Eighteenth International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities

Abstract

Across the globe, the first two decades of the twenty-first century have highlighted the ongoing significance of religion. Theories of secularization—once largely taken for granted—have been profoundly questioned and critiqued, and many have argued that secularism is itself marked by a specifically Christian heritage. One prominent response has been to argue for the need to learn more about the teachings of a wide range of religions from around the world. More recently, however, much attention has shifted from a renewed visibility of religion to a resurgence of nationalism. For some, this development suggests that attention to religion is no longer so pressing. I argue that, to the contrary, the academic study of religion can and should play a vital role in probing and explaining the connections between these developments. The present moment calls for theories of religion that illuminate the relations between religion and nationalism, specifically by examining the manner in which groups conceptualize themselves through their religions. Hegel and Durkheim offer classic versions of such theories; recent scholarship by Mark Cladis and Kathryn Lofton advances this current further. Rather than seeing teachings—or at least the teachings when taken at face value—as crucial to religion, such theories draw on the key role of religions in shaping collective identities. Such an approach requires moving beyond studies of religion situated exclusively within one cultural or religious context, moving across national and cultural boundaries to theorize the roles that religions play in forging identities.