Andrew WhiteheadRacial Equality in a Christian Nation
History and social science demonstrate how racial equality is not considered a moral issue for many white American Christians.
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Andrew Whitehead
Studying Religion in CultureDecoding Diaspora and the Use of Digital Tools in Religious Studies
The REL Digital Lab is a space where the department brings social theory and computational methods together for innovative results. Our faculty are modeling and mentoring students in an innovative approach to the academic study of religion. Our...
Religion Link24 religion sources for Black History Month
In this guide, we offer background, resources, expert sources and related content to help you better report on the religious life of Black Americans.
Popular Culture And TheologyCall for Papers: Religion, X-Men, and Krakoa
Call for Papers: Edited Volume on Religion and the X-Men’s Krakoan Age Editors: Gregory Jones and Daniel Ambord Beginning with Jonathan Hickman’s House of X/Powers of X limited series, the Krakoan Age X-Men stories occur against the backdrop of the...
Popular Culture And TheologyExtended Call for Papers: Theology, Religion, and Margaret Atwood
Theological and Spiritual Musings in the Works of Margaret Atwood: The Handmaid’s Tale and Other Worlds Abstracts are being accepted for an edited volume (under contract) on the theology/ spirituality as is seen and engage with through the works of...
Studying Religion in CultureREL411: Let’s Talk Information
If you’ve been in HigherEd for any length of time, then you’ve probably shaken your fist about the wrongness of an impactful decision made somewhere above your pay grade. Be frustrated! You know your experience... But how do we take that...
Reviews of Biblical and Early Christian StudiesThe Fourth Synoptic Gospel
2026.01.01 | Mark Goodacre. The Fourth Synoptic Gospel: John’s Knowledge of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Eerdmans, 2025. 191 pp. Review by Ched Spellman, Cedarville University. Goodacre advances a straightforward thesis: John’s Gospel was written with...
Religion LinkReligion in a ‘big power world’: ReligionLink’s 2026 predictions
As we do every year, this edition looks ahead to the religion stories we think are likely to shape coverage in 2026, offering context, reporting angles and expert perspectives to help journalists anticipate how faith trends will continue to enter...
Andrew WhiteheadLeveraging Data Resources for Civic Organizing
Pluralistic, democratic ideals are under direct threat from disinformation, authoritarianism, and polarization. While the scale of these challenges is global, thinking locally remains vital.
NSRNSecular Religious Education? Brief Reflections Based on a Brazilian Case
Guilherme Borges is a postdoctoral researcher at the Brazilian Center for Analysis and Planning and at the Nonreligion in a Complex Future project, based at the University of Ottawa. Drawing on these dual affiliations, he conducts comparative...
Religion MattersTime Lost: What The Time Machine Reveals About Disciplinary Literacy and Public Education
Post: Tim Hall, Ph.D., Executive Director, Religion Matters There is no intelligence where there is no change and no need of change. —H.G. Wells, The Time Machine When I first read The Time Machine years ago, I was...
affecognitiveTomba, Berlant and the Inconvenience of Revolution
Last weekend I joined a group of delightful young scholars to discuss Massimiliano Tomba’s recent book, Revolution and Restoration: The …Continue reading →
Religion LinkThe deeper story: Systems thinking for religion reporting
In this edition of ReligionLink, we invite you to consider how applying a systems-thinking approach to religion news might offer new depth and resonance to your reporting in the year to come.
Feminists Studies in ReligionThe spiritual ecology of Indian Himalayan women: Ritual, resistance, and relationality
By Gurmeet Kaur Himalayan region is known for its untouched lands, difficult terrains and limited access. While these features have attracted many (Sages, travellers and traders) for eons, the region is now actively acknowledged as living...
RSN PodcastThe Sovereignty of Hope: Scholarship, Precarity, and the Future of Academic Freedom
A recording of one of Leela Prasad's presidential plenaries, held at the 2025 AAR Annual Meeting in Boston. Leela Prasad, Brown University, presidingSpeakers (in order of appearance):James BowleyLarissa CarneiroKoritha Mitchell, Boston...
affecognitiveFrédéric Gros, SHAME
“Though terror speaks to life and death and distress makes of the world a vale of tears, yet shame strikes …Continue reading →
Andrew WhiteheadChristian Nationalism and Ableism in the United States
When disability is treated as an individual problem instead of a shared responsibility, communities lose the support systems that help people thrive.
Religion Matters✍️ A Resolution for Dialogue: Centering Religious Literacy in Civic Education
Post: Tim Hall, Ph.D., Executive Director, Religion Matters When religion enters the classroom, fear often follows. But it doesn’t have to. For many educators, religion feels like a boundary line they’d rather not cross: too controversial, too...
