The Anthropology of Christianity Goes to Seminary
"I didn't know that we were the repugnant other," my student Tracy exclaimed as she entered the classroom and tossed her books on the table. "I didn't know that anthropologists were interested in studying us at all!" "Yes, I imagine it comes as a surprise," I...
| Published in: | Religion and society |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Berghahn
[2014]
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| In: |
Religion and society
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| Online Access: |
Volltext (Resolving-System) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | "I didn't know that we were the repugnant other," my student Tracy exclaimed as she entered the classroom and tossed her books on the table. "I didn't know that anthropologists were interested in studying us at all!" "Yes, I imagine it comes as a surprise," I responded as I finished moving the classroom desks into a semi-circle that was intended to facilitate the creation of spaces marked by open dialogue and diversity—core pedagogical concerns of the institution at which I was teaching. It was the second day of class, and Tracy's comments were in response to Joel Robbins's (2003) article "What Is a Christian? Notes toward an Anthropology of Christianity." His discussion of Susan Harding's infamous ‘repugnant cultural other', which Robbins describes as an "anomalous mixture of the similar and the different" (ibid.: 193), had hit a nerve. Tracy's question about anthropological interests in the Christian subject was an expected one, given that I was leading a special topics seminar on the Anthropology of Christianity to master of divinity students at the Candler School of Theology, a United Methodist seminary affiliated with Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. |
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| ISSN: | 2150-9301 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Religion and society
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.3167/arrs.2014.050115 |