What makes Critical Religion critical? A response to Russell McCutcheon

Goldstein, Warren

doi:10.1177/2050303220911149

Cited by 8 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Going a step further, such an approach is related to what Charles R. Hale calls cultural critique in anthropology, "an approach to research and writing in which political alignment is manifested through the content of the knowledge produced, not through the relationship established with an organized group of people in struggle" (Hale 2006, 98). The rapidly developing sub-discipline of critical study of religion(s) operates within a similar paradigm (Goldstein 2020;Miller 2022) rooted in a constructivist theory of religion that privileges the translation and deconstruction of particular categories. We recognise that in the study of religion(s), such deconstruction, and the "disenchantment" it entails, may also have significant social implications, for example on processes of social imagination.…”

Section: Activist Approach In Studying Religion: Toward the Radical S...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Engaged Study of Religion:

Zawiejska,

Trzcionkowski

2023

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The activist approach remains a neglected area in the study of religion(s). By activist, we mean a socially engaged yet non-confessional stance that focuses on the scholar dealing with the relationship between religion and the public sphere. While other disciplines are incorporating the socio-political and socially transformative potential of academic knowledge production into their curricula, the field of the study of religion(s) is lagging behind. The (dis)engagement and rejection of activist approaches in the study of religion seems to be determined by paradigms of knowledge production, the dominance of understanding and explanatory approaches, the programmatic socio-political neutrality of the religious studies scholar imposed by the discipline, and claims to the specificity and uniqueness of the object of study. However, as we attempt to show, several modes of engagement can be identified that lie between the scholar’s attitudes of engagement and programmatic neutrality in the study of religion(s), namely translating, deconstructing, meditating and transforming. We propose that these modes should be included in the spectrum of approaches that straddle the critical and activist study of religion. We argue for the radical mode of engagement as a further step in developing the link between research and activism in the study of religion. In doing so, we focus on the scholar(s) of religion as an authority figure, an agent of power distribution, capable of proposing reformulations, accompanying negotiations, and supporting processes of reordering the contemporary post-secular public sphere. This article is an invitation to discuss the activist approach within the scientific study of religion. We also hope to stimulate debate on more radical forms of the activist approach, which we would call “the radical study of religion(s)”.

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Section: Activist Approach In Studying Religion: Toward the Radical S...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Engaged Study of Religion:

Zawiejska,

Trzcionkowski

2023

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“…Democracy requires informed citizens who are able to critically evaluate their sources of information, and that is where we as educators can be of service. There are some in academia who argue that social science ought to be value free or that the study of religion should be non-normative (see Goldstein 2020). In our editorials, we have argued the opposite—that critique is value driven.…”

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confidence: 99%

Trump, the religious right, and the spectre of fascism

Goldstein¹

2021

Critical Research on Religion

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In 1935, in response to the rise of fascism in Europe, American author Sinclair Lewis published the novel It Can't Happen Here precisely to show how it could. What Lewis understood is that if fascism took hold in the United States, it would take on its own unique American form. In the novel, Senator Berzelius (Buzz) Windrip, who went to a Southern Baptist college, defeated Franklin Delano Roosevelt for the nomination at the Democratic National Convention in 1936. Sharing similarities to then Senator Huey Long, who was assassinated in 1935, Windrip's platform, which was enacted after he was elected President, was 'populist;' it contained a mixture of progressive and reactionary planks (e.g., guaranteeing universal income and caps on income and inheritance while being racist, sexist, anti-Semitic). It was also repressive, calling for the imprisonment of socialists, communists, and anarchists, and anti-democratic by consolidating the authority of the President, reducing the power of Congress to an advisory capacity, and preventing the ability of the Supreme Court to check the power of the President. Windrip was supported by an anti-Semitic and anti-communist radio preacher from Indiana, Bishop Prang, who was the voice of the League of the Forgotten Man, and whose character is based on Father Charles Coughlin and Martin Luther Thomas (see Brittain 2018). Windrip had his own paramilitary called the Minutemen, which he used to harass, beat up, and arrest opponents including newspaper editor Doremus Jessup, protagonist of the novel, who joined the New Underground resistance led by Senator Walt Trowbridge (Windrip's Republican defeated opponent in the 1936 elections) and as a result was sent to a concentration camp. While Windrip denounced fascism, he was indeed fascistic (

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Do you practice the critical study of religion?

Schilbrack

2024

Religion

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What makes Critical Religion critical? A response to Russell McCutcheon

Cited by 8 publications

References 21 publications

Engaged Study of Religion:

Engaged Study of Religion:

Trump, the religious right, and the spectre of fascism

Do you practice the critical study of religion?

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