Time: 11:00am-12:15pm

Place: Oak Alley – 4th Floor Sheraton

Creating Dwellings of Greater Regard: Critical Pedagogy and Religious Practice

In Living a Feminist Life, Sara Ahmed argues that the act of citation is one practice that can name and dismantle the way patriarchal whiteness haunts our educational institutions and practice, particularly through the act of refusing to cite only white men. She submits that citing feminists of color can be for us “the materials through which, from which, we create our dwellings” (16). Extending Ahmed’s metaphor, the participants in this roundtable describe examples of innovative critical teaching activities and readings, citation politics and practices, advice for graduate students, and suggestions for an Introduction to Religious Communication syllabus. Participants will take various approaches to the intersection of religious practice and critical pedagogy. For some, critical pedagogies function as forms of religious practice, grounded in religious traditions that animate a desire for ways white people, especially, can change and, thus, be helpful collaborators for co-creating dwellings of greater regard. Other members of the roundtable will come to the topic by way of critical pedagogy, analyzing what critical perspectives can bring to the study and life of religious practice and identity. In sum, the roundtable will offer practical ways religious scholars and scholars of religion can create dwellings of greater regard in the classroom and scholarship.

Decentering Preaching

This panel will examine how preaching discourse practiced in religious communities today is (or should be) shifting from the established center(s) of focus. This includes the shifting of focus to or from the event of the sermon itself or the shifting of focus from historically centered people, groups, and priorities within the sermon in specific communities to other groups/priorities.

While the event of the sermon is heavily featured in the worship rhythms of many religious communities, the relative degree of prominence (that is, “centering”) it receives varies. In some communities where the sermon once occupied the center of communal practice, its prominence diminishes in favor of other forms of worship practice. Even in religious communities where the sermon maintains a prominent role, there has been a reconsideration of whose needs and priorities should be centered in the discourse of the sermon. Each of the panelists selected for this panel brings scholarly expertise, either in particular types of religious communities or populations within those religious communities, and will discuss the nature of these shifts and their ongoing implications.

For many religiously practicing individuals, the idea of “religious communication” is most closely associated with the weekly event of the sermon. Therefore, shifts in the nature/priorities of the sermon can represent a significant shift in the very fabric of religious communication as they experience it. Understanding how the event of the sermon functions communicatively within the broader practice of religious life has never been a more critical task.

Each scholar on the panel will briefly (approx. 6-8 minutes) share individually regarding the religious communities and/or the populations they research and the ways that the practice of the sermon is shifting to reflect changed priorities. The panel will then discuss questions from the Chair or the floor regarding the shifting role/priorities of the sermon. Special attention will be paid to how the sermon’s event is shifting (or must shift, or should shift) to reflect Communication for Greater Regard.