Response Theory, Quasi-theory and Pseudo-theory in the Study of Religion

2010 ◽  
Vol 22 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 207-219 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gustavo Benavides
Keyword(s):  
Critical Theory ◽  
American Academy ◽  
North American ◽  
American Association ◽  
Response Theory ◽  
The North

AbstractThis paper offers a series of critical observations on the essays that emerged from the roundtable co-sponsored by the North American Association for the Study of Religion and the Critical Theory and Discourses in Religion Group of the American Academy of Religion. Rather than simply responding to each paper, the essay takes these essays to provide a small but suggestive window into the work of theoretically-minded scholars of religion.

The History (and Philosophy) of Religions

2012 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bryan Rennie
Keyword(s):  
Critical Theory ◽  
Philosophy Of Science ◽  
North American ◽  
American Association ◽  
Philosophy Of Religion ◽  
Annual Conference ◽  
Contemporary Philosophy ◽  
The North ◽  
Potential Improvement ◽  
Philosophical Nature

In a paper given at a Roundtable at the American Academy of Religion (AAR) National Annual Conference in Montreal in November of 2009, jointly organized by the North American Association for the Study of Religion and the Critical Theory and Discourses in Religion Group of the AAR, I argued for the ineluctably philosophical nature of what is most commonly called ‘method and theory in the study of religion.’ That paper ( Rennie, 2010 ) also argues that what is conventionally referred to as ‘philosophy of religion’ does not, strictly speaking, warrant that name since it is in fact a form of theology that utilizes philosophical methodologies to consider principally, if not exclusively, Christian concerns. I also argued that a philosophy of religion(s) constituted along the lines of the philosophy of science would be a potential improvement in both ‘philosophy of religion’ and ‘method and theory in the study of religion.’ In this paper I would like to consider—with the help of a closer look at contemporary philosophy of science—precisely what a reconstituted history (and philosophy) of religions might look like, how it might differ from current scholarship, and what it might achieve. Dans une communication donnée lors d’une table ronde à l’American Academy of Religion (AAR) National Annual Conference à Montréal en novembre 2009, organisée conjointement par le North American Association for the Study of Religion et le groupe de Critical Theory and Discourses in Religion de l’AAR, j’avais argué la nature inéluctablement philosophique de ce qui est couramment appelé « Method and Theory in the Study of Religion ». Cet article ( Rennie, 2010 ) soutient également la thèse que ce qu’on appelle couramment « Philosophie de la religion » ne correspond pas stricto sensu à ce qu’une telle dénomination recouvre puisqu’il s’agit en fait d’une forme de théologie recourant à des méthodes philosophiques pour envisager des préoccupations principalement, sinon exclusivement, chrétiennes. Je soutiens aussi qu’une philosophie des religions constituée à partir des lignes de force de la philosophie des sciences pourrait apporter une amélioration potentielle de la philosophie de la religion, de la méthode et de la théorie dans l’étude des religions. Dans cet article, j’aimerais examiner précisément —par le biais des apports de la philosophie des sciences contemporaine— ce à quoi l’histoire (et la philosophie) des religions pourrait ressembler, les termes dans lesquels elle se distinguerait des approches actuelles et ce à quoi nous pourrions ainsi aspirer.

North American Association for the Study of Religion (NAASR)

2015 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 29-30
Author(s):  
Matt Sheedy
Keyword(s):  
North American ◽  
American Association ◽  
The North ◽  
History Of

I interviewed Russell McCutcheon back in March 2015, about his new role as president of the North American Association for the Study of Religion (NAASR), asking him about the history of the organization, goals for his tenure, and developments for NAASR’s upcoming conference in Atlanta in November 2015.

The Death of Caucasus Philology: Towards a Discipline Beyond Areal Divides

2013 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 275-293
Author(s):  
Rebecca Gould
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Cold War ◽  
American Academy ◽  
North American ◽  
Institutional Capacity ◽  
The Caucasus ◽  
The North ◽  
The Social ◽  
Literary Cultures ◽  
The Cold War

This essay investigates the challenges facing Caucasus philology, by which I mean the institutional capacity to conduct deep research into the literary cultures of Azerbaijan Republic, Georgia, Daghestan, and Chechnya. I argue that the philological approach to the literary cultures of the Caucasus has been a casualty of the rise of areas studies in the North American academy during the Cold War, and that Cold War legacies continue to shape Caucasus Studies to this day. I conclude by offering three proposals for opening exchanges between the humanities and the social sciences within Caucasus Studies. More broadly, this essay argues for a rapprochement between the social sciences and philological inquiry vis-à-vis the Caucasus.

“THE BRIDES OF DECONSTRUCTION AND CRITICISM” AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF FEMINISM IN THE NORTH AMERICAN ACADEMY

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 413-442
Author(s):  
GREGORY JONES-KATZ
Keyword(s):  
American Academy ◽  
North American ◽  
Yale University ◽  
Gay Liberation ◽  
Informal Group ◽  
The North ◽  
French And English ◽  
French Theory ◽  
Second Wave ◽  
Scholarly Inquiry

“The Brides of Deconstruction and Criticism,” an informal group of feminist literary critics active at Yale University during the 1970s, were inspired by second-wave feminist curriculum, activities, and thought, as well as by the politics of the women's and gay liberation movements, in their effort to intervene into patterns of female effacement and marginalization. By the early 1980s, while helping direct deconstructive reading away from the self-subversiveness of French and English prose and poetry, the Brides made groundbreaking contributions to—and in several cases founded—fields of scholarly inquiry. During the late 1980s, these feminist deconstructionists, having overcome resistance from within Yale's English Department and elsewhere, used their works as social and political acts to help pave the way for the successes of cultural studies in the North American academy. Far from a supplément to what Barbara Johnson boldly called the “Male School,” the Brides of Deconstruction and Criticism arguably were the Yale school. Examining the distinct but interrelated projects of Yale's feminist deconstructive moment and how local and contingent events as well as the national climate, rather than the importation of so-called French theory, informed this moment gives us a clearer rendering of the story of deconstruction.

The Decline of the Africanists' Africa and the Rise of New Africas

1995 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-26
Author(s):  
William Martin ◽  
Michael West
Keyword(s):  
American Academy ◽  
North American ◽  
African Studies ◽  
The Past ◽  
The North

Our thesis may be simply stated: There is a specter hanging over African studies: the specter of irrelevance both within and outside the academy. Indeed, African studies, as constructed in the North American academy over the past four decades, is dying.

Significant Change in the North American Spiritual Care Education and Psychotherapy Movement

2019 ◽  
Vol 73 (3) ◽  
pp. 150-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven S. Ivy
Keyword(s):  
North American ◽  
Spiritual Care ◽  
American Association ◽  
Clinical Pastoral Education ◽  
Pastoral Education ◽  
Pastoral Counselors ◽  
Care Education ◽  
The North ◽  
Significant Change

ACPE: The Standard for Spiritual Care and Education (previously Association for Clinical Pastoral Education) has received the membership of the American Association of Pastoral Counselors (AAPC) into an integrated organization. This integration may mark the beginning of an organizational trend.

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