IN THIS ISSUE Teaching about May 2003 Published by the American Academy of Religion Vol. 18, No.3 Material Culture in www.aarweb.org Religious Studies

Teaching Religion and Material Culture ...... ii Teaching about Vivian-Lee Nyitray

Material Culture and the Varieties of Religious Imagination ...... iii Ivan Strenski Material Culture Teaching Religion and American Film ...... v Judith Weisenfeld Teaching with Food ...... vi in Religious Studies Daniel Sack

Teaching Biblical Archaeology and Vivian-Lee Nyitray Material Culture as Part of Teaching Judaism . .vii University of California-Riverside Richard A. Freund Guest Editor Teaching Religion and Learning Religion through Material Culture ...... ix holding prayer beads in his hands and ble to do one to the exclusion of the Jonathan Huoi Xung Lee another of Muslim men sitting in an other as well as to address both without Egyptian café talking while they fin- theorizing the intimate yet ambivalent Complicating Things: gered and counted their beads. A web- relationship between the two. For Material Culture and site called “Islam for Children” lists instance, until a few decades ago, occi- the Classroom ...... x prayer beads among various essential dentalist versions of Islam rooted exclu- Leslie Smith Islamic artifacts including the prayer sively in textual, normative sources rug, prayer compass to determine the managed to represent this cumulative direction of Mecca, prayer caps, and historical tradition without any refer- Qur’an stand (http://atschool.eduweb.co. ence to how Muslims in different parts uk/carolrb/islam/artefacts.html). of the world actually expressed their faith in everyday life and practice. The The AAR Committee on So much for simple descriptions and pendulum now swings in the other Teaching and Learning catalogues of religious symbols in Islam. direction as attention is drawn to the (Eugene V. Gallagher, Chair), Things matter. At times, things matter many discrete and varied cultural mani- Tazim R. Kassam sponsors Spotlight on Teaching. more than the ideas from which they festations of Muslim life. This peda- take shape. This hit home when I gogy is founded on the assumption that It appears twice each year in Spotlight on Teaching Editor heard an elderly Muslim woman being Muslim, Hindu, Christian, and so Religious Studies News, AAR instruct her husband not to carry his on generates a particular type of materi- Edition and focuses on tasbih on their flight from Toronto to al culture which embodies and replicates teaching and learning around New York a year after the tragic events the teachings and requirements of a spe- a particular theme, concern, YPICALLY, MUSLIMS have a of 9/11. This unexpected precaution cific faith. It also emerges from the or setting. tasbih at hand to remember God. poignantly problematized the tension pressing need, voiced by our students, T Tasbih means to exalt, praise and and ambiguity of reckoning with reli- to understand other people’s religious glorify God; and the prayer beads used gious symbols and artifacts in different symbols in a pluralist society. Editor to aid this glorification are also called contexts. In between the idea (as in tasbih, subha or misbaha. Like Hindu thought and desire) of the tasbih (to Yet, how to tackle both descriptively Tazim R. Kassam and Buddhist malas and Catholic glorify God) and its materiality (prayer and theoretically the visible aspects of Syracuse University rosaries, their essential function is to beads) is a constructive and deconstruc- religion remains. The edifice of disci- concentrate the mind to count devo- tive space, which continues to require plinary-specific language used to con- Guest Editor tions, prayers, and divine attributes. critical reflection. struct diverse explanations of religious Each religious tradition has its own objects itself requires constant re-exami- Vivian-Lee Nyitray local lore about the beads, their crafts- The focus of this issue of Spotlight on nation. Terms used in the classroom to University of California- manship, and their talismanic powers. Teaching, guest edited by Vivian-Lee “handle” religious objects including Riverside Tasbihs are made of ninety-nine beads Nyitray, is material culture in religious manifestation, sacred, hierophany, rep- that signify the asma al-husna, the nine- studies. A longstanding debate in the resentation and so on are themselves ty-nine most beautiful names of God field of religion has been the relation- implicitly structured on a dualistic mentioned in the Qur’an. ship between religious beliefs and prac- metaphysics of reality. Thus, within the Spotlight on Teaching tices or the classic philosophical prob- context of coming to understand reli- is published by the The ubiquity of tasbihs in mosques, lem of spirit and matter, essence and gious life through, not in spite of, mate- American Academy of Religion homes, and around the wrists of manifestation, noumenon and phe- rial culture, there is both opportunity 825 Houston Mill Road Muslim men and women illustrates the nomenon. In pedagogical terms, the and necessity to draw attention to the Atlanta, GA 30329 importance of dhikr or constant recol- dilemma surfaces in terms of striking limitations of epistemological notions Visit www.aarweb.org lection of God in Islam. Always in the right balance between teaching constantly at work in the acts of search of pictures and videos to use in about a religious tradition’s ideas and explanation. ❧ class, I found one of President Hamid principles versus teaching about its reli- Karzai in a meeting with Afghan leaders gious practices and artifacts. It is possi- Religious Studies News, AAR Edition Teaching Religion and Material Culture

Vivian-Lee Nyitray expressive cultural artifacts that could be music, dance, and the production of in the field, as contributors Ivan Strenski seen, heard, and touched. Religion was implements all reveal aspects of a particu- and Jonathan H. X. Lee suggest. Lee high- neither solely cerebral nor an affair of the lar religious worldview and its associated lights the questions that arise as students heart; it was thoroughly embodied; anyone practices. Some of this focus was prompt- navigate religion in three-dimensions, and who would hope to understand it had best ed initially by the perceived paucity or he points out the rich paths that can lead be ready to study it in all its multifaceted absence of the classic subject and/or object onward from a single field experience. glory. When the class read The of study in religion, texts or scriptures. Strenski, in addition to adumbrating a the- Bhagavadgita, Smith brought in a set of Doctrinal discourses were then discerned oretical perspective on the importance of bronze Vaishnava devotional images that in oral tradition, and also in the overarch- material culture for the study of religion, he had acquired from friends in India. ing “narrative” of daily life. Belatedly but shares the questions he has devised to Oddly, at least to my eyes, each of the fig- happily, these insights have now come into guide his students’ forays into material reli- ures had a small piece of cloth wrapped the analysis of other religious traditions, gious spaces. In a somewhat different around it. Smith explained that he’d been notably the study of Christianity in gener- vein, contributor Richard A. Freund ana- given the images on condition that he al and its American variations in particu- lyzes some of the pitfalls of both mis- and would treat them with respect; thus, even lar. In this issue of Spotlight on Teaching, a overinterpretation that await students and though the images had been cast to show sampling of scholars and students share scholars alike in their encounters with the the deities as clothed and bejeweled, they their diverse experiences in mediating seemingly “objective” objects of biblical were not considered to be decently dressed material culture in the religious studies and rabbinical archaeology. unless real cloth at least partially classroom. enveloped them. For me, in the moment One might also bring the outside world Vivian-Lee Nyitray is an Associate of his explanation, those small twists of An instructor desirous of shifting pedagog- into the classroom. Contributor Leslie Professor of Religious Studies at the cloth were suddenly and palpably imbued ical attention beyond words on a page Smith recalls a guest practitioner: a University of California, Riverside. Her research within the field of with the sacrality of deep devotion and might reasonably turn the classroom gaze Wiccan who, in her choice of clothing and Chinese religions includes feminism respectful friendship. These images were toward other aspects of the page, namely, in the artifacts of The Craft that she and the Confucian tradition; not “gods,” but they were much more photographs and illustrations — an entry brought along for the students’ examina- Tianhou/Mazu studies; and the lay than symbols; their physical presence to the field of visual culture. Recent tion, taught volumes about her tradition, medical mission work of the Tzu Chi invoked and made warmly real the prac- Buddhist Compassion Foundation. tice of bhakti devotionalism. The Life of Chinese Religions, co-edited with Ron Guey Chu, is Since then, although trained in the tex- forthcoming from the University of tual study of classical Chinese traditions, California Press. I have nonetheless come to practice the study of religion in a manner significant- ly influenced by anthropology, ethnogra- phy, art history, and archaeology. Perhaps not unlike other fields, the study S AN UNDERGRADUATE of Chinese religions has long been divid- student at Syracuse University in ed into several camps: the historical- A the early 1970s, I had the great philosophical textualists, the anthropolo- good fortune to enroll in several courses gists, and the art historians. The art his- taught by H. Daniel Smith. A consum- torians were always in a class by them- mate teacher, he fostered in me (and selves, but between the philosophers and countless others, without doubt) a lifelong the ethnographers, well, it was clear who fascination not just with “religion,” but claimed the superior discipline! Scholars with the intellectual, emotional, and mate- whose “serious” textual work was paral- rial totality of religious worlds. What leled by observations on paper goods, Smith realized was that a student’s interest food offerings, or other “popular” arti- and attention span is fickle and fleeting — facts were sometimes treated lightly in even in those pre-MTV days. To capture years past. Recently, however, the histor- it, an instructor’s material had to be vital, ical, aesthetic, and ethnographic value of and it had to appeal to more than our their collections has become obvious, intellectual curiosity. We had to be fully and their publications on popular belief engaged with the subject. We were thus and practice are important source mate- unprepared for our initial class “meeting”: rials in their own right. Confucian tradi- the classroom was closed and dark, and a tions, for example, establish the family as sign instructed us to report to the lan- the locus of religious identity, and thus guage lab and to request a particular item, the study of traditional Chinese homes