Andrew WhiteheadCourage is Contagious.
Reflections on the importance of recognizing the courageous ones, allowing art to feed our souls, and that we the people can build the country we deserve.
Religion Matters🌍 Global Competence Starts with Understanding Difference
Post: Tim Hall, Ph.D., Executive Director, Religion Matters When I talk with teachers about global competence, the conversation often turns to what we want our students to take with them when they leave our classrooms. We hope they can navigate an...
NSRNNonbelieving Clergy
Alexandr Zamușinski is a scholar of religion specializing in secularism, nonreligion, and religious change. He holds a PhD from the University of California, Riverside and is currently Instructor at the Defense Language Institute, Monterey, CA....
Indigenous Values InitiativeFind us at the AAR
Arts of Interpretation (Session ID: M21-201) Date: Friday Location: Tozzer Room #203, 21 Divinity Ave. Cambridge, MA 02138 1:30-2:30 pm: The Legacy of Charles H. Long Presenters: Davíd Carrasco & Raymond Carr Contact: Philip P....
Religion LinkFaith, politics and the First Amendment: Reporting the flash points
In this source guide, ReligionLink provides background, tips, suggestions, related stories and relevant sources to help you report the fault lines in the U.S.’s current debate around the limits and liabilities of the First Amendment.
Religion Matters🏛️ From Classroom Conversations to Civic Action: Bringing Inquiry to the NCSS House of Delegates
Post: Tim Hall, Ph.D., Executive Director, Religion Matters In social studies, we teach students that democracy depends on voice agency. We teach that civic life thrives when people not only ask good questions but take action on their answers. This...
RSN PodcastThe Role of Religion in Today's Democratic Crises
“Jesus saves” banners at the January 6th insurrection. Evangelical elevation of President Trump as God’s elect. Claims of religious freedom used to justify discrimination. Scriptural “prooftexts” wielded to strip individuals of civil rights....
Religion LinkFrom the Arctic to the Amazon: Reporting on religion in the extremes
In this edition of ReligionLink, we offer resources, relevant stories and expert sources for reporting on religion and climate change in the extremes.
Feminists Studies in ReligionThresholds of Becoming: A Reflection on Pedagogy, Poetic Theology, and What Comes Next
By Jill Y. Crainshaw Yearning for light, we wander. Someone has lit a lamp. A flame dances obligato, bedazzles aching eyes, choreographs bone-tired feet. Over the past two and a half decades, theological education has undergone profound...
Andrew WhiteheadHow Do Religious Americans View the Current State of the US?
Highlighting some findings from the 16th annual American Values Survey from the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI).
Feminists Studies in Religion“Siembra,” Mark 4:3-8, #Markseries, @thetable
By Arlene Markowski My mother, Ydalba, was a farmer, born in Mérida, Venezuela. This terraced plateau of the Andes Mountains birthed my mother to María, who was conceived by Flor, all peasant farmers. This matriarchal lineage of experiential...
RSN PodcastAndrogynes and Eunuchs in Rabbinic Literature with Max K. Strassfeld
Max K. Strassfeld, associate professor of religion at the University of Southern California and winner of the 2023 AAR Book Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion: Textual Studies, speaks to Kristian Petersen about their book, Trans...
Feminists Studies in Religion“Care for Every Body: Gender-Affirming Healthcare and the Woman Who Touched Jesus’ Cloak” Mark 5:24-34, #Markseries, #attheTable
By Catherine Montgomery At The Lighthouse, a safe space for LGBTQIA+ youth and their parents, I have had the privilege of knowing trans minors and adults for whom gender-affirming healthcare has been critically important to their wellness. I have...
Feminists Studies in Religion“The Invisible Labor of Women” Mark 6:31-44, #Mark Series, #at the Table
By Emily Rutledge During a time when Romans ruled, and many Jewish leaders straddled the empire and the Torah-it was Jesus who came to turn the establishment upside down and extend the love of God wide. Jesus taught that the outsider was in, that...
Feminists Studies in Religion“The Power of Voice: Learning from the Syrophoenician Woman’s Sass” Mark Series, Mark 7:24-30: #at the Table
By Julia Madden In the Gospel of Mark 7:24-30, we find an unexpected encounter between Jesus and a Syrophoenician woman. It is a story in which Jesus, who often holds the role of teacher and healer, is challenged and ultimately “schooled” by a...
