Craig Martin
Cris, a PhD student in Anthropology at the University of Colorado-Boulder and blogger on Genealogy of Religion, has just posted an interview with Religion Bulletin’s own Craig Martin. Being a humble sort of chap, Craig didn’t say anything about it here. So I thought I would mention it.
In the interview, you will find fascinating insights into the way Craig Martin thinks. You will find, for example, Craig’s recommendation for the three academic books on religion which he thinks you should read, a summary of his recent book, Masking Hegemony, and this little snippet:
I think that most of what we call theology tends to reproduce rather than analyze or contest authority. Most Christian theology, for instance, appeals to the Bible as an authority; as such, it naturalizes the continuing authority of the Bible. Academic scholarship, I believe, should show how such authorities function, or even contest such authorities by denaturalizing them. I put it this way in my essay, “How To Read An Interpretation“:
Russell McCutcheon suggests – rightly, in my mind – that scholars should be “in the business of provoking unreflective participants in social systems into becoming reflective scholars of social systems.” Rather than convince my students that Jesus supports my own social agendas, I prefer them to see how the figure of Jesus can be utilized in support of various social agendas. Or, to put it differently, as instructors we can better serve our students by showing how ventriloquism works, rather than by attempting to out-puppeteer the communities we study.
– Craig Martin, on Genealogy of Religion (January 31, 2011)
http://genealogyreligion.net/interview-with-craig-martin