For me, in the moment of his explanation, those small twists of cloth were suddenly and palpably imbued with the sacrality of deep “ devotion and respectful friendship. which turned out to be a tape-slide combi- — their construction and orientation, Japanese ema, displaying a Shinto kami or shrine on one side; the other side is left blank for the nation. As we viewed the first slide — a their furnishings and adornment — now writing of petitions and wishes. (Photo courtesy of V.-L. Nyitray) shot of Professor Smith’s smiling face — seems a natural subject for investigation. we heard a man’s voice on the tape wel- Even Buddhism, a tradition” that rejects scholarship on the relationship between about the local community “shared” by come us to the course on Asian religious the material world as so much “dust,” visual culture and religion reveals much everyone present, and about the craft of classics. As this genial voice then guided nonetheless has been responsible for the about the role that images play, not only teaching as well. But bringing the materi- us through the course manual, we saw production of a vast array of material in the imagination or in ritual implemen- al culture of religion into the classroom illustrations drawn from the texts we’d be goods, all of which provide significant tation, but in the material reality of every- carries certain challenges with it. Strenski reading, saw photographs of sites relevant keys to the interpretation of the tradition day religious life as well. Textual narra- asks, “Who lugs this stuff to class?” The to the texts, and we listened to music, over time and across geographic space. tives also pave the way for consideration of answer is: I do, for one. I am the bag lady chant, and liturgy. Clearly, this would be Most importantly, the new consideration visual narratives in media as discrete as of Religious Studies. In addition to the — and was — a class like no other. of materiality in Chinese traditions has architecture and film. Contributor Judith music tapes and CDs that I carry to class facilitated conversations among scholars of Weisenfeld encourages her students to for aural illustration, I bring Hindu and The impact that first “mediated” class had diverse training and methodological orien- move between the realms of visual and Buddhist images, Chinese paper funerary on me lingers still. In other hands, such a tation. material culture in her course on American goods, Tibetan prayer flags, Soka Gakkai course would have been a straightforward religion and film; in addition to screening bumper stickers, Taoist merit books, and reading and discussion of The Analects, Scholars of the religions of indigenous films for discussion, she also directs stu- posters depicting everything from highly Ramayana, and other “great books.” For peoples worldwide would find none of this dent attention to the study of published unpleasant Hindu hells to the Chinese sea Smith, texts were more than conceptual new or unusual. They have long been at catalogs and movie memorabilia. goddess Mazu hovering protectively over repositories: they were manifest inspiration the forefront of material cultural studies, pleasure craft out for a day’s sail. I bring for music, theater, art, sculpture, architec- examining the ways in which textiles, One might also move from sight to site, as ture — a seemingly endless array of food, architecture, personal adornment, it were, by engaging student attention out See NYITRAY p.xi ii • May 2003 AAR RSN SPOTLIGHT ON TEACHING Material Culture and the Varieties of Religious Imagination

Ivan Strenski

stunning when one considers the tremen- concerning the body, sex and all the rest. dictable, but nonetheless as effective as the dous quantity and quality of these For Albert Réville, ritual, in general, was imaginative choice of a cigar by Churchill resources. Take first material religious cul- judged as dangerously “sensuous!” The or the three-cornered hat by partisans of ture of a visual sort. Consider the masses nineteenth century Catholic cult of the the Enlightenment. A good place to start of data from the graphic, plastic, or elec- sacred heart drove Réville into a perfect to understand material religious culture tronic arts — both popular and “high,” frenzy of sexual terror about its deviant then is to see its contents as the playing the scads of artifacts of all sizes and shapes psycho-physical causes. It represented to out of an imagination that is religious. — the sculptures, scapulars, phylacteries, him a clear clinical “case . . . of mania What are its rules? Why do some imagin- prayer rugs, and more, the masses of erotico-religiosa, superinduced by a very ings work, and others fall flat on their architecture — everything from the hysterical constitution.” [Réville, faces? Why do some things “capture the Cathedral of Chartres to the Ka’aba, from “Contemporary Materialism in Religion: imagination” and other fail so to do — heiaus to stupas, the numerous sacred sites The Sacred Heart.” Theological Review 44 and for whom? Some sacred music keeps — whether “spaces” or “places” — the (January 1874): 138-156, see especially pp. getting sung year after year, and not, one holy cities, holy lands, and holy territorial 148-152]. supposes, just out of inertia, but because it domains, the sacred springs, mountains, resonates in some important ways with Ivan Strenski is the Holstein and precincts, the pilgrimage routes and Family and Community Professor their destinations, and so on. of Religious Studies at the Material religious culture is composed of all University of California, Riverside. Moreover, while visual materials and In addition to being the North media have a way of pushing to the fore- the sensate entities and events of religion. American editor of Religion, he is front of our perceptions, we also need to Until recently . . . we have been spending most the author of five books and extend the notion of material religious approximately fifty articles. His culture to include all tactile or sensate reli- “ of our time thinking about thought. most recent books are Contesting gious entities and events. The study of Sacrifice: Religion, Nationalism material religious culture would therefore and Social Thought (2002) and include all that we access by way of our “Imagination Is some folks. A celebrated new cathedral Durkheim and the Jews of auditory abilities, e.g., music or the sound has risen in Los Angeles at the cost of France (1997). of one’s breathing in Vipassana medita- Funny . . .” and many millions of dollars and under the tion; or by way of our olfactory capacities, Essential direction of a world-class European” archi- e.g., the smell of incense, the “odor of tect. Some, however, have judged it dead How, then, do we exploit the materiality sanctity”; or what we take in by means of on arrival, and will only resort to it of religious life for the study of religion? taste and touch, e.g., the bite of bitter because there is no alternative. Why? UTSIDE the venerable field of The first task before us is, I would claim, herbs, the slickness of sweet rice, the Many, therefore, are the creations of the archaeology of religion, a rela- to provide a conceptual and theoretical vapors of communion wine, the feel of the religious imagination, but many as well tively small troop of pioneering framework within which to generate O eternal stone of the Wailing Wall or the are those that fall into oblivion. Which colleagues have developed the field of durable thinking about material religious Ka’aba, or that sudden, if brief, chill of a ones? Why these and not others, and so study of the materiality of religious life. culture. How should we begin, at least, to ritual bath or baptism, or the sharp blow on? These are only some of the questions Here, I list the likes of Colleen locate material religious culture within a on the back as one sits in imperfect zazen. that seeing material religious culture in McDannell, Thomas Kselman, Lionel larger conceptual and interpretive frame- Material religious culture is composed of terms of the imagination might raise. Rothkrug, Rosalind Hackett, J. Z. Smith, work? And, how would we do that in all the sensate entities and events of reli- Other theoretical “takes” will raise other Richard Hecht, Roger Friedland, Caroline such a way that it would put such think- gion. Until recently, by contrast, we have kinds of questions. That to me is all to Walker Bynum, Gary Laderman, and ing into fruitful relation with the other been spending most of our time thinking the good. Peter Brown, among others. I wish to pay dimensions of religion, such as myth, about thought. tribute to them by pointing out some of beliefs, social organization, experience, rit- what I take to be implications of their ual, and morality? Perhaps because of the This neglect of a wholehearted embrace of Interrogating Material work, and to offer the beginnings of some hold that the visual has on our conscious- the material dimension of religion is not theorizing of this work. I omit Eliade ness, the modality of the “arts” seems par- Religion with a surprising, given the somewhat iconoclas- from this list, but certainly not because we ticularly to recommend itself as a place we “Proactive Mind” tic, certainly intellectualist and textualist, cannot learn about certain modes of orga- might begin. For me, this natural-seem- Reformation roots of the modern study of Implied in my putting questions or “prob- nizing time and space from him. We can. ing affinity with the arts recommends that religion. Linked as it naturally is and was lems” to the fore is that we need to do I omit him because his gaze was always we begin to think about material religious with a so-called “spiritual” — bloodless — much more than simply to present the fixed elsewhere than on this world, far culture in terms of its being a product of conception of the nature of religion, most data of religion’s materiality. Yet, since it over the horizon of “things.” While the imagination. We speak readily of the of the nineteenth century founders of the would be easy to become seduced by the Eliade was particularly sensitive to reli- aesthetic imagination and even of the study of religion decried those religions in ravishing imagery of the religious imagina- gious space, and to a riotous array of con- moral, civic, sexual, commercial, and which materiality thrived. Albert Réville, tion or grounded in place by contact with crete sacred objects, such as trees, ropes, political imaginations and so on, so why that well-placed contemporary of real religious objects, we must take care rocks, and such, I would be prepared to not take seriously the religious imagination? Durkheim and founder of the “science of not to fall prey to the heresy of the argue that he never really accepted reli- Why cannot religion be as much a locus religion” in France, for example, would Immaculate Perception. The theoretical gious materiality on its own terms, in the in which the imagination can be seen to often rail against “religious materialism.” and conceptual dimension of our work religiousness of its material historicity. For operate as many other domains of life? Any implication that “religious forms” should go hand in hand with the empiri- Eliade, material things were religious in were “indispensable receptacles of the cal. And, so, I am urging that we prepare spite of being material — because they In this light, the materiality of religious divine reality” was to be rudely rejected. students for coming to the data of materi- transcended their historicity and materiali- life presents no great mystery or puzzle. For Réville and other Protestant founders al religious culture with a “proactive mind.” ty in being symbols of divine archetypes. When people imagine things, they typically of the study of religion, this condemna- But for the present author, at least, the realize their imaginings in media. We can tion of the “religious materialism” of ritual Where teaching is concerned, we all rec- materiality of religion needs no external readily recognize how religious beliefs have really amounted to a theological polemic ognize that students will unavoidably justification to affirm its religiousness. been a medium in which creative religious against Roman Catholicism, Judaism, and come to the data with their own “takes,” Religion is fully and legitimately material thinkers have done a great deal of imagin- all the other “pagan” kindred religions that with their own principles and/or preju- — whatever else it may be — because reli- ing. There are Four Noble Truths. But embraced ritual. Any expression of reli- dices, with their own set of questions and gion is, at the very least, part of being why four, and not eight, like the Noble gious materialism, such as ritual, was problems, and at the risk of seeming pre- human for many, if not all, people. No Eightfold Path, or three, like the Three always more or less “superstitious.” In the tentious, with their own theories. Their excuses therefore need to be made to focus Body Doctrine, and so on? Similarly, in spirit of what sometimes seems like a perceptions will not be pure and innocent, on material religious culture. Instead, we material terms, why are stupas made in still-vital Victorian moralistic religiosity, nor need they be. But, we must strive to need aggressively to exploit the vast great mounds and not four-square blocks Réville argued that a really religious per- make these a prioris explicit by expressing resources that exist for understanding reli- like the Ka’aba? And why then, in East son would inform their sensibility with a them in some objective form — a course gion by studying material religious cul- Asia, are there not those familiar South religious “spiritualism,” which results from journal entry, a short “reaction” paper, an ture. Within the brief compass of this Asian burial mounds, but those brilliant a “more elevated moral and religious in-class “brainstorming” assignment in essay, I shall attempt both to make some multistoried pagodas? When the monks sense.” “Real” religion was a matter of which lists are made in order to elicit the theoretical points about the study of mate- of old Ireland fashioned their hermitages, “spirit and truth.” An appreciation of preperceptual data of the minds of the stu- rial religious culture and to show some they did so in beehive shapes, rather than material religious culture is, therefore, set dents — as far as that is possible. preliminary results of how I have tried to in block houses or pyramids. Was this totally against these spiritualist assump- Exposing students to material religious operationalize some of these theoretical only an accident of limitations imposed by tions about the nature of religion. culture, then, should not be like dumping viewpoints in the classroom. the building materials? Or, is something Tellingly, these condemnations of materi- else going on? And, what might that be? ality in religion are sometimes linked See STRENSKI p.iv Reluctance about taking seriously the The religious imagination is “funny” this explicitly with a familiar list of terrors materiality of religious life is furthermore way. It can be as amazing and unpre-

