Yes, our Department is housed on the second floor of Manly Hall. It’s named after the second president of the University of Alabama, Basil Manly Sr (who held the office between 1837 and 1855). In fact, the president’s office was once in this building, on the ground floor (before the Greek Revival-styled President’s Mansion was built in 1841 and then first occupied by Manly himself), as well as dorms for students. And the other day the building got a new […]
There’s a new joint British-US TV series airing over here, “Outlander,” in which a WWII English nurse finds herself mysteriously taken backward in time, from the mid-1940s to the fiercely independent Scottish highlands two hundred years earlier. (That the independence vote takes place today in Scotland makes this series airing now kind of curious.) From the point of view of the academic study of religion, the relationship between the science of the lead character and, at least in episode three, […]
A theme I’ve written on a time or two before is the inability (or unwillingness) of many scholars to entertain that, being themselves members of a particular social group, they tend to draw upon folk concepts popular among their own group and then project them outward (in space and time), as if they are universals that name and describe stable self-evidencies in the world at large. While we probably have no choice but to know the new by means of […]
Do you ever listen to “Interfaith Voices” on the radio or on the web? I find it to be a fascinating place to hear how scholars of religion (who often comprise the show’s guests and experts) try to represent their work to the wider public — a representation that’s generally lodged in all sorts of methodological and theoretical problems. Whether the issue lies in how these scholars go about doing their own academic work or, perhaps, in how they think […]
Are we testing a new virtual game or testing a new virtual game in which we’re testing a new virtual game? Do we have bio-ports of cool blue head units? Is your head spinning? Join us for “eXistenZ” (1999) tonight @ 6 pm in MA 210 (or 207 if throngs show up). And yes, there’ll be real food. […]
I’ve written on the parable of the blind men and the elephant before, as far back as Manufacturing Religion (1997), where I argued: The problem with the story of the blind men … is that the level of the narrative open to the listener is characterized by privileged access to the fact that there is indeed an elephant beyond the individual perceptions of the blind men…. [T]he story works only because, from the outset, we as listeners see the big […]
Yes, it’s that time of year again: time for sports commentators and scholars alike to haul out the category religion when they talk about college football. […]
Irving Rosenfeld: I got a knife, alright? This is for the mayor. [he shows the knife to Paco] Irving Rosenfeld: You gotta present it to the mayor. [Paco goes to take the knife but Irving pulls it back] Irving Rosenfeld: Just look at me, alright? Look me in the eye. This means a lot to you. Right? That knife. Paco Hernandez: Oh. Irving Rosenfeld: Play it. You present it, alright? Friendship for life. Alright? You gotta feel it. Paco Hernandez: […]
The other day I was watching an episode of HBO’s weekly satirical news round-up, “Last Week Tonight,” in which they focused on how payday loan businesses prey on poor people — specifically noting an interaction in the Texas state legislature in which Vicki Truitt (pictured above), then a Republican state legislator, called out one of her colleagues for having a conflict of interest when he opposed legislation aimed at controlling payday loans. (He owns a bunch of payday loan businesses; […]
Iliff School of Theology is looking for a new colleague in what they term Religion and Social Justice (find the ad here). Two words in that ad stood out for me: […]