Featured Publications
Editors Robert W. Hefner and Zainal Abidin Bagir illuminate the less formal yet pervasive processes of lived pluralism in Indonesian Pluralities. Part of the Contending Modernities series through Notre Dame Press.
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Global Currents
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Secular India or Hindu Nation: A Short History
Series: The Ram Temple in AyodhyaModi chose Varanasi as his electoral constituency, since it is the holiest city for Hindus, but he had his sights set on Ayodhya.
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For “A Civilian Truce”: Why We Need the Humble Humanism of Albert Camus
A human-centered ethic means nothing if not solidarity with every child.
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Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr Amidst Famine in Gaza
Despite the challenges posed by Gaza’s precarious situation, the people of Gaza will come together to celebrate Eid al-Fitr with resilience and solidarity.
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Theorizing Modernities
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Religion, Politics, and the Orange Order in Northern Ireland: Defending Protestant Britain in the Age of Secularism
Is it possible for the Orange Order to reimagine itself in a manner that allows it to protect its core principles but at the same time become a force for political, cultural, and religious reconciliation?
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Reframing the Past and Imagining the Future of Post-Brexit Northern Ireland
Maybe new frames, metaphors, and terms can help Islanders confront the legacy of the past on the island of Ireland.
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Modern “Derry Girls”: How Teens Navigate Polarization in a Post-conflict Society
A holistic approach is needed to study how polarized information is transmitted through traditional, structurally embedded narratives and systems that intersect with new information sources and modern values.
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Decoloniality
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No Peace without Decolonization: A Lecture and Interview with Nelson Maldonado-Torres
Decolonial love is about the possibility of connection (and relation) when connection seems completely impossible.
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On the Advantage of Not Fitting In: Religious-National Identities as Border-Living
Only when the Balkans are considered as succumbing to neither Northern nor Southern theoretical or praxis-oriented frameworks, can we ensure that all ways of being and living locally are truly listened to.
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The Myth of the Secular Revolutionary: On Fanon’s Religion
Series: Reconsidering Fanon and ReligionFanon’s critique of religion winds up being a powerful critique of the secular. Contrarily, Fanon seeks refuge in the secular in order to resignify the human but he ends up repurposing religion along the way.
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Field Notes
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Mosques and Muslims in the “Evergreen City of India”: Exploring India’s Pluralism
Pluralism not only denotes a tolerance towards others, but also offers an opportunity to intermingle and exchange and thus mitigate difference.
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Faith-Based Education & Peacebuilding: A Teacher’s Call for Further Collaboration
In order to effectively counter any potential violence inflicted by religious schools, it is necessary that educator-peacebuilders in these institutions root themselves in the context of the school community and the lived experiences of the students and their families.
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COVID-19, Conspiracies, and Conceptions of Identity
The sources of conspiracies are not religious beliefs but rather are the reservations and vulnerabilities a community already has towards the government, society, or another distrusted entity.
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Teaching Contending Modernities
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The Politics of the Gender, Sexuality, and Religion Nexus: Perspectives from the Margins
This module draws on the resources of the Contending Modernities blog to explore the interlocking dynamics of race, gender, sexuality, and coloniality in modernity.
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Religious Studies and Theology: Decolonial Perspectives in/on the Disciplines
This introduction to religious studies through a decolonial lens explores the contestation over the colonial Christian heritage of the field, the role of the secular in maintaining hegemonic Christian norms in the academy, and the importance of thinking interdisciplinarily about the future of the field.
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Research Areas
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Madrasa Discourses
A conciliation of traditional Islamic thought with contemporary scientific and philosophical worldviews can result in orthodox affirmations of human dignity that are essential for peaceful coexistence in a pluralistic world.Read More →
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Science and the Human Person
Rapid advances in science and technology are raising fundamental questions about human life, flourishing, suffering, and death. These and other ethical questions at the intersection of science and the human person have a global character, encompassing all of humanity.Read More →
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Reexamining Religion and Modernities
Addressing resurgent populism, antisemitism, and Islamophobia in Euro-America requires integrating diverse approaches to the study of religion and modernity with insights from the critical study of race, nationalism, and peace.Read More →
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Global Migration and the New Cosmopolitanism
The global expansion of migration over the past two generations has ushered in major social and economic changes, as well as profound ethical challenges concerning how citizens are to coexist in pluralistic societies.Read More →