Methodology in the Study of Religious Movements

January 11, 2014
University of California, Santa Barbara

This workshop on the study of religious movements in a global context was part of a collaborative project between the Orfalea Center for Global and International Studies and the Danish Institute for International Studies.

The workshop, held at the Orfalea Center on the UC Santa Barbara campus, aimed to provide an informal platform for exchange of ideas on method and methodology in the study of religious movements in the context of a globalized world. The substance of the workshop consisted of participants’ recent scholarly work on religious movements and/or actors, which displays either:

– an attempt to integrate social science approaches and religious studies, and/or

– sensitivity to the particular epistemic worldview of the movement/actors under scrutiny and the particular social and cultural context in which they are embedded

Agenda

9:00-9:30 Welcome & Introductory Comments

Mark Juergensmeyer (Orfalea Center Director) & Mona K. Sheikh (DIIS, Orfalea Center Visiting Research Scholar):

Sociotheology & Epistemic Worldview Analysis
9:30-11:00 First Session

Julie Ingersoll (University of North Florida): Ethics, Worldviews, & Violence

Michael Jerryson (Youngstown State University): Perception, Trauma, & Narratives

Margo Kitts (Hawaii Pacific University): Persistence and Perversion in Ritual Performance

William M. Sullivan (Wabash College): Exploring Self, World, and Calling

11.00-11:15 Coffee

11:15-12:45 Second Session

John Sobaslai (UCSB): The Early Christian Martyr as Truth-Teller

Sara Kamali (UCSB): Epistemic Worldviews & Counterterrorism

Shawn Landres: Interstitial Religion

12:45-1:45 Lunch

1:45-3:15 Third Session

Richard Madsen (UC San Diego): Humanistic Buddhism in Taiwan: Fragile Transcendence in a Fragmented World

Ann Taves (UCSB): How to Study Eyes that See Things that are Not

Wade Clark Roof (UCSB): Religio-Political Ideology

3:15-3:30 Coffee

3:30-4:30 Closing Discussion

Page Editor

Ben Smith
Ben Smith
Share on facebook
Share on twitter
Share on email
Print Friendly and PDF