our many selves, the communities that hold us, and the world that nourishes us. Her research considers the democratization of yoga post-lineage, and meaning-making in grassroots communities of practice. She is an Associate Lecturer at the Open University, UK, Coordinator of the SOAS Centre of Yoga Studies, editor of the BASR Bulletin, and the author of Post-lineage Yoga: From Guru to #MeToo.
Alison Robertson is a PhD candidate in Religious Studies at the Open University, conducting research into BDSM as lived religious practice. Prior to beginning her PhD she was a Religious Studies teacher and a Principle Examiner for GCSE and A Level Religious Studies. Her research interests include lived and personal religion, edgework, self-inflicted and/or positive experiences of pain, and blurring the lines people draw between categories such as religious and non-religious or ‘extreme’ religious practice and insanity.
Alison Robertson is a PhD candidate in Religious Studies at the Open University, conducting research into BDSM as lived religious practice. Prior to beginning her PhD she was a Religious Studies teacher and a Principle Examiner for GCSE and A Level Religious Studies. Her research interests include lived and personal religion, edgework, self-inflicted and/or positive experiences of pain, and blurring the lines people draw between categories such as religious and non-religious or ‘extreme’ religious practice and insanity.
Dr Marion Bowman is Senior Lecturer in the Religious Studies department at the Open University, Vice President of the European Association for the Study of Religions, a former president of the BASR and of the Folklore Society, and serves on the executive board of SIEF’s Ethnology of Religion Working Group.
She began her academic career at Glasgow University, but switched to Lancaster University where she came under the influence of Professor Ninian Smart, a revolutionary figure who has acquired almost mythic status in the field of Religious Studies. Her research is concerned with vernacular religion (‘religion as it is lived’), contemporary spirituality including a long-term study of Glastonbury, material culture and pilgrimage. She is currently Co-Investigator on the AHRC funded project Pilgrimage and England’s Cathedrals, Past and Present: http://www.
Dr Marion Bowman is Senior Lecturer in the Religious Studies department at the Open University, Vice President of the European Association for the Study of Religions, a former president of the BASR and of the Folklore Society, and serves on the executive board of SIEF’s Ethnology of Religion Working Group.
She began her academic career at Glasgow University, but switched to Lancaster University where she came under the influence of Professor Ninian Smart, a revolutionary figure who has acquired almost mythic status in the field of Religious Studies. Her research is concerned with vernacular religion (‘religion as it is lived’), contemporary spirituality including a long-term study of Glastonbury, material culture and pilgrimage. She is currently Co-Investigator on the AHRC funded project Pilgrimage and England’s Cathedrals, Past and Present: http://www.
Marion’s Publications include Vernacular Religion in Everyday Life: Expressions of Belief (2012) co-edited with Ulo Valk; Beyond the New Age: Exploring Alternative Spiritualities (2000) co-edited with Steve Sutcliffe; and recently ‘”He’s My Best Friend”: Relationality, Materiality, and the Manipulation of Motherhood in Devotion to St Gerard Majella in Newfoundland’ in Terry Woo & Becky Lee, eds. Canadian Women Shaping Diasporic Religious Identities (Waterloo, Ontario: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2016, pp.3-34); ‘“Helping Glastonbury to Come into Its Own”: Practical Spirituality, Materiality, and Community Cohesion in Glastonbury’ in Practical Spiritualities in a Media Age, Curtis C Coats and Monica M Emerich, eds. (London and New York: Bloomsbury Academic. 2015, pp.51-65.)
In the last feature of the “semester” we’re continuing with the video format. A couple of months ago the RSP attended the Open University’s conference on Contemporary Religion in Historical Perspectives. I went about asking the pundits a couple of questions about Religion and its Publics. This week we have the second question (link for Part 1 in the sidebar).
A massive thanks needs to go out to the Open University for providing the venue and all the respondents for being good sports!
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