Religion research

Religion research themes

Our research crosses the following themes: religion and politics (especially with a Middle East focus); religion and the arts (especially literature, music, and visual art); religion and philosophy (especially Continental philosophy and Arabic philosophies); religion and hermeneutics; religion and translation studies (both linguistic and cultural translation); inter-religious dialogue (especially within Sino-Christian studies); religion and colonialism/postcolonialism (especially in Caribbean and South American contexts); religion and gender/sexualities (especially feminist theology); religion and education (especially in relation to teaching Religion in schools), religion and Critical Theory.

In pursuing how religion crosses over into other realms of thinking and experience, and how this might be made manifest in the various textual expressions handed down by tradition, or in the various cultural expressions of contemporary society, we work in an interdisciplinary capacity with colleagues in Politics, Modern Languages, Translation Studies, English Studies, History, and Education. Collectively, we emphasize the continuities of inquiry that cut across language and culture, but also the disruptions that induce us to new and transformative ways of thinking.

Recent Religion publications

Recent publications among the staff include: Hass’s Sacred Modes of Being in a Postsecular World (CUP, forthcoming); ); Saade’s "Islamic State and Game of Thrones: The Global Among Tradition, Identity, and the Politics of Spectacle" (2019); Darroch’s "'Ou libéré?' Vodou and Haiti: Speaking the Language of Resistance, Remembrance and Freedom in the Writing of Edwidge Danticat" (2019); Gao’s "A Reflection on China’s Economic Reform from the Perspective of Catholic Social Teaching" (2017), Jasper’s "Schooling Indifference: Reimagining RE in Multi-cultural and Gendered Spaces" (with I’Anson – Routledge, 2017). The impact of our research is communicated more widely via the Critical Religion Association, and in association with the UK-based think-tank Ekklesia, as well as via the Translating Christianities group. Scholars in Religion at Stirling have also been key players in the journal Literature and Theology: An International Journal or Religion, Theory and Culture, and The International Society of Religion, Literature and Culture.