American Academy of Religion

Noreen Khawaja talks to Religious Studies News about her book "The Religion of Existence: Asceticism in Philosophy from Kierkegaard to Sartre" (University of Chicago Press), which won the American Academy of Religion’s 2017 Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion in Constructive-Reflective Studies. Music is Dexter Britain, “Fresh Monday” (www.dexterbritain.co.uk)

Eddie S. Glaude Jr. is the William S. Tod Professor of Religion and African American Studies at Princeton University. He is chair of the Department of African American Studies, a program he first became involved with shaping as a doctoral candidate in Religion at Princeton. His books on religion and philosophy include African American Religion: A Very Short Introduction, Democracy in Black: How Race Still Enslaves the American Soul, In a Shade of Blue: Pragmatism and the Politics of Black America, and Exodus! Religion, Race and Nation in Early 19th Century Black America, which was awarded the Modern Language Association’s William Sanders Scarborough Book Prize. Currently Glaude is at work on a book about James Baldwin, tentatively titled James Baldwin’s America, 1963–1972. Glaude left his home in Moss Point, Mississippi at age 16 to begin studies at the Morehouse College. He holds a master’s degree in African American Studies from Temple University, and a Ph.D in Religion from Princeton University. He began his teaching career at Bowdoin College. He has been a visiting scholar at Amherst College and Harvard. In 2011 he delivered Harvard’s Du Bois lectures. Known to be a convener of conversations and debates, Glaude takes care to engage fellow citizens of all ages and backgrounds — from young activists, to fellow academics, journalists and commentators, and followers on Twitter in dialogue about the course of the nation. His scholarship and his sense of himself as a public intellectual are driven by a commitment to think carefully with others in public. Accordingly, his writing and ideas are cited and shared widely. Glaude has written for The New York Times and The Huffington Post. He is a columnist for Time Magazine and regularly provides commentary on radio and television news programs like Democracy Now!, Morning Joe, and The 11th Hour. Prior to Dr. Glaude’s address, former AAR President Emilie M. Townes presented a tribute to Executive Director Jack Fitzmier, who will be retiring in 2018. This session was recorded during the 2017 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion on November 18, in Boston, Massachusetts.

Taking off from their new book, Goddess and God in the World: Conversations in Embodied Theology (Fortress, 2016), Carol P. Christ and Judith Plaskow introduce their embodied theological method and explore their theological differences: Is Goddess a personal presence who cares about the world? Or is God an impersonal creative energy equally supportive of good and evil? Mary E. Hunt will moderate a conversation that includes Monica Coleman, Aysha Hidayatullah, Miranda Shaw, and Julia Watts-Belser, who will speak from Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Jewish, and Goddess perspectives. The panelists respond to the book, especially to its method, but also discuss their own theological positions, reflecting on what theological perspectives best make sense of and promote the flourishing of our common world.

Building upon a 2015 conference on Black Liberation Theologies of Disability at Union Theological Seminary, organized by Kendrick Kemp, this session attempts to construct liberation theologies that take seriously the experiences of blackness and disability. Panelists explore the ways that racialized and disabled embodiment offers innovative readings of text, tradition, and theological frameworks. What resources for a black liberation theology of disability can be sourced from black religious traditions? From disability activism? From black protest movements? Can theology be more responsive to the presence of elders in black religious communities? How can theologies grapple with the disabling traumas, state and social violence, and the toll of activism in black experiences? How can black theologies support those living with mental health challenges, learning differences, and brain injuries? How do our theologies honor and celebrate black disabled bodies? Panelists: - Nyasha Junior, Temple University, presiding - Monica A. Coleman, Claremont School of Theology - Garth Kasimu Baker-Fletcher, Texas College - Kendrick Kemp, Union Theological Seminary - Pamela Lightsey, Boston University This session was recorded during the 2016 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion on November 21, in San Antonio, Texas.

Simran Jeet Singh, a religion professor and Sikh advocate, discusses the intersection of academia and journalism. Patrick Blanchfield, an expert in religion and international affairs, shares insights on navigating complex themes in accessible ways. Brook Wilensky-Lanford, an author and editor, highlights the importance of representation and personal narratives in media. The conversation touches on the challenges of balancing specialized language, the vulnerabilities of public engagement, and the ever-evolving landscape of online writing about religion.

An Author-Meets-Critics Roundtable Session discussing Saba Mahmood’s recently published book, "Religious Difference in a Secular Age: A Minority Report" (Princeton University Press, 2016). Bringing together both senior and junior scholars invested in questions of secularism and secularity from varied disciplinary and thematic perspectives including American religious history, the study of Sikhism, Middle East politics, and modern Arabic literature, this panel will wrestle with the key themes, arguments, and conceptual interventions of this important book. It will also provide an opportunity to explore and engage new questions connected to modern secular governance, state sovereignty, minority rights, religious liberty, and the intersection of secularism, sexuality, and the family. Panelists: - SherAli Tareen, Franklin and Marshall College, presiding - Nermeen Mouftah, Northwestern University - Arvind Mandair, University of Michigan - Mona Oraby, Indiana University - John Modern, Franklin and Marshall College Responding: Saba Mahmood, University of California, Berkeley

