Religion &
“Religion &” is a series of monthly conversations between leading academics and thinkers in multiple fields hosted by the Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture to continue these critically important interventions. Every month via Zoom, emerging scholars alongside established thinkers will engage the pressing issues of the current moment, their impact on our fields of study, and the groundbreaking research, teaching and public engagement taking place across the country. This is our opportunity—as thinkers of religion and American culture—to assess and respond to this current moment and create a culture of sustained conversation on “Religion &” its impact on our changing world.
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Religion & Future Humans: Featuring Sylvester A. Johnson
12/12/2024
Religion & Future Humans: Featuring Sylvester A. Johnson
On this episode of Religion &, we invited three scholars to engage in a wide-ranging conversation with Dr. Sylvester A. Johnson, a leading thinker and theorist in the field of American religion. Dr. Johnson is not only known for his contributions as a historian and theorist, but he is highly regarded as an innovator and boundary breaker who disrupts disciplines and creates spaces for emerging themes and questions amongst scholars of religion. As the director of the Luce-funded “Future Humans, Human Futures” project, Dr. Johnson explores the intersection of religion, technology, and ethics to tackle what it means to be human in this current moment. Philip Goff, Andrea Jain, and Leonard McKinnis joined us to interrogate and theorize alongside Dr. Johnson the futures of the humanities, surveillance, and AI and how they are all deeply impacted by religion. Engage in a conversation with Dr. Sylvester A. Johnson that promises to push boundaries, imagine new possibilities, and unpack emerging theories as we think about the future of religion and the humans that are shaped by them. Featured Panelist: Sylvester A. Johnson Sylvester A. Johnson is Professor of Black Studies at Northwestern University. He was appointed to hold the 2024 Kluge Chair in Technology and Society at the Library of Congress’s Kluge Center. As a scholar of race, religion, and technology, Johnson works at the intersection of technical and humanistic stakeholders to advance more democratic, inclusive outcomes for an innovation-driven society. His research has examined religion, race, and empire in the Atlantic world; religion and sexuality; national security practices; and the impact of intelligent machines and human enhancement on human identity and systems of racial domination. Johnson is a founding co-editor of the Journal of Africana Religions. He has authored two books: African American Religions, 1500–2000: Colonialism, Democracy, and Freedom, published by Cambridge University Press in 2015 and a winner of the Choice Outstanding Academic Title Award, and The Myth of Ham in Nineteenth-Century American Christianity: Race, Heathens, and the People of God, published by Palgrave MacMillan in 2004, which garnered the American Academy of Religion’s Best First Book Award. He also co-edited, with Steven Weitzman, The FBI and Religion: Faith and National Security Before and After 9/11, published by University of California Press in 2017. Panelist: Philip Goff Philip Goff is Professor of History at Indiana University Indianapolis and Executive Director of the Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture. His research specialization is American religious history, with eight books and over 200 articles, reviews, and scholarly papers in that area. His recent books include: Civil Religion in America: Religion and the American Nation in the Twenty-First Century (with Rhys Williams and Raymond Haberski), The Bible in American Life (with Arthur Farnsley II and Peter Thuesen), and Religion and the Marketplace in the United States (with Jan Stievermann and Detlef Junker). In addition, he is the lead co-editor of Religion & American Culture: A Journal of Interpretation. Panelist: Andrea Jain Andrea R. Jain, Ph.D. is Professor of Religious Studies at Indiana University Indianapolis and research affiliate at Indiana University’s Environmental Resilience Institute, editor of the Journal of the American Academy of Religion, and author of Selling Yoga: From Counterculture to Pop Culture (Oxford 2014) and Peace Love Yoga: The Politics of Global Spirituality (Oxford, 2020). She received her doctorate degree in religious studies from Rice University in 2010. Her areas of research include religion and capitalism; global spirituality and modern yoga; gender, sexuality, and religion; and theories of religion. Panelist: Leonard C. McKinnis, II Leonard C. McKinnis, II is Assistant Professor of Religion and Black Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is a scholar of 20th century Black religious movements that spawned in the wake of the Great Migration. His first book, The Black Coptic Church: Race and Imagination in a New Religion, was published in 2023 with NYU Press. At present, McKinnis is working on an ethnographic study of the Nation of Islam. The book, tentatively titled, Everyday Muslim: Material Spirituality and Lived Religion in the Nation of Islam, investigates spirituality as material and embodied practice among Nation of Islam followers. His work has been supported by the Crossroads Fellowship, Wabash, and the American Academy of Religion. Check out additional resources for learning, teaching and watching. Learn more about this episode on the .