An und für sichNew blogging venture
I have decided to start a new solo blog entitled That Blog You Like Is Going to Come Back in Style. My first post is an attempt to set an appropriate tone. My reason for doing this is a sense that I need a change. It may be permanent or it may...
Andrew WhiteheadFive Elements of Christian Nationalism
Christian nationalism is not just "loving Jesus" and "loving America." The Christianity of Christian nationalism refers to a whole lot more.
An und für sichI’m not sick, but I’m not well
Yesterday, a friend I’d not seen in person in a while asked me how my back pain was doing. He asked because he follows me on Facebook, which I use as a personal diary, and I had mentioned back problems there frequently for the last several week....
NSRNEuthanasia and the Right to Die as a Nonreligious Project? The Belgian Case Entangled with Global Dynamics
Niels De Nutte is affiliated with the history department and the Secular Studies Association Brussels research group at Vrije Universiteit Brussel as a guest professor and postdoctoral researcher. He serves as an associate director to the...
RSN PodcastThe RSN Podcast: In Conversation with AAR Book Award Winner Karen V. Guth
Karen V. Guth, associate professor of religious studies at the College of the Holy Cross and winner of the 2023 AAR Book Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion: Constructive-Reflective Studies, speaks to Kristian Petersen about her...
Reviews of Biblical and Early Christian StudiesCovenant—Concepts of Berit, Diatheke, and Testamentum
2025.08.04 | Christian A. Eberhart and Wolfgang Kraus, eds. Covenant—Concepts of Berit, Diatheke, and Testamentum. WUNT 506. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2023. Review by Levi Baker, William Tennent School of Theology. Arising from a 2019...
affecognitiveUnaccountably Queer: differences v. 35:3 (December 2024)
“Unaccountably Queer,” v. 35:3 (December 2024) of differences: a journal of feminist cultural studies, sets out to honor and reflect …Continue reading →
An und für sichAlone and the Neoliberal Sublime
No matter how well-matched a couple is, every relationship brings with it some kind of compromise. In our household, one such compromise has resulted in me being a near scholar of the survival reality show Alone. I’ve hated camping for as long as I...
An und für sichChatGPT is going to kill God
I hate generative AI. I hate how it’s destroying writing pedagogy and giving students even more excuses not to read (because they can just read a “summary”). I hate how whiny and defensive AI users are about the pathetic little ways they’ve...
An und für sichAgamben Between Pauline Messianism and Institutional Christianity
[This paper was presented at the European Academy of Religion conference in Vienna on July 11, 2025, in a session entitled “Agamben’s Theological-Political Horizons: Reimaging Judaism, Christianity, and Messianic Potentiality,” organized by Libera...
NAASRNAASR 2025 Annual Meeting
Interlocutions II “Crisis is not exceptional to history or consciousness but a process embedded in the ordinary that unfolds in stories about navigating what’s overwhelming.” (Lauren Berlant, Cruel Optimism, 2011) “There is nothing more difficult...
affecognitiveThe Order of Things: The difference of the Analysis of Wealth
In chapter six of The Order of Things/Les mots et les choses, Michel Foucault marks, twice, a difference between the …Continue reading →
Indigenous Values InitiativeSave the Date – Arts of Interpretation
Arts of Interpretation November 21, 1:30-4:30PM Tozzer Room #203, 21 Divinity Ave. Cambridge, MA 02138 Open to all AAR & SBL members The phenomenon of religion is exerting a critical role in the world. Our times require more robust religion … Read...
Feminists Studies in ReligionCelebrating the Scholarship of Dr. Kate Ott
Over the years, Dr. Kate Ott has helped shape the voices, questions, and commitments of feminist studies in religion. As she steps back from her role, we honor her legacy by revisiting some of her most impactful contributions. Thanks to a special...
Indigenous Values InitiativeCrossCurrents Volume 74, Number 4, December 2024
We are excited to be collaborating with CrossCurrents on this special edited volume as we believe it will provide support to this global, inter/intra-religious movement to: (1) dismantle existing knowledge paradigms about DoCD; (2) increase the...
RSN PodcastThe RSN Podcast: In Conversation with AAR Book Award Winner William Robert
William Robert, professor of religion at Syracuse University and winner of the 2023 AAR Book Award in Religion and the Arts, speaks to Kristian Petersen about his book, Unbridled: Studying Religion in Performance (The University of Chicago Press,...
NSRNBeyond Smudge and Creator: Recognizing Indigenous Nonbelievers in Canada
Jonathan Simmons is a sociologist specializing in nonreligion, atheism, and religious change. He holds a PhD from the University of Alberta and is currently on staff at the University of Alberta. Email: [email protected] Keywords: Indigenous...