May 2003 AAR RSN • iii Religious Studies News, AAR Edition

STRENSKI, from p.iii place? Tastes? Colors? Images? dents from my sacred and taboo course presentation, and so on. Most of us are, Tactile surfaces? depicting roadside accident spontaneous of course, familiar with these issues. But, them at the local antique shop, pleasingly shrines in the Inland Empire region of with the increased reference to material cluttered with assorted curios. They Finally, all students are required to answer Southern California. The site is open and religious culture, the problems we already should be sent in with a “shopping list” of two fundamental questions about the I invite interested parties to contribute comprehend here will only magnify and some sort, whether of their own or of the sacred status of the sites chosen. Here, of postings to the site or just to visit the site proliferate in often unpredictable direc- instructor’s making. We might as well course, is where they are in effect being to view our work as it progresses. tions. With the data of material religious accept that they will have a secret list any- invited to employ and defend various the- culture, unlike that of beliefs, for instance, way. So, we might as well train them to oretical viewpoints in answering this final The main point to be noted in connection we encounter inventory and stocking prob- acknowledge and encourage the proactive pair of questions. I ask them to consider with popular material religious culture is lems. Slides and videos may be problem mind. One way to do this would be to do the following questions in terms both of again its often unpremeditated character. enough. But what of family Bibles, cen- an inventory that would require formulat- their own idea of sacred, in terms of our Just as there is a pop art or folk art that sors, ghee, frangipani blossoms? Where ing questions about the data before the society’s general and common ideas of simply and spontaneously appears in pub- do we stash this stuff that “has weight and data are encountered. sacred, and in terms of any of the authors lic spaces — like certain fashions in dress takes up space,” as our high school physics we have read: and personal adornment (backwards hats, textbooks were keen to remind us? Who piercing, long or short hair, etc.), or the lugs it to class, and so on? We may even Interrogating Material • What would make this site or some graffiti art of modern cities — so there is be tempted to revert to simple talk, with Religion: A Check-list aspect(s) of its interior more sacred also a parallel phenomenon of sponta- all its blessed lightness of being, and to than it is now in its present condition? neous, mostly urban, popular folk reli- those tried and true, eminently portable Let me refer the reader to the specific gion. Like these representations of popu- texts. Some may even be tempted only to assignment that I use in a course on the • What would make this site or some lar imagination, folk spirituality or reli- talk about religious talk (beliefs, texts, and sacred and taboo that I have taught for the aspect(s) of its interior less sacred — gion just “happens” too. such) and forget cumbersome material past two years to undergraduates at the more profane — than it is now in its religious culture altogether. Various University of California, Riverside. present condition, even to the point One theoretical consequence of my strategies will simply have to be devised to Students are required to do a field visit to of a total loss of sacredness? approach in the spontaneous shrines pro- manage these problems, knowing full well a sacred site and to write a short paper ject is to destroy the distinction, often that there is no way in advance to judge addressed to the question of how its touted popularly these days, between reli- whether advantages outweigh problems. sacredness is engineered by the manipula- Remarks on Some gion and so-called “spirituality.” Thus, We will want to be alert and to plot how tion of space and selection of place. although “spirituality” is often opposed to these two curves — advantages and draw- (Students are also encouraged to supply Results of Interrogating “religion,” their similarities strike one as backs — intersect and veer off in their their own questions.) Material Religion far more prominent than their supposed own directions. In their assignments, most students chose differences. Both move in a world that In terms of this specific interrogation of standard sacred sites such as churches, honors reverence, sacredness, and holiness, One strategy to deal with the problem of material religious culture, I first concen- California mission sites, local temples, or the transgressive, taboo, and forbidden; the “incredible heaviness of material reli- trate on getting students to “see” what mosques, synagogues, cemeteries, and both suggest realms of being not exhaust- gion,” is to transform it into a lighter they are “looking” at — carefully to such. Others have gone off on more orig- ed by the world of everyday quantifiable medium. While there’s nothing quite like observe the sites chosen by them. To do inal ventures, such as focusing on roadside life; both imagine a cosmic, rather than the “really real,” sometimes the virtually this, I simply pose a series of questions accident site shrines that are so common merely local, frame of reference for human real is the best one can do. We sometimes that force them to think in material terms here in the Southwest. Another student action, whether that be the karmic realm need therefore to overcome the inconve- about the places and spaces visited. This explored the sacredness of the family din- of samsara and release from it, the uni- nience of the very materiality of religion initial interrogation also invites students ner table — a particularly charged site verse, natural world, or some other vast that we seek to represent. If I cannot visit to incorporate the theoretical reading they given the widespread practice today of reference of existence. For this reason, I Hsi Lai Temple in Hacienda Heights, will have already done — but at this stage individual family members drifting off consider “religion” and “spirituality” suffi- California, because I am in Mt. Vernon, in an informal way. Systematic thinking with their individual trays of supper to sit ciently related terms, and leave it to others Iowa, I would at least like to be there “vir- can be left until a little later. Here is a alone gazing at their own individual TV to quibble about the differences. tually.” If I do not have the Rustavi choir selection from the present list of over two sets! from Georgia around the corner, I would dozen questions that I provide to students A second distinction that this approach at least like to be able to hear them “virtu- about the overall descriptive character of Notable here is how the students display- offends is that between the so-called “fine” ally.” This, if anything, is a job for digital the site being observed. First are a series ing the most originality in selecting their religious artifacts from that abundance of technology — for the digital camera and of questions about the overall site: its set- projects revealed how fruitful it is to study humble, often mass-produced artifacts of video, for MP3 technology, and for all the ing, location, and situation: religious materiality as a work of the imag- the “popular” religious imagination. I possibilities now being unleashed for web- ination. Religion can emerge in unexpect- believe it is necessary to take seriously lit- based publishing. The Web includes an • What makes it obvious that this space ed and novel forms, and it is the creative erally everything from the “fine” grave- increasingly growing list of possible kinds or place is a sacred space or place? student who will observe it. Such a stu- stones or lavish shrines of “high” religious of “sites” — not only the standard “bul- dent grasps the way the religious imagina- culture to their poor “cousins” such as letin board” where information is posted, • What’s nearby? What’s conspicuously tion works and is open to its often “plastic Jesuses” or Kuan-yin playing cards. but digital media albums, where the sights far away? unprecedented efflorescence. Indeed, reli- Each has a role to play in making up the and sounds of religion in material form gious folk themselves may be among the sum of religious data, the tangible expres- can be accessed, or “tours” of actual or • What is the elevation of the site — last to comprehend the fuller extent of sion of the religious imagination. For imagined places, ideally in three-dimen- high ground, low ground? Mounded, much of what they are doing. Historians these purposes, the distinction between sions, whether interactive or not. depressed or flat? of Christianity, like Peter Brown, have “fine” and popular art, useful perhaps in Overcoming the incredible heaviness (and, shown how popular pre-Christian spiritual other contexts, serves no purpose. By pay- often, long distance) of material religious • Is it bounded? How are boundaries fashions for visions or care of the dead ing little or no heed to this distinction culture, my Spontaneous Shrines website marked? Against what do the bound- have at times had a great vogue, were then between “high” and “popular” religion, we and digital project may serve as an exam- aries protect? Are they (merely) sym- taken up by Christians and, as it were, are also well placed to exploit the insights ple of one way that I have tried to make bolic or do they prevent entry/escape? “baptized” into respectability, only later to of radical movements in the study of reli- things better for students of religious fade as the religious imagination turned gion, such as the Collège de Sociologie, materiality. ❧ • Is the site open and public? Or towards other devices. and its investigators of the “sacredness of restricted, private, closed? Free entry everyday life,” Michel Leiris or Roger or an admission charge? If a charge, In this connection, let me draw the read- Caillois. who gets the proceeds? If free, who er’s attention to a project undertaken Resources subsidizes the site? along with this course on the sacred and taboo. This is the Spontaneous Shrines Practical Problems: The Lawson, E. Thomas. “On Interpreting the Then come questions about the insides of website and digital project, located at World Religiously.” In Radical the site, its contents: Incredible Heaviness of www.shrines.ucr.edu. Funded by the Material Religion Interpretation in Religion, edited by Nancy University of California, Riverside’s K. Frankenberry, 117-28. Cambridge: • How is the space within configured? Information Technology grant, this site Material religious culture can thus be so Cambridge University Press, 2002. Any contours? has begun to assemble and archive the attractive as data, both for research and data of what I call “spontaneous shrines,” teaching, that it may be easy to overlook Leiris, Michel. “The Sacred in Everyday • Is there decoration or lack thereof? such as became so much a part of the its drawbacks. This is to say that a major Life.” In The College of Sociology, 1937-39, How are these used, designed, situated? national reaction to the attacks of practical problem encountered in studying edited by Denis Hollier, 24-31, 98-102. September 11. Although the website is the products of the material religious Minneapolis: University of Minnesota • What is the social context of the still under construction, major parts of it imagination is, of course, its very material- Press, 1988. contents of the space? Who is it are ready for visits. There, readers will ity. Anyone who has ever envied one’s for? Who is included, who exclud- find not only World Trade Center images colleagues in art history or film studies, Liu, Hsin-ju. Silk and Religion: An ed? Who owns it? What are the from New York City and Venice, for example, with their ability to transfix Exploration of Material Life and the Thought terms of ownership? What about the California, but also a set of images of a students with lectures enhanced by color- of People, AD 600-1200. Delhi: Oxford economic value of the contents — spontaneous shrine from Honolulu in ful images and cinematic drama, only University Press, 1998. cheap, expensive? honor of a beloved local citizen. In com- needs to spend some time with them as ing months, in addition to links and inter- they labor to map strategy about what • What senses are engaged? Is it quiet pretive tools, I shall also be adding a col- materials to use, how to sequence them, or noisy inside? Is it light or dark lection of images taken by one of the stu- how to shift between lecture and visual inside? Any odors typical of the iv • May 2003 AAR RSN SPOTLIGHT ON TEACHING Teaching Religion and American Film

