If academic conferences and scholarly panels give a glimpse of books to come, then the program for the 2013 annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion signals the continuing rise of popular culture as a topic in religious studies. The AAR conference, in conjunction with the Society of Biblical Literature’s (SBL) own yearly event, will take over the Baltimore Convention Center just before Thanksgiving, November 23-26. Many of the religion scholars and practitioners of nearly every religion in attendance... Read more

Halloween today isn’t all that Christian or all that scary any more. Our American celebration of Halloween has very little to do with observing a Christian “All Hallows’ Eve” before the “All Hallows Day” remembrance of the dead. On “All Hallows’ Eve,” skeletons, ghosts and graveyards were supposed to be scary reminders of human mortality, and the threat of damnation like the image above.  Carved pumpkins lit from within, or “Jack O’ Lanterns,” were originally to frighten “evil spirits” away.... Read more

by Earle Fisher R3 Contributor Earlier this week a pastor was being interviewed by a student who was intrigued by the pastor’s ministerial authenticity and perspective.  Throughout the interview the student expressed a disdain and disgust towards the traditional, dominant (mainstream) ministerial expressions/productions and was somewhat taken aback by the pastor’s affirmation of her disgust and disdain.  To add to the enchanting exchange, the student expressed a desire to visit the pastor’s house of worship, at least in part, because... Read more

The most controversial sentence I ever wrote, considering the response to it, was not about abortion, marriage equality, the wars in Vietnam or Iraq, elections, or anything to do with national or church politics. It was a statement about the founding of the United States of America. Here’s the sentence: “The United States of America was established as a white society, founded upon the near genocide of another race and then the enslavement of yet another.” The comments were overwhelming,... Read more

Chosen People: The Rise of American Black Israelite Religions by Jacob S. Dorman Oxford University Press, 2013 What inspired you to write Chosen People? What sparked your interest? When I was in college I was interested in the similarities between Jewish and Black nationalisms, and began to learn Jewish and African American histories at Stanford University with Clayborne Carson, George Fredrickson, Sylvia Wynter, Mark Mancall, Arnie Eisen, and Tudor Parfitt. A chance encounter led me to visit the Original Hebrew Israelites... Read more

Here are the top five posts from Rhetoric Race and Religion this week. To contribute to R3, click here.Number 1The Forgotten Preacher: Bishop Henry McNeal Turnerby Andre E. JohnsonR3 EditorHenry McNeal Turner, the first black chaplain in the Union Army and one of the most prominent religious and political leaders of Civil War era black America, was born a free black on Feb. 1, 1834, in New Berry Court House, S.C. Turner was the oldest child of Hardy Turner and Sarah Greer... Read more

Formed in Alabama in 1994, the League of the South is a nationalist organization that advocates secession from the United States of America and the establishment of a fifteen-state Confederate States of America (CSA) – four states more than seceded during the US Civil War (1861–1865), the additional states being Oklahoma, Missouri, Kentucky, and Maryland (Southern Patriot). With over ten thousand members, the League professes a commitment to constructing this new CSA based on a reading of Christianity and the... Read more

What we know for sure is that Jacob never wanted Leah in the first place.  His eyes, his heart, and his devotion were all for Rachel’s affection and her hand in marriage…not Leah’s.  Leah got caught up in the crossfire simply because for her father, Laban, it was a business transaction really – a quite cruel one.  He reasoned that it was “not the custom” to give away the oldest daughter before the youngest one. (I’m not buying it). So Jacob married them... Read more

My perspective is that of one who worked in the church for 40+ years, and is now on the outside, looking (occasionally) in. From that point of view, I honestly don’t believe church folk are more racist than their secular cousins. Sadly, they aren’t any less racist, either. The difference is the way racism gets expressed. From most pulpits, there is strong condemnation of racism in all its forms. The message that sends to the pews is that, officially, racism... Read more

Nearly 80 percent of all Americans think the Bible is either literally true or is the inspired word of God. And yet, most Americans have no idea what is actually in the Bible, as Stephen Prothero notably demonstrated in his book Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know – and Doesn’t.  (To test your religious literacy, take Prothero’s quiz here.) And so we have the paradoxical situation in which we as a culture “have invested the words of this book with amazing... Read more