Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Jacob Barrett @jakebarrett25.bsky.social · 7d

Aw I’m always striving to be interesting and actually useful 🥹 can’t wait to hear you play something from the new album!!

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Jacob Barrett @jakebarrett25.bsky.social · 8d

I have a lot of thoughts about Taylor Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl but even more about the discourse about the album! Why are people so worked up? Read my thoughts!

When Intimate Publics Shift: Understanding the Discourse around Taylor Swift's New Album thereluctantamericanist.com/2025/10/06/w...

When Intimate Publics Shift: Understanding the Discourse around Taylor Swift’s New Album

As those who know me well (or, even those who have been around me for any length of time) know, I’m a Swiftie. And I was excited for The Life of a Showgirl like everyone else. I stayed up to …

thereluctantamericanist.com

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Jacob Barrett @jakebarrett25.bsky.social · 13d

Submission deadline extended to October 6! Proposals are just a paper title and 300 word abstract - submit!!

Find the full CFP at relse.org.

Jacob Barrett @jakebarrett25.bsky.social · 24d

The CFP for the AAR-Southeast 2026 meeting at Furman University in Greenville, SC is due on October 1! Find the CFP at relse.org, and consider submitting to the Religions in America section!

Meeting is March 6-8 - hope to see your proposals!! Reach out with any questions!

Jacob Barrett @jakebarrett25.bsky.social · Aug 28

Listen here, or anywhere you stream podcasts: newbooksnetwork.com/religion-and...

@newbooksnetwork.bsky.social

Russell T. McCutcheon, "Religion and the Domestication of Dissent: Or, How to Live in a Less Than Perfect Nation" (Routledge, 2025) - New Books Network

newbooksnetwork.com

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Jacob Barrett @jakebarrett25.bsky.social · Aug 28

My interview with @mccutcheonsays.bsky.social about the 2nd edition of Religion and the Domestication of Dissent is out! We chat about the book but more importantly we talk about the state of the field (spoiler: bleak) and what to do from the all-too-late place we're in now.

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Jacob Barrett @jakebarrett25.bsky.social · Aug 25

Looking forward to this conversation taking place on Wednesday! It’s beyond time we start rethinking what graduate education in religious studies looks like if we hope to have a future as a field. Tune in, and register here: aarweb.org/event/future...

Jacob Barrett @jakebarrett25.bsky.social · Jul 23

It was such a pleasure to talk with @bethhurd.bsky.social about her fantastic new book! It’s so important, so relevant, and SUCH a compelling read. Listen to our conversation anywhere you stream podcasts @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social in Religion!

newbooksnetwork.com/heaven-has-a...

Elizabeth Shakman Hurd, "Heaven Has a Wall: Religion, Borders, and the Global United States" (U Chicago Press, 2025) - New Books Network

newbooksnetwork.com

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Jacob Barrett @jakebarrett25.bsky.social · Jun 25

It’s been a minute, but I’m back on @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social with @judithweisenfeld.com talking about her wonderful new book. I so enjoyed the conversation, and it’s always an honor to learn from Dr. Weisenfeld. Listen now anywhere you stream podcasts!

newbooksnetwork.com/black-religi...

Judith Weisenfeld, "Black Religion in the Madhouse: Race and Psychiatry in Slavery’s Wake" (NYU Press, 2025) - New Books Network

newbooksnetwork.com

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Jacob Barrett @jakebarrett25.bsky.social · May 6

In my PhD Candidate era 🥂📚✨

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Jacob Barrett @jakebarrett25.bsky.social · Apr 24

We put up with a lot and academia isn’t always fun (especially right now) but the students make it worth it. I’m excited to be back in a classroom next year and get to teach again!

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Jacob Barrett @jakebarrett25.bsky.social · Apr 24

End of year awards ceremony was a success, and I even took home the department’s teaching award! When they started reading student evaluations in the announcement, I was really hoping for my two favorite ones to make an appearance. Oh Gen Z, how I adore you 🫶💖

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Jacob Barrett @jakebarrett25.bsky.social · Dec 31

I’m so excited to be part of this cohort! I’m looking forward to starting my new year with this crash course in public scholarship 🫡

Sacred Writes Public Scholarship @sacredwrites.bsky.social · Dec 30

Please put your virtual hands together for the intrepid cohort of religion, gender, and sexuality scholars selected for our January Intensive Public Scholarship Training, funded by the Carpenter Foundation! 👏 meet them below and www.sacred-writes.org/carpenter-co...