Judith Weisenfeld

Theatrical Motion Pictures, Inc., through ate and inappropriate religion. Older films which distributors marketed these films and like Spencer Williams’s 1941 The Blood of used testimonials to argue for the inclusion Jesus and his 1944 Go Down, Death, both of of motion pictures in the religious practices which fall into the genre of race films pro- Past Spotlight on of American Protestants, Catholics, and duced for black audiences, and later films Jews. We also look at broadsides, like one such as Charles Burnett’s 1990 To Sleep Teaching Topics for a Bible Chautauqua lecture in New with Anger and Julie Dash’s 1993 Daughters Haven, Connecticut in 1926 at which the of the Dust allow students to think about November 1992 General Issues of lecturers screened Martin Luther, His Life the responses of African-American film- Teaching Religious and Time, promoted as offering “8 stupen- makers to mainstream Hollywood uses of Studies dous reels on the Reformation.” Social black religious practices. reformers also saw film as useful for high- May 1993 Teaching African lighting social problems like crime, pros- Religions titution, corruption in the American legal system, and corporate greed. Raoul February 1995 The Introductory Judith Weisenfeld is an Associate Walsh’s 1915 film, Regeneration, based on Course Professor in the Department of the memoir of New York gang leader Religion at Vassar College, where Owen Kildare and his story of transfor- she teaches courses on religion in February 1996 General Issues of mation under the guidance of a settle- America, African-American reli- Teaching Religious ment house worker, serves to introduce gious history, and religion and Studies American film. She is at work on students to the genre of the social prob- lem film. a project on African-American November 1996 Alter(ed) Sexualities: religion in American film, 1929- Bringing Lesbian At the same time that we acknowledge 1950, to be published by the and Gay Studies to and explore some of the ways in which University of California Press. the Religion religious institutions and individuals Classroom made productive use of the movies in the period of early film, we also devote May 1997 Cases and Course T GOES WITHOUT saying that attention to censorship, arguably the Design most of our students respond favorably to the use of movies as part of their I November 1997 Insider, Outsider, academic work and many instructors have and Gender incorporated films as a component of My students and I Identities in the courses on religion in America. Our stu- Religion Classroom dents can be sophisticated interpreters of engage film as a case study for visual culture and are eager to engage films thinking about the history of Poster to accompany the showing of May 1998 Teaching Religion both as entertainment and as objects for relationships between religion Martin Luther, His Life and Time, touting Using Film serious intellectual inquiry. In a course I “ ‘8 Stupendous Reels on the Reformation’ have developed on “Religion and and popular culture in (Photo courtesy of J. Weisenfeld) November 1998 Teaching the Bible: American Film,” I have chosen to place America and examine a set of Initiations and film at the center rather than employing it Transformations simply to illustrate or raise issues about films as material artifacts of significant moments or characters in particular historical moments. May 1999 Syllabi Development American religious history. Over the course of the semester, my students and I The course also gives the students an November 1999 Teaching for the engage film as a case study for thinking opportunity to take up a number of other Next Millennium: about the history of relationships between topics in the history of religion in Top Choices of religion and popular culture in America topic most written about in film histories American film, including changing Significant Works and examine a set of films as material arti- that engage religion. Here we consider the approaches to filming biblical stories (from on Teaching and facts of particular historical moments. informal mechanisms of censorship” Cecil B. DeMille’s 1956 The Ten Pedagogy While it is neither a conventional film employed in the 1930s by such groups as Commandments to Martin Scorsese’s 1998 studies course, nor a traditional survey of the International Federation of Catholic The Last Temptation of Christ), the relation- May 2000 Theory/Practice American religious history, I have struc- Alumnae, the Legion of Decency, the ship between religion and horror films Learning: Models in tured the course so that my students Women’s Christian Temperance Union, and (Roman Polanski’s 1968 Rosemary’s Baby, Violence Studies and become familiar with scholarly approaches the General Federation of Women’s Clubs, William Friedkin’s 1973 The Exorcist, and Conflict Resolution to the study of religion and film, learn as well as the development of formal mech- Richard Donner’s 1976 The Omen), and the how to analyze and discuss films in histor- anisms of censorship in the National Board uses of film by contemporary evangelicals September 2000 Teaching about the ical context, and, most importantly, have of Review, the Studio Relations Committee and Mormons to reach a new market audi- Holocaust an opportunity to explore ways in which of the Motion Picture Producers and ence (Robert Marcarelli’s 1999 The Omega representations of religion help to shape Distributors Association (MPPDA), and Code, Victor Sarin’s 2000 Left Behind, and Spring 2001 Teaching Religion our understandings of Americanness, espe- later the Production Code Administration Richard Dutcher’s 2001 Brigham City). and Music cially in relation to ethnicity, race, class, of the MPPDA. We examine as well the gender, and national origin. influence of clergy and lay people in the Teaching this course has presented a num- Fall 2001 Issues in Teaching development of censorship guidelines in ber of challenges. Although it is easy to Religion and The course is organized chronologically, this period. As a case study, I ask students grab students by placing film at the center Theology in Great beginning in 1915, to emphasize changing to interpret Frank Capra’s 1934 film, The of a course, I have found that they some- Britain relationships between American religious Miracle Woman, which takes Pentecostal times become frustrated in dealing with the institutions and sensibilities and the film revivalist Aimee Semple McPherson as the demand that they think carefully about his- March 2002 Multiculturalism industry. One of my primary goals in tak- model for its main character, in the context torical context, our primary methodological and the Academic ing students through this history is to con- of discourses about “the fallen woman” film approach. In addition, some students have Study of Religion in vey the complexity of the interactions, not of the early 1930s. difficulty engaging films that rely on narra- the Schools allowing them to assume that filmmakers tive and visual conventions that differ from and studios were uninterested in or scorn- Another theme that runs throughout the those to which they are accustomed, partic- October 2002 Teaching Religious ful of religion, nor that religious institu- course is the contribution of American ularly given the ubiquity of MTV style and Studies and tions and individuals were unequivocally movies to the process of constructing of pace in contemporary media culture. I have Theology in suspicious of the power of the medium religion, race, and ethnicity. Such films as also encountered difficulty in finding read- Community and of the interests of filmmakers. To this D. W. Griffith’s 1919 Broken Blossoms, Alan ings that deal with the particular films in Colleges end, we devote considerable attention to Crosland’s 1927 The Jazz Singer, King which I am interested and that situate the the use of film and film-related artifacts by Vidor’s 1919 Hallelujah, Leo McCarey’s films in historical context as opposed to May 2003 Teaching about religiously grounded social reformers and 1945 The Bells of St. Mary’s, and Elia Kazan’s analyzing their mythic or archetypal reli- Material Culture in by churches. We consider the incorpora- 1947 Gentleman’s Agreement serve well to gious structures. Nevertheless, it has been a Religious Studies tion of films into the work of churches, encourage students to consider how filmic rewarding experience developing and teach- both to provide informal entertainment representations of the religious practices ing the course; I have learned from my stu- and to complement or enhance ministers’ and lives of ethnic and racialized groups dents as they have contributed a great deal sermons. Along with viewing segments of contributed to the process of making mean- to my own understanding, both of the his- early Bible films, we also examine cata- ing of race and ethnicity in the American tory of religion in American film and of logues, such as the 1923 Catalogue of Non- context and projected ideas about appropri- film in the history of American religion. ❧ May 2003 AAR RSN • v Religious Studies News, AAR Edition Teaching with Food

