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American Religion @amrel.bsky.social · 1d

Back Pages is back again with your biweekly Tuesday installment: W. Clark Gilpin on his book, “A Preface to Theology” (1996). Gilpin reflects on his use of Lippmann and the book’s call for public theological dialogue. Read further here: www.american-religion.org/back-pages/a....

A Preface to Theology — American Religion

W. Clark Gilpin on A Preface to Theology (1996)

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American Religion @amrel.bsky.social · 8d

Back Pages is back again with your biweekly Tuesday installment: Russell T. McCutcheon on his book, “Manufacturing Religion” (1997). Read further here: www.american-religion.org/back-pages/a...

Against the Wind — American Religion

McCutcheon on Manufacturing Religion (2003)

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American Religion @amrel.bsky.social · 11d

COMING VERY SOON: American Religion's newsletter! Subscribe now for periodic memos about upcoming journal issues, important announcements, website series, and more!
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American Religion @amrel.bsky.social · 13d

Back Pages is back again with your biweekly Thursday installment: E Brooks Holifield on his book, “The Gentlemen Theologians” (1978). Read further here: www.american-religion.org/back-pages/t...

The Gentlemen Theologians — American Religion

E. Brooks Holifield on the Gentlemen Theologians (1978)

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American Religion @amrel.bsky.social · 15d

Back Pages is back again with your biweekly Tuesday installment: John Corrigan on his book “The Hidden Balance: Religion and the Social Theories of Charles Chauncy and Jonathan Mayhew” (1987). Read further here: www.american-religion.org/back-pages/c...

Religion, Emotion, and What Else? — American Religion

John Corrigan on The Hidden Balance: Religion and the Social Theories of Charles Chauncy and Jonathan Mayhew (1987)

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American Religion @amrel.bsky.social · 20d

Back Pages is back again with your biweekly Thursday installment: Edward E. Curtis IV on his first two books, “Islam in Black America” (2021) and “Black Muslim Religion in the Nation of Islam” (2006). www.american-religion.org/back-pages/a...

A Tale of Two First Books — American Religion

Edward E. Curtis, IV, on his first two books

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American Religion @amrel.bsky.social · 22d

Back Pages is back again with your biweekly Tuesday installment: Mark A. Noll on his first book, “Christians in the American Revolution” (1977). Noll addresses the book’s early reception and reassesses Protestantism in American religious history. Read here: www.american-religion.org/back-pages/n...

Religion and the American Revolution, Then and Now — American Religion

Mark A. Noll on Christians in the American Revolution (1977)

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American Religion @amrel.bsky.social · 22d

Questions may be directed to Philippa Koch ([email protected]) or [email protected].

American Religion @amrel.bsky.social · 22d

CALL FOR ABSTRACTS: Special Issue on Religion and Health (Pippa Koch, Guest Editor)
Please submit abstracts of no more than 250 words to [email protected] by December 1, 2025.

www.american-religion.org/announcements

Announcements — American Religion

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American Religion @amrel.bsky.social · 27d

Back Pages is back again with your biweekly Thursday installment: Laura Levitt on her book chapter about the dynamics of citation, “(The Problem with) Embraces” (1997). www.american-religion.org/back-pages/r...

Revisiting My Essay, “(The Problem with) Embraces” (1997) — American Religion

Laura Levitt on “(The Problem with) Embraces” (1997)

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American Religion @amrel.bsky.social · 29d

Back Pages is back again with your biweekly Tuesday installment: Robert Wuthnow on his book, “The Restructuring of American Religion: Society and Faith since World War II” (1988). www.american-religion.org/back-pages/w...

Restructuring Revisited — American Religion

Robert Wuthnow on The Restructuring of American Religion (1988)

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American Religion @amrel.bsky.social · Sep 4

Back Pages is back again with your biweekly Thursday installment: William David Hart on “Edward Said and the Religious Effects of Culture” (Cambridge 2000). Read about Hart's methodological approach to Said and why Said continues to matter today. www.american-religion.org/back-pages/h...