Michelle Alexander is a highly acclaimed civil rights lawyer, advocate, and legal scholar. Alexander is a graduate of Vanderbilt University and Stanford Law School. Following law school, she clerked for Justice Harry A. Blackmun on the U.S. Supreme Court and for Chief Judge Abner Mikva on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Prior to entering academia, Alexander served as the director of the Racial Justice Project for the ACLU of Northern California, where she coordinated the Project’s media advocacy, grassroots organizing, coalition building, and litigation. The Project’s priority areas were educational equity and criminal justice reform, and it was during those years at the ACLU that she began to awaken to the reality that our nation’s criminal justice system functions more like a caste system than a system of crime prevention or control. She became passionate about exposing and challenging racial bias in the criminal justice system, ultimately launching and leading a major campaign against racial profiling by law enforcement known as the “DWB Campaign” or “Driving While Black or Brown Campaign.” In addition to her nonprofit advocacy experience, Alexander has worked as a litigator at private law firms including Saperstein, Goldstein, Demchak & Baller, in Oakland, California, where she specialized in plaintiff-side class-action lawsuits alleging race and gender discrimination. In 2005, she won a Soros Justice Fellowship, which supported the writing of "The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness" (The New Press, 2012), and that same year she accepted a joint appointment at the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity and the Moritz College of Law at Ohio State University. She currently devotes much of her time to freelance writing; public speaking; consulting with advocacy organizations committed to ending mass incarceration; and, most important, raising her three young children—the most challenging and rewarding job of all. In this plenary address from the 2016 AAR Annual Meeting, Rev. Dr. Kelly Brown Douglas (Goucher College) interviews Alexander, and the women converse in turn about racial (in)justice, the election, and religion's role in U.S. politics. The session is introduced by 2016 AAR president, Serene Jones. This plenary was recorded during the 2016 Annual Meeting in San Antonio, Texas, on November 20.

AM 2016: This panel provides some comparative insights on the current situation in Europe alongside experiences in the USA, exploring how religion is located within these debates, for instance as a foundation for appeals to national or civilizational identities that exclude certain groups, as well as a means for overcoming conflict and providing support and advocacy for vulnerable immigrant communities. What are the implications of defining refugees/immigrants in terms of their faith and ethnicity, including the ways in which this can fuel negative stereotypes? And how do we make sense of the ambiguous response of Christian churches/Christianity in both the USA and Europe in addressing issues around immigration? The panelists address these questions and others through comparative insights drawing upon the social and political sciences, as well as theological approaches. Panelists: - Emma Tomalin, University of Leeds - Atalia Omer, University of Notre Dame - Daniel Groody, University of Notre Dame - Jocelyne Cesari, Harvard University - Erin Wilson, University of Groningen - Victor Carmon, Oblate School of Theology This panel session was recorded at the 2016 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion on November 21, in San Antonio, Texas.

AAR's 2016 American Lectureship in the History of Religions was held by Iranian academic and poet Fatemeh Keshavarz, who at this session at the 2016 AAR Annual Meeting, delivers her capstone lecture. Born and raised in the city of Shiraz, completed her studies in Shiraz University, and University of London. She taught at Washington University in St. Louis for over twenty years where she chaired the Department of Asian and Near Eastern Languages and Literatures from 2004 to 2011. In 2012, Keshavarz joined the University of Maryland as Roshan Institute Chair in Persian Studies, and director of Roshan Institute for Persian Studies. Keshavarz is the author of award-winning books including "Reading Mystical Lyric: the Case of Jalal al-Din Rumi" (USC Press, 1998), "Recite in the Name of the Red Rose" (USC Press, 2006), and "Jasmine and Stars: Reading more than 'Lolita' in Tehran"(UNC Press, 2007). She has also published other books and numerous journal articles. Keshavarz is a published poet in Persian and English and an activist for peace and justice. She was invited to speak at the UN General Assembly on the significance of cultural education. Her NPR show “The Ecstatic Faith of Rumi” brought her the Peabody Award in 2008. In the same year, she received the Herschel Walker Peace and Justice Award. Keshavarz is introduced by Louis A. Ruprecht (Georgia State University) followed by Ebrahim E. I. Moosa (University of Notre Dame). This session was recorded during the 2016 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion on November 20 in San Antonio, Texas. Learn more about the American Lectures in the History of Religions at https://www.aarweb.org/programs-services/history-of-religions-lectures.

To commemorate and celebrate the ten year anniversary of Obery Hendricks' "The Politics of Jesus: Rediscovering the True Revolutionary Nature of Jesus’ Teachings and How They Have Been Corrupted" (Doubleday, 2006), Hendricks is joined by a panelist of activists, academics, scholars, and pastors convene a roundtable to discuss the influential nature of this work. Panelists: - Andre E. Johnson, University of Memphis, Presiding - Eboni Marshall Turman, Yale University - Reverend Jesse Jackson, Operation Push, Chicago, IL - Nyasha Junior, Temple University - Gary Dorrien, Columbia University and Union Theological Seminary - Keri Day, Brite Divinity School - Michael Eric Dyson, Georgetown University - Obery M. Hendricks, Columbia University