Daniel Sack

religion. Given my background and teaching experience, most of my examples are drawn from Christian traditions, but you can probably come up with parallels in the tradition you are teaching.

Teaching with food provides a comparative perspective. As the truism notes, everyone eats. And just about everyone endows food with some religious meaning. That means you can compare and contrast reli- gious traditions, with food as the common theme. How are the Christian Eucharist and Hindu offerings different? What do Jewish kosher law and African taboos have in common? What does it mean when Buddhists start having American-style potlucks? You can do the same thing Daniel Sack is Program Officer across time as well — looking at how Dinner, ushers association of St. Paul’s Church, Chicago, 1940 (Photo cour- for the Associated Colleges of the communion practices changed from the tesy of D. Sack) Midwest. He was the Associate first century to the present, for instance. Director of the Material History This comparative perspective shows our of American Religion Project students that religion is of variety. (www.materialreligion.org) and is the author of Whitebread The topic also allows teachers to make Protestants: Food and Religion in American Culture (St. their classes more experiential. Recent important community-shaping event, like Obviously, food has implications for ethics Martin’s, 2000). pedagogical practices call for engaging stu- a youth group pizza party. Its preparation as well. What do you eat and why? Even dents through their own experiences. I can be an ethical action, in the form of in Christianity, a tradition with few offi- have found that almost everyone has a vegetarian cooking or serving at a soup cial food taboos, eating is fraught with story to tell about religion and food — a family potluck story, or something about communion. Encourage your students to VERYONE EATS. It’s a truism, but tell their story. When they connect their it’s a truism useful in teaching about experience with the theory and content of religion. Eating is essential for A food-centered perspective offers a E your course, they understand it in a deep- human survival, and thus about as close to er way. They can also connect with other thick description of religious life. a universal as we can get. But, as anthro- people’s experience through observer-par- pologist Mary Douglas (a guru for materi- ticipation exercises. Require them to al culture studies) points out, “Food is a attend a food-centered ritual. Ask them “ field of action. It is a medium in which to analyze a family meal. Such assign- other levels of categorization become ments encourage your students to see reli- kitchen. A focus on food reminds our rights and wrongs. In the nineteenth cen- manifest.” (Douglas, 30) People show gion in action. With food, as with other students that religion is more than just tury, food reformers like Sylvester Graham who they are and what they believe ” forms of material culture, learning theology, ethics, ritual, or practice; it is a advised Americans to change their diets for through their food. Eating is universal, complex mixture of behaviors and beliefs. the sake of their souls, and Good Housekeeping told readers “How to Eat, Because food involves so much of religious Drink, and Sleep as Christians Should.” life, it connects with a variety of issues. In the twentieth, hunger activists urged Eating is universal, but what people eat For instance, food has clear links to reli- Christians to become vegetarians so that gion and gender concerns. Ask your stu- the world’s hungry would have enough. and the way they eat it reveals a culture’s dents, who cooks and who eats? Many religious traditions have similar sys- significant particularities. Traditionally, women have done most of tems of food taboos — formal or informal. the cooking in Christian churches. There “ has also been a great deal of recent schol- As Douglas says, food is a field of action. arship about gender, body issues, and food It reveals a great deal about who people — ranging from medieval nuns to con- are and what they believe. As a result, a but what people eat and the way they eat becomes more immediate when it is temporary teenagers. How does gender focus on food can be a creative way to it reveals a culture’s significant particulari- directly experienced. affect what we eat? Consider, for exam- engage students in the study of religion. ties. Everyday acts display a community’s ” ple, this passage from How to Plan Church Food is ubiquitous, so there’s always commitments, beliefs, and practices. All A food-centered perspective offers a thick Meals (1962), “Sandwiches for the tea something students can connect with. It’s of this means that food is a great way to description of religious life. Food has mul- table are quite a different thing from the no wonder that the study of food has teach about religion. tiple roles in a religious community. It ‘he-man’ sandwiches you want for a pic- become hot across academia, resulting in a can be the center of a ritual, as with the nic, or the meal-in-one you serve to teen- rich scholarship. It also has real promise I’ll illustrate a few of the advantages of Passover Seder. It can be part of an agers. They are delicate, made for nib- in the religion classroom. using food as a focus for teaching about bling-and looking pretty is far more important that providing nourishment.” Here are a few classic resources to start with. This paragraph reveals a worldview, full of gender relations and social expectations. Bynum, Carolyn Walker. Holy Feast and Holy Fast: The Religious Significance of Food Similarly, food raises questions about reli- to Medieval Women. Berkeley: University gion and class. Many American religious of California Press, 1987. communities are involved in some way in feeding the hungry. But what do they Counihan, Carole and Penny Van Esterik, provide, and why? What do they expect eds. Food and Culture: A Reader. New of the hungry people that they feed? York: Routledge, 1997. Some soup kitchens, for instance, require their clients to attend prayer services and Douglas, Mary. “Standard Social Uses of go through Christian-based recovery pro- Food,” in Food in the Social Order: Studies grams. Others simply provide the food of Food and Festivities in Three American and hope that the guests pick up some Communities. New York: Russell Sage faith from the atmosphere. There is also Foundation, 1984. great variety in the menu. Many soup kitchens serve food gleaned from leftovers Feeley-Harnik, Gillian. The Lord’s Table: and donations, while others prepare meals The Meaning of Food in Early Judaism and Church sign in River Falls, AL, to order from fresh ingredients. What do Christianity. Washington and London: September 1999. (Photo courtesy these differences tell us about those reli- Smithsonian Institution Press, 1981. ❧ of James Hudnut-Beumler) gious communities? vi • May 2003 AAR RSN SPOTLIGHT ON TEACHING Teaching Biblical Archaeology and Material Culture as Part of Teaching Judaism