Second Thoughts on Edward W. Said — American Religion

William David Hart on Edward Said and the Religious Effects of Culture (2000)

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American Religion @amrel.bsky.social · Sep 2

Back Pages is back again with your biweekly Tuesday installment: George Marsden on “Fundamentalism and American Culture” (1980). Read Marsden’s reflection about his methodological approach and his advice to scholars writing in today’s historical moment. www.american-religion.org/back-pages/m...

Fundamentalism and American Culture, almost a half century later — American Religion

George Marsden on Fundamentalism and American Culture (1980)

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American Religion @amrel.bsky.social · Aug 28

Back Pages is back with Rebecca Alpert on Like Bread on the Seder Plate: Jewish Lesbians and the Transformation of Tradition (1997). Read Alpert’s reflection on how the field of Jewish Studies has changed since and the conversations her book has opened. www.american-religion.org/back-pages/a...

Like Bread on the Seder Plate — American Religion

Rebecca Alpert on Like Bread on the Seder Plate (1998)

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American Religion @amrel.bsky.social · Aug 26

Check out the first installment in Back Pages below: Jon Butler on Awash in a Sea of Faith. Read Butler’s reflection on writing the book thirty-five years ago and what has changed in the field of religious studies since. www.american-religion.org/back-pages/b...

Doing It Again — American Religion

Jon Butler on Awash in a Sea of Faith (1990)

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American Religion @amrel.bsky.social · Aug 22

Reminder: Back Pages drops on Tuesday.

The first entry features Jon Butler on _Awash in a Sea of Faith_

American Religion @amrel.bsky.social · Aug 15

12) Series One of “Back Pages” will begin on Tuesday, August 26, on the AR website, with new essays every Tuesday and Thursday, and future series already in the works. Keep an eye out here for announcements and links.

American Religion @amrel.bsky.social · Aug 20

REMINDER: Submissions for American Religion's dissertation prize are due in TEN DAYS on August 30, 2025! Please send submissions to [email protected] and include an abstract of the dissertation, the complete dissertation as a pdf file, and the author’s current CV. www.american-religion.org/announcements

Announcements — American Religion

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American Religion @amrel.bsky.social · Aug 15

12) Series One of “Back Pages” will begin on Tuesday, August 26, on the AR website, with new essays every Tuesday and Thursday, and future series already in the works. Keep an eye out here for announcements and links.

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American Religion @amrel.bsky.social · Aug 15

11) Central to “Back Pages” is its invitation to reflect on what it means to understand scholarship as a human enterprise—the work of people who speak conscientiously to given moments amid dynamic circumstances that do not hold still.

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American Religion @amrel.bsky.social · Aug 15

10) Taken as a whole, these essays approach the prompt in a variety of ways, reflecting a diversity of postures and assessments.

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American Religion @amrel.bsky.social · Aug 15

9) Or perhaps the older work exemplifies qualities that the field would benefit from remembering or to which it should return. We don’t presume that different is better or worse.

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American Religion @amrel.bsky.social · Aug 15

8) Is the research question still valid? Do the methods and archives hold? Do new perspectives afforded by life experiences, broader reading, new discoveries, or revised postures offer better insights to these back pages?

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American Religion @amrel.bsky.social · Aug 15

7) “Back Pages” extends these questions to the broader field, featuring a series of essays through which scholars of American religion address their own present relationship key publications from early in their career.

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American Religion @amrel.bsky.social · Aug 15

6) In response to these questions, AR presents “Back Pages: The Present in Retrospect”—a major online forum coming this Fall.

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American Religion @amrel.bsky.social · Aug 15

5) Things have changed, both in the professional contexts of the academy and in the political realities to, about, and within which we write. To what remedies could we turn? What are the stakes now as opposed to then? What former stakes do we fail to appreciate in the present tense?

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