Emeritus Society Spring 2026 Kick-Off

About this experience

Tuesday, February 3, 1:00 – 2:30 pm    
No charge, registration is required. 

Oversimplifying religion as simply a cultural phenomenon unrelated to political organization or as solely dealing with soteriology (e.g., doctrines of salvation or liberation) can lead to, at best, misguided recommendations for conflict resolution and, at worst, progressively escalating episodes of injustice and violence. Conversely, by overemphasizing the importance of religion in conflict, other factors like economic disparity or structural violence may get short shrift. To avoid these pitfalls, it may only be possible to follow Richard Horsley's (2003) advice that when striving "for critical studies of religion, we must almost certainly be thinking in terms of ‘religion and...’" If religion, in Horsley's sense, cannot be understood as a stand-alone social phenomenon, then how do we begin to understand how it is instrumentalized in modern political discourse? In this lecture/discussion, we will comparatively explore ‘Western’ and ‘South Asian’ conceptions of religion and try to understand what these divergent conceptions mean for understanding religiously fundamentalist movements and countering violent extremism (CVE). In challenging Appleby’s (2000) claim that “‘Religious leadership’ [is] the most critical category in our analysis [of religion and conflict],” this talk instead focuses on religious discourse as the best means to overcome violent religious militancy (e.g., CVE)

Refund Policy

To receive a refund, a written request must be received 3 business days before the first class. A $25 processing fee will be deducted from the refund. Cancellation requests received less than 3 business days before the first class but before the second meeting will receive a 50% refund.  ALL written requests should be emailed to emeritus@spartanstrategiesinc.org or mailed to the address above.