2025 Carpenter Cohorts — Sacred Writes

Sacred Writes’ trainings provide scholars with opportunities to acquire skills, identify resources, push disciplinary boundaries, and build communities of accountability and support to produce public ...

www.sacred-writes.org

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Jacob Barrett @jakebarrett25.bsky.social · Dec 17

I think Disco loves when new books arrive just as much as I do 🪩💖📚

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Reposted by Jacob Barrett

Russell T. McCutcheon @mccutcheonsays.bsky.social · Nov 25

Several of the contributors are part of a panel on the book tonight at 5 in Conv Center 31-B. Join us if you’re not already home from #sblaar24

www.bloomsbury.com/us/teaching-...

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Reposted by Jacob Barrett

Dr. Kaitlyn Ugoretz @kaitlynugoretz.bsky.social · Nov 23

Today at 12:30 PST in HB Aqua 300!

“Diagnosing Digital Archives: New Theories & Methods for Studying Religion Online”

How do we deal w the ever-evolving nature of digital religion & its expressions? The papers grapple w how to build, assess & derive new insights from digital archives. #sblaar24

a man with the words impossible perhaps the archives are incomplete below him

Alt: Obi-Wan Keno I from Star Wars sits in the digital Jedi archive and says “impossible perhaps the archives are incomplete”

media.tenor.com

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Reposted by Jacob Barrett

Bryce McCormick @brycemccormick.bsky.social · Nov 23

To my fellow introverts heading out into the wonderfully social #aar #aarsbl24 #sblaar24 conference, remember: we got this!

Most people are kind, willing to hear about your research, and happy to make connections.

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Jacob Barrett @jakebarrett25.bsky.social · Nov 22

Oh hey are you in San Diego?

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Jacob Barrett @jakebarrett25.bsky.social · Nov 21

The conference starts at baggage claim 😉

Russell T. McCutcheon @mccutcheonsays.bsky.social · Nov 21

Land in San Diego and right away meet two former MA advisees (Sierra & Jacob) both doing PhDs at UNC — how cool is that?!

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Jacob Barrett @jakebarrett25.bsky.social · Nov 21

On my way to San Diego for AAR! Drop by my presentation on Saturday 12:30pm-2:30pm in the Hilton Bayfront Aqua 300 to hear about digital archives and computational analysis in my version of that vine that goes “WHY are you running?!”

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Reposted by Jacob Barrett

North American Association for the Study of Religion @naasr.bsky.social · Nov 20

Our final roundtable session is this Saturday at 1pm! Join us for a conversation with an amazing group of scholars on interdisciplinary applications of religious studies.

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Jacob Barrett @jakebarrett25.bsky.social · Apr 18

New episode is out now! I chatted with M. Cooper Minister and Sarah Bloesch about the second edition of their textbook “Cultural Approaches to Studying Religion: An Introduction to Theories and Methods”

Listen now 👇
newbooksnetwork.com/cultural-app...

M. Cooper Minister and Sarah J. Bloesch, "Cultural Approaches to Studying Religion: An Introduction to Theories and Methods" (Bloomsbury, 2023) - New Books Network

newbooksnetwork.com

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Jacob Barrett @jakebarrett25.bsky.social · Apr 1

Had a blast talking w/ Leslie Dorrough Smith and Steven Ramey about their amazing new textbook! If you’re teaching World Religions anytime soon, get your hands on this book! It is so importantly different from other WR books!

newbooksnetwork.com/religions-of-t…
@newbooksnetwork.bsky.social

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Reposted by Jacob Barrett

Equinox Publishing Ltd @equinoxpub.bsky.social · Feb 19

New textbook just published!

More info & order at 25% off quoting code RW here:
bit.ly/3T2qfre

@jakebarrett25.bsky.social @projectrs.bsky.social @mccutcheonsays.bsky.social @julieingersoll.bsky.social

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Jacob Barrett @jakebarrett25.bsky.social · Nov 24

Excited to see this out! I wrote the first version several years and many political moments ago, but that almost makes the case study even more interesting. Find my article, as well as the whole special issue “Belief, Reconsidered” at the Implicit Religion site here: journal.equinoxpub.com/IR/index