Critical Approaches to Science and Religion

Published by Columbia University Press 2023

Critical Approaches to Science and Religion

Edited by: Myrna Perez Sheldon , Ahmed Ragab and Terence Keel

https://doi.org/10.7312/shel20656

Overview
Contents

About this book

This book offers a new direction for scholarship on science and religion that centers social, political, and ecological concerns. Featuring a diverse array of contributors, it draws on three vital schools of thought: critical race theory, feminist and queer theory, and postcolonial theory.

Author / Editor information

Myrna Perez Sheldon is associate professor of gender and American religion, jointly appointed in the Department of Classics and Religious Studies and the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program, at Ohio University.

Ahmed Ragab is an associate professor in the Department of the History of Medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Terence Keel is an associate professor with a joint appointment in the Department of African American Studies and the Institute for Society and Genetics at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Reviews

Randall Styers, author of Making Magic: Religion, Magic, and Science in the Modern World:
With its inclusion of vital perspectives from critical race theory, feminist and queer theory, and postcolonial and Indigenous studies, this volume transforms the conversation about religion and science by making issues of difference central to these discussions. These essays are invaluable.

Kim TallBear, author of Native American DNA: Tribal Belonging and the False Promise of Genetic Science:
I will return repeatedly to this volume to think with these diverse authors. Their disciplinary languages are not mine although they attentively converse with my discipline of Critical Indigenous Studies, among others. I am eager for vital conversations that I and others will have with these ideas that feed my radical hope for the implosion of the white and settler supremacist world view. In order to live better with one another in this world, we need this conversation.

Sylvester A. Johnson, coeditor of Religion and US Empire: Critical New Histories:
Critical Approaches to Science and Religion is a marvelous advance of interdisciplinary scholarship that charts foundational themes for interpreting the cultural dimensions of science and religion. The authors elucidate epistemological tensions and methodological resonances to inform future scholarship. This is essential reading for scholars across multiple disciplines.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
CONTENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
INTRODUCTION Myrna Perez Sheldon, Terence Keel and Ahmed Ragab Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
PART I VALUES
Introduction Terence Keel, Ahmed Ragab and Myrna Perez Sheldon Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	17
1 Scripture of False Smiles: Lying with Erving Goffman Kathryn Lofton Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	21
2 Nihilism, Race, and the Critical Study of Science and Religion Terence Keel Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	41
3 A Feminist Theology of Abortion Myrna Perez Sheldon Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	61
4 Can Originalism Save Bioethics? Osagie K. Obasogie Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	87
PART II BOUNDARIES
Introduction Myrna Perez Sheldon, Terence Keel and Ahmed Ragab Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	101
5 Spiriting the Johnstons: Producing Science and Religion Under Settler Colonial Rule Tisa Wenger Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	105
6 Dark Gods in the Age of Light: The Lightbulb, the Japanese Deification of Thomas Edison, and the Entangled Constructions of Religion and Science Jason Ānanda and Josephson Storm Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	127
7 Questioning the Sacred Cow: Science, Religion, and Race in the United States and India Cassie Adcock Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	159
8 “And God Knows Best”: Knowledge, Expertise, and Trust in the Postcolonial Web-Sphere Ahmed Ragab Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	181
PART III NARRATIVES
Introduction Ahmed Ragab, Terence Keel and Myrna Perez Sheldon Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	203
9 Secular Grace in the Age of Environmentalism Erika Lorraine Milam Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	207
10 Performing Polygenism: Science, Religion, and Race in the Enlightenment Suman Seth Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	229
11 Out of Africa: Where Faith, Race, and Science Collide Joseph L Jr. Graves Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	255
PART IV COHERENCE
Introduction Ahmed Ragab, Terence Keel and Myrna Perez Sheldon Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	277
12 Kānaka Maoli Voyaging Technology and Geography Beyond Colonial Difference Eli Nelson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	281
13 Speculation Is Not a Metaphor: More than Varieties of Cryobiological Experience Joanna Radin Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	304
14 Maroon Science: Knowledge, Secrecy, and Crime in Jamaica Katharine Gerbner Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	325
15 Obeah Simplified? Scientism, Magic, and the Problem of Universals J. Brent Crosson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	348
CONCLUSION Myrna Perez Sheldon, Terence Keel and Ahmed Ragab Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	375
LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	381
INDEX Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	385

Language: English
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Keywords: science and religion; critical theory; philosophy of religion; critical race theory; feminist theory; queer theory; postcolonial theory; climate change; structural racism; immigration; healthcare; reproductive justice; sexual identity

eBook

Published: March 15, 2023
ISBN: 9780231556545