Manifestos and the Academic Study of Religion

2016

Reviewed by Niall McKay http://ctt.canterbury.ac.nz An Insurrectionist Manifesto is a complex collection of politically resistant approaches to the hallowed spaces of (Christian) theology. Arranged philosophically around the fourfold Heideggerian categories of earth and sky, god and mortals, and with an ironic nod to the form of the New Testament evangels, An Insurrectionist Manifesto seeks to (re)discover insurrection within, behind and below the presenting theological traditions. In particular, the binding good news for the key contributors-Ward Blanton, Clayton Crockett, Jeffrey W. Robbins and Noëlle Vahanian-is that the relativisation of theological transcendency has opened spaces for reclaimed political immanence and that the resurrection of the body natural might become insurrection for the body politic. An Insurrectionist Manifesto proposes an ambitious task of reframing the intersection of theology, theory and politics in a new way. And the breadth of the undertaking could well leave the reader lost in the middle of an ocean of competing currents. The introduction, then, is a critical aspect of this work, and clearly outlines what kind of insurrectionist theology these 21 st century evangelists will proclaim. Not surprisingly, the first "filiation" of this insurrection is with radical theology, with the traditions of thought around and against Christian orthodoxies which poke and prod the weaknesses and infelicities

Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions, 2015

Culture, Theory and Critique, 2023

What is the purpose of writing a manifesto – a relic of modernism – today? Most scholarly publications on manifestos and cultural production focus mainly on the historical and avant-garde roots of the genre, whereas this special issue of Culture, Theory and Critique studies the manifesto’s contemporary significance, offering a timely and critical reappraisal of the manifesto’s force and authority across different domains. It emphasises the plurality of manifestos as well as their capacity to transform and adapt to varying contexts and intentions, highlighting how the genre is affected by socio-political forces and mutates across wider economic, cultural and epistemic structures. To do so, this special issue presents contributions employing an array of contemporary case studies. Ranging from working class to brand-driven manifestos and from manifestos pertaining to post-humanist and black feminist theory to scam letters and contemporary art exhibitions, the articles in this issue explore the manifesto as a form with a capacity to engage, stir and provoke.

The word ‘propaganda’ derives from the Sacra Congregatio de Propaganda Fide, a congregation established by Gregory XV’s bull Inscrutabili Divinæ on June 22, 1622 in order to promote the diffusion of Catholicism and regulate Catholic ecclesiastical affairs in non-Catholic countries. Propaganda is a central element of all human groups wishing to maintain and/or expand their domain, be it economic, political, or cultural. Religious groups are not an exception. In some cases, religious propaganda is so effective as to completely revolutionize the life of an individual. After contact with religious propaganda, the individual changes, converts, or radicalizes, and existential turning point brings about a new mission: defending one’s creed, combating the disbeliever, perpetrating the most ferocious violence if necessary. Not every religious proselytizing is conducive to violence, yet some is, and adopts specific words, images, sounds, and other signs in order to convey its message. Defying frontiers among historical epochs, confessions, and disciplines, the essay develops a cross-cultural, trans-historical, and comparative reading of violent religious propaganda, focusing on messages and media that promote radicalization and the consequent mission to defeat the enemy disbeliever. In particular, the essay puts the current phenomenon of jihadist online propaganda into historical and comparative perspective.

Recent calls for better policing of the borders of the field ring hollow to my mind. What is fascinating about religion are the borderlands. (Winnifred Fallers Sullivan) To use category names should be a commitment to tracing the assemblages in which these categories gain a momentary hold. (Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing) COURSE DESCRIPTION The category of religion has been described as "the most ideological of Western creations." It is a modern western concept, born perhaps in 1799, yet most of what it is thought to refer to is non-modern or non-western. At the same time, it seems an inescapable part of articulating what it means to be human here and now. What does it reveal and obscure? Can it be thought about in a non-mystifying way? This course weaves together a critical history of the academic discipline of religious studies with explorations of everyday " religion-making " in the broader culture and our own lives. We engage classic and contemporary theories of the nature, history and value of religion in order to develop a critical understanding of the concept as well as of the phenomena which are made to bear its name. Many other categories constitutive of western modernity interlock with the concept of religion, too – not least the secular. Understanding the travails of religious studies offers insight into other, similarly fraught disciplines, as indeed into the nature of disciplinary projects as a whole. A reflective awareness of the concept of religion and its study offers incisive perspectives on politics, gender, ethics and identity. But what has recently been called " religion-making " isn't just something scholars do. We experience religion as a natural kind because it is woven into our individual, social and even political experience. Religions are made and unmade by participants as well as by critics, by high and pop culture, by individuals and communities negotiating complicated landscapes of identity, by those who claim to be " spiritual but not religious, " and even by the law. The academic study of religion is not an escape from these wider practices of making and unmaking " religion " and " religions " but a privileged place for intervention in the broader theoretical and practical challenges of our time.

Cartographic Perspectives, 2008

Religious Studies Review, 2005

Course Description: Historically, the study of religions has tried to provide a means of sympathetically exploring and understanding the diverse cultures, beliefs and practices of the world using a variety of methodological approaches and orientations. However, contemporary critical theories have problematised these approaches, suggesting that in spite of claims within the Study of Religions to apparent neutrality or empathy, unreflexive scholarly methods and assumptions continue to universalise the category of ‘religion’ and play a significant role in producing and maintaining western imperialist knowledge formations within the field. This third-year undergraduate course provides a survey of these criticisms alongside an advanced overview of three main bodies of critical theory (poststructuralist, postcolonial, and gender theory with attention also paid to disabilities and queer studies), plotting the intersections and points of departure between them. We will trace their implications for the academic study of religions and for the wider ‘politics of location’ within the western academy, asking whether there is a future for the study of religions and if so, what its task might be.