Four Books to Change Your Thinking About South Asian Religions

By Anne Murphy There are times in a career when work in the field stops you in your tracks. With this “Four Books” installment, I’d like to present two classics…

When Pop Idols Become Shamans: Religion and Fandom in “KPop Demon Hunters”

Co-directed by Maggie Kang and Chris Applehans. Sony Pictures Animation for Netflix. By Minjung Noh What if religion moved to the beat of K-pop? KPop Demon Hunters (hereafter KDH) successfully…

Four Books on “Signifying” Black Religion and Culture

By Juan Floyd-Thomas At the time of this writing, we are facing an unparalleled onslaught of reactionary forces  vigorously seeking to circumscribe, diminish, and even erase all markers of African…

Reading Religion Newsletter Vol. 10, Issue 9

Dear Reading Religion Subscribers, New this October from Reading Religion: a “Four Books” essay on Buddhist modernism, a new reading list that explores magic, horror, and the supernatural, and our latest reviews and titles…

Four Books on Buddhist Modernism

By Jack Meng-Tat Chia Scholars have described the reshaping of Buddhist ideas and practices in relation to Western modernity since the 19th century with terms such as “Buddhist revival,” “modern…

Reading Religion Newsletter Vol. 10, Issue 8

Dear Reading Religion Subscribers, Here’s the latest from Reading Religion, the American Academy of Religion’s religious studies review site. This month, we feature our latest “Four Books” essay and a reading list in honor of Hispanic…

Four Books on Womanist Epistemology

By Karen Jackson-Weaver The opportunity to write about four books that have shaped my scholarly journey invites me to reflect on my doctoral studies at Columbia University, where I interrogated…

Reading Religion Newsletter Vol. 10, Issue 7

Dear Reading Religion Subscribers, We’re pleased to bring you the latest from Reading Religion, the American Academy of Religion’s online home for scholarly book reviews and essays. This edition features a review of the…

Four Books on Heteroglossic Voice

By Mary Shan Overton With literary and academic voices and perspectives being suppressed in the United States, I have elected to defend books and writers by embracing previously censored texts….

‘I love you more than anything, Mom’: Indigenous Caretaking Takes on Catholic ‘Rot’ in “Sugarcane” Documentary

Historian Zara Surratt explores how Sugarcane weaves ceremony, oral history, and archival truth-telling into a searing documentary about intergenerational trauma and care.

Thinking Spatially in Religious Studies

Religious studies, encompassing a broader temporal scale than modernity, should include a spatial analysis of religious practice and production that is geographically and historically inclusive. This essay examines three recent titles that engage meaningfully with spatial dimensions of religion across different times and social and political contexts. The approaches taken in these works are different but offer valuable insights for those looking to understand how religious faiths and beliefs are produced, reinforced, reformulated, and deployed through space.

Theology Meets Southern Gothic Horror in Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners”

The title Sinners invites a theological reading. Who are the sinners, and what is sin? In a world where whiteness proclaims itself as salvation, Remmick’s declaration—“I am the way”—parodies Christian soteriology while invoking a colonial logic of civilizing mission.