Richard A. Freund

tion — seven hours per day, five days per as a locus. As soon as architectural units week — in close working environments in are observed, the excavation is carried on the field-classroom lends itself to teaching accordingly. Walls, floors, etc., are careful- not only about the artifacts but also about ly excavated and cleaned for reconstruc- Richard A. Freund is Director of how texts relate to artifacts. tion. Finds are collected in baskets. the Maurice Greenberg Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Preliminary analysis of finds is done daily Hartford and Professor of Jewish While some archaeology is done in labora- at the site. Finds, baskets, and the devel- History. He has served as Director tories and some in libraries, the corner- opment of each locus are recorded on a of the Bethsaida Excavations stone of all biblical archaeology is field locus card and a field diary. Individual Project, the John and Carol Merrill excavation. The whole sense of “discov- students work their way through the dif- Cave of Letters Excavations Project, ery” that we try to animate our students to ferent tasks so that at the end of a three- and the Qumran Excavations understand in our courses in the classroom week session they have done almost every Project in Israel. For the past six is the goal of this process of field excava- task from lifting rocks, excavating, measur- years (1996-2002), he was Editor tions. This is not the place to explore ing, recording, and surveying, to record- in Chief of Spotlight on some of the traditional goals of archaeolo- ing, pottery analysis, and explaining finds. Teaching. gy but certainly into the very recent past, the goals of field excavation were geared Three to five students are assigned to a more for pure research ends rather than locus. Each has an advanced student or teaching. Professional archaeologists staff member who is a locus supervisor. would hire laborers and often just super- Each area in the mound has a faculty area vise their work in the field. They then supervisor skilled in the techniques of The “rocks, linens, wood, beads, metals” Archaeology, Material would take the finds back to a lab, analyze keeping the daily log, supervising the actu- do not really “speak”; objects and writings them with the help of experts who often ally digging, and doing on-site evaluations Culture, and Judaism are only intelligible through the process of of the thousands of pottery pieces found DO NOT WANT to miss the big pic- subjective interpretation, and this process every day. Pottery is cleaned and sorted ture about the use of archaeology and is open to speculation and reasonable daily and students take part in this task material culture in the study of the hypothesizing. But alas, the “imagined” I also. Students with more years of experi- Bible and Ancient Judaism. If Judaism is notion of archaeology is so much stronger The “rocks, linens, ence and training are assigned square and a construct that has developed over the than the actual study of archaeology that wood, beads, metals” do not architectural unit responsibilities under the past two-to-three thousand years from it gives archaeology a more objective feel direction of faculty area supervisors. biblical religion it is important to show than, say, the thousands of years of inter- really “speak”; objects and Students leading other students may seem how these developments take place. pretation that biblical and rabbinic texts “writings are only intelligible to some of us as a very poor model for Often it is a fairly subtle interpretive liter- have enjoyed. As a teacher, I wish to work, but having students involved in ary journey that takes the students from a exploit students’ inherent interest in the through the process of decision-making and role modeling for biblical institution to a post-biblical ritual unknown (“mystery”) aspects of archaeol- subjective interpretation, other students is a very effective tool in the or law. Biblical Judaism is not the same as ogy but at the same time to lower the field. Above the area supervisor is the post-biblical Judaism, and simple forays expectation level by telling students that and this process is open to chief archaeologist or director of excava- into the material culture of the Bible and interpretation is a part of the process. speculation and reasonable tion. The expedition staff also includes a post-biblical Judaism can drive home this hypothesizing. photographer, a surveyor, an architect, a point much quicker than semesters of lit- The other aspect is to realize that the recorder, a restorer, and a variety of experts erary analysis. In-class slides, videos, and main “nuts and bolts” of archaeology are from different disciplines including geog- Internet visuals help but lack the concrete- not the big discoveries but the small pieces raphy, geology, botany, zooarchaeology, ness of demonstrative material culture. of evidence: research in ceramics, petrolo- were not with them in the field, and then history, and biblical scholarship. The pro- Field (excavation) studies provide a differ- gy, dating through paleography (when write up the results for the archaeologist of ject director oversees all of the different ent form of learning than can be experi- written materials are available), or C14 record who ultimately would write a final disciplines, research agendas, faculty and enced in the classroom. I have been studies (for organic matter remains). All ” report. These results were used in turn by student assignments, and frees the director teaching ancient Judaism using archaeolo- these are analyzed through comparative literary scholars of the Bible. of excavation to assess archaeology rather gy and field excavations for almost two and complex mixes of anthropology, soci- than monitor educational and research decades with amazing results and enthusi- ology, biology, chemistry, and related sci- This was a very inefficient way to get the assignments. asm from my students. My work has been ences that add up, slowly, to a larger pic- results out to the public, and the almost exclusively in Israel, but I have ture of group, a society, a city, a tribe, or workers/students were seen as one of the In the excavations in which I have been toured with my students in Jordan and an individual. The cumulative argument least important links in the chain of infor- involved, first as staff and later as director, Egypt to fill out their educations. of archaeology, often missed by the cine- mation collection. Even when massive education of students has been the prima- Archaeology is an exciting and hands-on ma and popular culture, creates a picture numbers of volunteer student laborers ry issue, with the research agenda ulti- that, unlike the interpreted model of the have been used in some major archaeologi- mately served by this new method. Weekly rabbis and later Jewish historians, is cal projects of the past thirty years, such as surveys of work on the tell are made, dur- almost always an unknown to the archae- the excavating of Masada, the City of ing which the current progress in each area ologist at the beginning but which ulti- Work in the field David in Jerusalem, and Caesarea, often is summarized by student representatives mately becomes clear through hypothesis the educational or teaching possibilities of individual loci. Students are often consists of excavating, and evaluation. It is a wonderful model were subordinated to the research goals of trained to do even the “crucial” daily log. for teaching about religion and how reli- recording, photographing, the excavation. Today the situation is dif- It is the detail-oriented jobs that give the gious research accumulates to give a pic- ferent: the value of educated student labor- students the sense of what material culture “and surveying. With ture of a whole group. ers increases research goals. Archaeology is is and how archaeology is an interpretative proper supervision and a tremendous opportunity for teaching discipline that starts with an objective training, students can do From Theory to and learning about the past and about the assessment of the piece under examina- scientific method of how we know any- tion. It is also a new type of “discovery.” any of these tasks. Practice thing about anything in the modern I often tell students that their field excava- Archaeology usually means the study of world. tion locus is a laboratory unlike any other antiquities or ancient artifacts as ends in lab that they will ever encounter. It is a themselves. Biblical archaeology is the There is no misleading those of you who lab where the experiments may never be way to introduce often skeptical and jaded study of these artifacts in light of the liter- have never been on an excavation. run again: the moment that a piece of students to an exciting and “real” study of ary texts that are associated with the Bible. Excavations are carried out by manual physical evidence is uncovered is the only the Bible and Judaism. It is impossible to ” My definition of the “Bible” is somewhat labor; we may be assisted by a tractor for moment that it will be in that position for give them the same “feeling” for the reality unorthodox: I include in my course any heavy-duty jobs but the bulk of the work interpretation ever again. So they must of the history they study only through texts that may affect our understanding of is done by individuals who lift, sift, clean, learn to get it right the first time. We do books and from sitting in a classroom. the Bible’s meaning and, especially, our and sometimes remove rocks and dirt. not require that student volunteers have understanding of the material culture at Work in the field consists of excavating, previous training in archaeology, and For students, the fact that objects and the sites at which we work. Our “archae- recording, photographing, and surveying. trained students or professionals are wel- writings from antiquity can be found in ology” often involves anthropological With proper supervision and training, stu- come as long as they are able to work in their original and pristine state means that studies of local indigenous customs and dents can do any of these tasks. A tell the collaborative atmosphere with they are “objective” objects, i.e., verifiable, life, but the main part of our study in the (mound) is divided into a network of untrained students. quantifiable, and therefore true. Nothing field involves teaching what artifacts tell squares measuring five by five meters. could be farther from the reality of the sit- See FREUND p.viii us about our site. The sustained interac- Each square or architectural unit is known uation in the study of material culture.