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Religion & the Aftermath of the 2024 Election
12/10/2024
Religion & the Aftermath of the 2024 Election
The 2024 election season has been marked by unexpected and almost unbelievable twists and turns that have impacted every corner of American culture. From the contentious discourse on women’s rights to the daily news from war zones around the world, this political moment highlights the deep polarization throughout the country and the difficulty of engaging in thoughtful and reasoned debate. Religion and religious difference, furthermore, seems to be implicated in many of these debates as well as the larger question of what constitutes American democracy. During this episode, panelists will discuss the results of the 2024 election, how those results were shaped by religious ideology and communities, and how religious communities historically and in the present moment have shaped presidential politics. The panelists will also explore the ways that themes from earlier episodes, like Islamophobia, antisemitism, and White Christian nationalism, have played a critical and outsized role in this election cycle. Join us for a conversation at the intersection of religion, politics, and the aftermath of the 2024 election. Host: Andrew Whitehead Andrew Whitehead is Professor of Sociology and Executive Director of the Association of Religion Data Archives (theARDA.com) at the Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture at Indiana University Indianapolis. Whitehead is one of the foremost scholars of Christian nationalism in the United States. He is the author of , which was awarded the 2024 Gold Medal Book Award for Religion from and the 2024 winner for Religion & Philosophy. Panelist: Katie Gaddini Katie Gaddini is Visiting Scholar at Stanford University and Associate Professor of Sociology at the Social Research Institute, University College London (UCL). She is currently writing a book on Christian women and conservative politics from 1970 to present. She regularly writes op-eds and gives expert opinion to the media, including The New York Times, BBC News, CNN International, TIME magazine, Newsweek, the San Francisco Chronicle, and The Hill. Panelist: Nancy A. Khalil Nancy A. Khalil is Assistant Professor in American Culture and Core Faculty in the Program on Arab and Muslim American Studies at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Her research interests include Muslims, ethnography, religion, racialization, and advertising. Her current book project forthcoming with Stanford University Press is an ethnographic research project on Islamic higher education institutes and religious clerics, or imams, in the United States. Panelist: Eric L. McDaniel Eric L. McDaniel is Professor in the Department of Government and Co-director of the Politics of Race and Ethnicity Lab at the University of Texas at Austin. He is a graduate of Wilberforce University, the oldest private historically Black college or university, and took his PhD. from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. His research examines how the intersection of race and religion influence the American political landscape. His first book, Politics in the Pews: The Political Mobilization of Black Churches, provides an explanation for why some Black churches choose to engage the political world while others do not. His most recent book, The Everyday Crusade: Christian Nationalism in American Politics, was co-authored with Irfan Nooruddin and Allyson Shortle. Check out additional resources for learning, teaching and watching. Learn more about this episode on the .
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Religion & Islamophobia
10/23/2024
Religion & Islamophobia
Episode Description As the political and human casualties of the Israel-Palestine crisis continue to increase and shape the current state of the Arabic world, there has been a rise in instances of Islamophobia as well as a rise in protests, especially on university campuses, against this surging anti-Islamic sentiment. During this episode, panelists will discuss the history of the concept Islamophobia, its impact on American culture, and what other concepts might better explain the historical and contemporary moments that we face. The panelists will also explore the relationship between antisemitism and Islamophobia and why scholars and thinkers of religion are uniquely placed to think through the complex and often unclear relationship of these phenomena. Join us for a conversation at the intersection of religion, Islamophobia, and the current state of political unrest. Host: Khadija Khaja Khadija Khaja is Associate Professor of Social Work at Indiana University Indianapolis. Her research interests include building inclusive teaching and learning climates, international social work practice, Islamophobia, Muslim social work needs, bullying of Muslims, civil discourse in higher education, the practice of female circumcision, addressing the growth of white nationalist movements, and effective teaching/learning in online communities. Panelist: Zareena Grewal Zareena Grewal is Associate Professor of American Studies, Ethnicity, Race, & Migration, and Religious Studies at Yale University. She is a historical anthropologist and a documentary filmmaker whose research focuses on race, gender, religion, nationalism, and transnationalism across a wide spectrum of American Muslim communities. Her first book, Islam Is a Foreign Country: American Muslims and the Global Crisis of Authority (NYU 2013), is an ethnography of transnational Muslim networks that link US mosques to Islamic movements in the post-colonial Middle East through debates about the reform of Islam. Panelist: Talha Kahf Talha Kahf, a senior at the Indiana University School of Social Work, is a Muslim Syrian living in the Midwest. Born to a mother who came from a refugee background, Talha grew up learning to identify structural gaps in society. Along the journey, Talha and his family experienced Islamophobia within the education, healthcare, and legal systems. With each experience, Talha developed his personal values and began on a journey of ancestral connection and decolonization. Panelist: Kayla Renée Wheeler Kayla Renée Wheeler is Assistant Professor of Critical Ethnic Studies and Theology and the Africana Studies Program Director at Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio. Dr. Wheeler is an expert in Black Islam, Islamic bioethics, and digital religion. Currently, she is writing a book entitled, Fashioning Black Islam, which provides a history of Black Muslim fashion in the United States from the 1930s to the present. She is the author of the digital humanities project, Mapping Malcolm’s Boston, which explores Malcolm X’s life in Boston from the 1940s to 1950s. Dr. Wheeler is also the curator of the award-winning Black Islam Syllabus. Check out additional resources for learning, teaching and watching. Learn more about this episode on the .
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Religion & Antisemitism
09/24/2024
Religion & Antisemitism
Antisemitism has deep roots in American history and has continued to shape popular and political culture in the contemporary moment. Yet in many mainstream discussions in the United States, we often talk about it as if it were something new. This panel—featuring the authors of and experts featured on the podcast Antisemitism, U.S.A.—will discuss the long history of antisemitism, and how the fields of religious studies and American religious history think through the significance of that form of discrimination and violence in relation to the rest of American history. Join us for a conversation at the intersection of religion, American culture, and the history of antisemitism. Co-Host: Lincoln Mullen Lincoln Mullen is Professor of History at George Mason University and Executive Director of the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media. He is the author of The Chance of Salvation: A History of Conversion in America (2017), America’s Public Bible: A Commentary (2022), and Antisemitism, U.S.A.: A History (2024). Co-Host: John Turner John Turner teaches and writes about the the place of religion in American history. He came to George Mason University in 2012, having earned a Ph.D. in American History from the University of Notre Dame and a Masters of Divinity from Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Turner is the author of several books, including Joseph Smith: The Rise and Fall of an American Prophet (Yale, 2025); They Knew They Were Pilgrims (Yale, 2020), and Brigham Young: Pioneer Prophet (Harvard, 2012). He co-wrote the scripts for Antisemitism, U.S.A. Panelist: Sarah Imhoff Sarah Imhoff is Jay and Jeanie Schottenstein Chair in Jewish Studies and Professor in the Department of Religious Studies and the Borns Jewish Studies Program at Indiana University, Bloomington. She writes about religion and the body with a particular interest in gender, sexuality, race, and disability. She is author of Masculinity and the Making of American Judaism (Indiana University Press, 2017) and The Lives of Jessie Sampter: Queer, Disabled, Zionist (Duke University Press, 2022) and, with Susannah Heschel, The Woman Question in Jewish Studies (Princeton University Press, forthcoming 2025). She is the founding co-editor of the journal American Religion. Panelist: Britt Tevis Britt Tevis is Backer Assistant Professor in Jewish Studies in the Department of History at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. She teaches courses on the history of antisemitism in the United States as well as American Jewish history. Her anthology of historical texts illuminating various dimensions of antisemitism in the United States will be published by Yale University Press in 2025. She earned her Ph.D. and J.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Check out additional resources for learning, teaching and watching. Learn more about this episode on the .
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