May 2003 AAR RSN • vii Religious Studies News, AAR Edition

FREUND, from p.vii thus far. We rediscovered the site in 1987 First, we always assumed that it was a the search for Jewish institutions such as and have spent the past sixteen years trying “Jewish” city because of its location in close synagogues and mikvehs an “edifice com- to understand its significance. At the start proximity to other Galilean and Golan plex,” but it is an issue that students readily Biblical and of the excavations we discovered large Jewish cities of the same time period locat- understand and which therefore presents an Talmudic/Rabbinic quantities of Roman pottery, indicating ed along the same roads and pathways opportunity to teach. The existence of a Archaeology that this was an active site in the first cen- around the Sea of Galilee. Although there synagogue or a mikveh site has become one tury. It is perhaps the best example of a are non-Jewish cities in the area, our identi- “litmus test” for the Jewishness of a site; While the word “Bible” or “biblical” in a village — later a city — in which most fication became a working hypothesis. We however, our students quickly discover course catalogue tends to bring students scholars believe Jesus had been active, that did not know whether Bethsaida ever had a through lectures and conversations with into an archaeology course, it is the on- has been accessible to total archaeological Jewish majority population and therefore staff that the whole concept and terminolo- going tradition of literary information such investigation. Many other sites that have the search for its Jewishness was complicat- gy of standard categories such as “the syna- as “talmudic” or “rabbinic” that more accu- such a close relationship with Jesus and the ed. We asked basic questions of ourselves gogue” and “the mikveh” are not as stan- rately defines the relationship between bib- apostles were identified by the Church in and of the students, such as what makes dard as they thought. Therefore the lack of lical texts and the material culture we the fourth century CE and made into “reli- the material culture at Bethsaida “Jewish” a synagogue or “Jewish” building on the employ in understanding Judaism at sites gious sites” with Byzantine churches and or “pagan” (since there were presumably no site should not rule out the possibility that around Israel and the Middle East. The monasteries attached. Bethsaida apparently “Christians” in the first-century city)? Jews lived there. In fact, all indications are Bible and archaeology have an unusual rela- was abandoned in the third century CE What type of Jews were these Bethsaida that Bethsaida may have ceased to be active tionship. The Bible gives literary informa- and its location lost for a variety of differ- Jews? Were they “rabbinic Jews” who saw when formal synagogue structures came tion that describes a material culture and ent geological and geographic reasons that rabbinic law as the defining factor for their into fashion in the third and fourth century time period and talmudic/rabbinic archae- we have been unraveling with our students lives or were they a marginally Jewish pop- CE in the Golan. [For more on the syna- ology attempts to do the same thing over the past decade. ulation who rarely encountered rabbis? gogue and mikveh problems, see D. through the lens of literature that may be Were rabbis as we know them from the Urman, “The House of Assembly and the hundreds (or thousands) of years later that House of Study: Are They One and the the original “biblical” period. It is the lens Same?” Journal of Jewish Studies 44.2 that is both misleading and enormously (1993); and Jacob Neusner, The Judaic Law important to understanding the develop- of Baptism (University of South Florida, ment of Judaism. Biblical archaeology 1995).] stretches over thousands of years of chang- ing literary texts and influences; talmudic The development of the mikveh was an archaeology is Roman period archaeology attempt to create a rather specific ritual for (in Israel) reflected through the lens of later on-going, non-Temple-oriented Judaism literary references in post-biblical rabbinic and it succeeded. When we are at settings of Babylonia, Egypt, North Africa, Bethsaida, I will often take students to and elsewhere as the rabbinic texts were other sites nearby with mikveh structures edited, redacted, and placed into their final and ask them to measure and understand form. Post-biblical Judaism is the interpre- their construction; I then ask them why tive exercise of later rabbinic figures com- they think we haven’t discovered one. In menting on earlier biblical traditions and the past, some students have responded, attempting to define biblical material cul- “Perhaps because we have only excavated ture in this new interpretive setting. 10 percent of the site in fifteen years, and the mikveh is located elsewhere on the I first read about talmudic archaeology in site.” Other students made the argument: the paperback book Archaeology, the Rabbis “. . . perhaps they just bathed in the nearby and Early Christianity by Eric M. Meyers Jordan River, and that sufficed for ritual and James F. Strange (1981). It is a small and non-ritual purposes.” In fact, that book that attempts to systematically explain would have sufficed according to rabbinic the archaeological method in relation to the texts. This type of learning and discovery development of rabbinic Judaism. In the is impossible to achieve in the classroom, early twentieth century, Samuel Krauss had but it is the basic stuff of the academic study produced his two-volume Talmudische of religion. I could never really teach all of Archaeologie (1910-1911) and his Synagogue this in a classroom, and it is for this reason Altertümer (1922), and Samuel Klein had Bethsaida excavations: site overview (Photos courtesy of R. Freund) alone that I advocate taking students out published Beiträge zur Geographie und into the field for this experience. Geschite Galiläas (1909), but in these works, one finds a familiar problem also found in Smaller artifacts can help us determine eth- biblical archaeology, viz., the linkage of It is a city that may have been critical to texts even distinguishable in this region nicity as well. Hebrew inscriptional infor- exact talmudic stories and information with the rise of the early Jesus group since, by during the Hellenistic and Roman period mation (we have some at Bethsaida but places and artifacts identified at a site or some accounts, as many as six of the apos- when Bethsaida flourished, or is this termi- very little) is also important for the deter- vice-versa. This type of identification sys- tles are placed there in the first century, and nology anachronistic? mination of “Jewishness,” but again, may tem proves to be inadequate or theological- the New Testament places many of the mir- not be decisive in a location so far from ly weighted in the case of the Bible and is acles and Jesus’ earliest activities there. Our These became issues not only for the Jerusalem. No obviously Jewish symbols even more problematic in the case of rediscovery of the site has been a wonderful researchers but also questions posed to stu- such as menorahs, Temple images, or bibli- talmudic information. opportunity to have students share in the dents, who every year are asked to choose a cal scenes have been discovered at the exca- vations at Bethsaida but again only 10 per- The importance of the comparison is that cent of the site has been uncovered. We it allows for the student to see for him- or What specific artifacts make a city Jewish? have identified other types of what has herself the possibilities of how traditions been called “Jewish” Hellenistic and early may be retrojected into the past to give a Roman Jewish art that have taught us later development in Judaism greater about the relationship between text and authority. Sometimes it does the opposite, discovery“ not only of the site but of how topic for a research paper. They can choose material culture. A few different geometric by preserving a significant piece of infor- one assesses the significance of material cul- almost anything and throughout the years ornaments — identified at other very clear- mation about an artifact that is only main- ture when a city has not been continuously we have had standard research papers on ly defined Jewish cities as “Jewish” symbols tained within the later literature. An exam- occupied for nearly two thousand years. individual finds, thematic papers” on the of the Second Temple period — have been ple from my own excavations at Bethsaida We have been bringing students to our larger social and religious issues, as well as found at Bethsaida on lintels and massive will clarify my position and show how it Bethsaida Excavations Project since 1987 photo essays, movies, audiotapes, and even stone pieces scattered around the site and has provided us not only with excellent and one question that continually has been poetry and songs evoked by the experience. on pottery. They include the rosette, the teaching moments in archaeology but also a asked is “What makes this a Jewish city in One research question that has been the inhabited double meander, and the five- or pedagogic model for how archaeology and antiquity?” The city is mentioned in the subject both of scholarly and student six-pointed star. An understanding of especially field studies allows students to ancient Jewish historian Josephus Flavius’s papers has to do with the obvious absence Jewish art in this period, its place in reli- participate in the greatest gifts that the aca- writings, in the New Testament, in rabbinic of standard Jewish institutions such as a gious worship, and its relationship to liter- demic study of religion can provide: discov- writings from the Mishnah through the synagogue (a singular and significant ary prohibitions against pagan art allows us ery, and the critical reasoning skills for Talmudim, and even perhaps the Hebrew “Jewish building” for worship and study) to teach about a key issue of Judaism’s reli- interpreting the discovery. Bible, so it is clearly connected to Jewish and a mikveh (a uniquely Jewish bath and gious system. Similarly, a uniquely decorat- life. But what specific artifacts make a city building complex used to fulfill ritual puri- ed stone stele at a city gate religious cult Jewish? The answer to this question may ty statutes in biblical and rabbinic texts) at location from the Iron Age level at Bethsaida: A “Jewish” help us understand the larger religious a “Jewish” city such as Bethsaida. While I Bethsaida stands next to an undecorated City by the North questions that are of interest to the academ- generally tell students that “absence of evi- stele. While this city gate conjures up all Shore of the Sea of ic study of Judaism and Christianity: how dence is not evidence of absence,” the types of biblical citations, it is the total “Jewish” was early Christianity in Israel, absence of a synagogue structure and a context of material culture that teaches our Galilee and what was the nature of Jewish life in mikveh at the site raises the pedagogical students about the relationship between the places far from Jerusalem in the Second question of defining “Jewish” in the period Bible and our archaeology: researchers have Bethsaida presents a case in biblical and Temple period? of Bethsaida’s existence. I sometimes call rabbinic archaeology that has no parallel See FREUND p.xii viii • May 2003 AAR RSN SPOTLIGHT ON TEACHING Teaching Religion and Learning Religion through Material Culture

Jonathan Huoi Xung Lee find that the interior of the church looked exactly like a Protestant church, except that there was an image of the Buddha on the main altar instead of Jesus. The architec- tural display and traditional images in the Berkeley Buddhist Church provid- ed me with a compelling narrative space in which to explain the role of Japanese Buddhism in the construc- tion of Japanese-American community and in the (re)configurations of a Japanese-American identity.

Jonathan H. X. Lee is currently a doctoral While at GTU, I was often asked to student in Religious Studies at the lecture on Chinese ancestral venera- University of California, Santa Barbara; tion. Sometimes I offered to present his fields of interest and research are East a slideshow lecture on Chinese popu- Chinese offering paper in the form of a note from the Bank of Hell. (Photo courtesy of V.-L. Nyitray) Asian Religions, and American Religions: lar religion to provide my classmates the Chinese Diaspora. He is also a project with a way to experience the syn- photographer and archivist for the Religious cretistic expression of Chinese popu- Pluralism in Southern California Project, lar religion in Chinese culture. In my and he is the author of several forthcoming show-and-tell, I presented paper [funerary] This temple provided a truly unique, Teaching religion and learning religion articles on religion in Chinese and goods, gold and silver spirit money, hell engaging, and powerful learning tool on requires more than memorizing facts Vietnamese-American communities. dollars, incense, ritual divination blocks, both historical and contemporary Chinese about beliefs from a textbook. Images along with pictures of their use, all of religious life. Professor Yee explained the from art, material examples of religious rit- which I passed around for everyone to symbolic use of architectural space and uals and other expressive practices — all examine. The Christian seminarians told how it communicates Chinese religious, provide important experiences in teaching me appreciatively that the slide show and philosophical, social, and moral values. and learning about religion as a lived expe- artifacts gave them a better understanding We all gained invaluable insight that day rience. Religion is practiced. And I WILL SHARE with you my encounters of ancestral veneration, because it provided at the Tianhou Temple. I came out of the believe that the importance and sophistica- with material culture as a student and as them a way of imagining it in fuller details experience with more questions than tion of practice can only be fully taught Ia graduate student instructor (GSI) in a in their own minds. The syncretistic answers. These questions fueled my ongo- and learned through the incorporation of classroom. There is tremendous potential nature of Chinese popular religion is diffi- ing research interests, including a project material culture into the religious studies in using material culture as a pedagogical cult to teach because it is full of contradic- documenting the contemporary life of the classroom.❧ instrument for teaching religion at the tions and tensions, but this unique tenden- Tianhou Temple. In the process of doing university level. This fact has been made cy is expressed in religious rituals and is fieldwork at the Tianhou Temple, I discov- real to me as an undergraduate, as a gradu- manifest in the material expression of cul- ered there was a second temple in San ate student, and as a graduate student tural artifacts. One can see the syncretic Francisco dedicated to Tianhou, who is Resources instructor. elements working together in practical har- also worshiped under an affectionate mony. Taiwanese epithet, Mazu. Hence I started Adams, Ansel. Born Free and Equal: The While an M.A. student at the Graduate researching the Mazu Temple U.S.A., Story of Loyal Japanese Americans, Manzanar Theological Union (GTU), I was fortu- The last experience I want to share with located several blocks away. It became the Relocation Center, Inyo County, California. nate enough to be a graduate student you concerns the impact of using material topic of my now-completed master’s the- Spotted Dog Press, 2002. instructor at the University of California, culture in my current academic research sis, but I feel that I have only just begun Berkeley in Asian-American Studies. In and studies. While at the GTU, Professors to appreciate the temple’s riches. my first year teaching in Asian-American History, I brought in Ansel Adams’s Born Using material culture as a pedagogical Free and Equal, a collection of his pho- tool will be a key element in my future tographs depicting Japanese Americans in I recall they were all teaching. I have collected several artifacts their daily life at Manzanar. I mentioned in my travels: ritual implements, icons and to my students that the book, published “super-shocked” to find that other examples of religious art, pictures amidst wartime prejudice against Japanese the interior of the church and videos of temples and monasteries, Americans, received a negative reaction “ looked exactly like a and clothing, in addition to taking many and was burned in public displays of anti- pictures of people engaged in rituals and Japanese sentiment. In addition, I pre- Protestant church, except worship. In Taiwan, I bought a paper sented replicas of government documents that there was an image of model of a Walkman, and I collected tem- ordering the internment of Japanese ple booklets and merit cards; Americans, e.g. Executive Order 9066 and the Buddha on the main in Hong Kong I Civilian Exclusion Order No. 108, and I altar instead of Jesus. bought a pair of presented photo-postcards produced by divination Roger Shimomura, a Japanese-American blocks and artist who depicted his memories and rep- bamboo wor- resentations of life in the camps. Nakasone and Yee took our class to San shiping Francisco Chinatown to visit several tem- strips in a My students engaged with the artifacts at ples. Because I have a long standing inter- bamboo once. They may have known the facts of est in the Chinese sea goddess widely” canister, internment, but these documents and known as Tianhou, or “the Empress of with the images gave those historical facts an imme- Heaven,” and I had heard that there was a thought diate reality. Through the artifacts, we Tianhou Temple in Chinatown, I asked of illus- were transported back in time and beyond Professor Yee to take us there. The temple trating the confines of our real surroundings. was amazing. The smell of incense, the their use in History was not in the past; it was in our display of offerings, the multicolored a future classroom. I had wanted to provide stu- shrines, the lanterns covering the entire classroom. dents with tools to negotiate the past with ceiling, the images of Tianhou, Guanyin, In Cambodia, I the present, to provide them with a way to and other deities, and the crowdedness of bought a Theravada synthesize textbook information with lec- the room, all compelled us to ask ques- saffron robe with a beg-

) ture and discussion, and it worked. tions. Why are there red lanterns covering ging bowl, and in Thailand, I y a r t the ceiling? Why is the image so dark? bought a pictorial representa- i y After this lesson, I took my students on a Who is this? Why are there so many tion of the life of the Buddha. I N . L .- field trip to the Berkeley Buddhist Church images of Guanyin? Why does Guanyin continue to collect religious-cultural V f on Channing Way, to show physical cultur- have a mustache in this picture? Why? artifacts as I travel, but one need not o sy te al changes and adaptation in Japanese Why? Why? This was an example of travel abroad to buy these things, especial- ur co Buddhism in America after World War II. active, three-dimensional, fully sensorial, ly in California where ethnic communities oto C (Ph I recall they were all “super-shocked” to experiential learning at its best. thrive. hines aper e ‘joss’ or offering p

May 2003 AAR RSN • ix Religious Studies News, AAR Edition Complicating Things: Material Culture and the Classroom

Leslie Smith sion that had gained national media attention; about and handle the artifacts she brought ence change things, and if so, in what it would become a particularly volatile topic for their viewing, including books, candles, way(s)?” On a much simpler level, the that framed the entire semester. a set of runes, multiple decks of tarot cards, presence and discussion of material objects wands, and crystals. Chatting revealed that sparked questions that a straight lecture The circumstances inspiring the controver- she was a mother, and that she worked for would not have, and we spent weeks e- sy involved a woman in a small, neighbor- one of the city’s major employers. Some of mailing with her about the significance of ing town who had challenged the use of a the tension that existed dissipated when a the objects she brought for our viewing. Christian symbol on the town’s flag, calling class member asked where she got her can- it an unconstitutional display. The subse- dles. Nervous laughter filtered through the Because the class was able to interact with a quent uproar amongst the community’s room at her answer: “Wal-Mart.” religious participant and the material members (who had no intention of remov- aspects of her practice, we were afforded an ing the symbol) grew only more heated Special interest was directed toward the excellent confrontation with the complexity when it was discovered that this woman wands, runes, and tarot cards. A couple of social labels. This is, perhaps, the most was a practicing Wiccan. The issue made of students mentioned that they had expe- important point. Textbook representations its way boldly into the media and into our rienced physical objects as purely symbolic of social groups are just that; we must all, Leslie Smith taught for four years as classroom. One student hailed from the an adjunct instructor at two town where this controversy raged, and Midwestern universities before begin- consistently expressed strong opinions ning her doctoral work in Religious against the woman’s “right to assault” his Studies at the University of community by “forcing her religious We were no longer theorizing about purely ideological California, Santa Barbara. Her views” where they were not wanted. issues; we now had to wrestle with the significance of research emphasizes social theory, gen- Many others commented that her chal- der, and American culture. lenge was nothing more than an attention- materiality in our discussions, and whether the getting device, since the symbol, they “distinction between the two was an artificial one. insisted, wasn’t hurting anyone. Few spoke up to defend her actions, and few were willing to (verbally) question how things might have been different had the ingredients in Christian ritual, heighten- inevitably, use generalization as an impor- woman identified with any other religious ing their interest in these implements to tant part of what we do. As a new teacher, HIS IS THE TALE of how all the group. My attempts to analyze media rep- which physical, practical claims were I had expected that, at the end of the participants in an “Introduction to resentations of this issue fostered further attached. As the speaker described her use course, all students would have added” sub- Religion” course gained a new appre- T classroom tension. of each item, she provided us with a stantially to their factual database via this ciation for pedagogy and learning through hands-on basis to broaden and further textbook format. After the speaker’s pre- the use of material culture. Moreover, because I had already planned to discuss Wicca dur- complicate our discussion on the problems sentation, however, I understood how my of the simple efforts of one guest speaker, both ing part of the semester, and I had asked a involved in defining “religion.” We were focus on facts obscured a much more students and instructor alike learned an local Wiccan priestess to be a guest speaker. no longer theorizing about purely ideolog- important goal: my students should come important lesson on the complexity of social More than one student approached me to ical issues; we now had to wrestle with the away from the class able to grasp a bit of systems and how material culture can trans- indicate that they were uncomfortable with significance of materiality in our discus- the complexity of society, the categories we form classroom analysis of these subjects. her planned visit. I was continually sec- sions, and whether the distinction between use to describe it, and, in light of the “town ond-guessing my decision to have her the two was an artificial one. flag” controversy, the various negotiations The class to which I’ve alluded took place at a come, as I wanted to avoid her marginaliza- that go on between groups for the right to large, midwestern university where most stu- tion at a time when she and others feared The debriefing that followed the presenta- use its most valued monikers — “normal- dents were overwhelmingly white and for their safety. I was also concerned that tion reflected an interest in the speaker that cy” being among them. The speaker pro- Christian. Of those who took religious studies her religious beliefs and practices had been did not wane. Her presentation initiated vided me a context in which to evaluate my classes, most did so for all of the typical rea- either exoticized or demonized, despite my an ongoing dialogue between the class and own expectations of student learning when sons: it fulfilled their general requirements; it best efforts to couch my description of members of a local coven, and a few of the I saw the ways in which she was able to was offered at a time they liked; they had an Wicca and its historical/cultural context class members used the data gathered from make it happen. My most detailed lecture interest in world religions, or at least an inter- within a larger discussion on the processes her presentation as a stepping stone for on Wicca could not compare to the con- est in the issues posed by their own religious by which dominant groups construct an their final projects. The speaker’s visit thus founding of social categories provided by commitments. In this sense, my class was “other.” allowed students to investigate some aca- her presence: she effectively equated probably like many other religious studies demic areas of interest while trying their “Wiccan” with a working mother who fre- courses across the country. On the day of her presentation, the majori- hand at ethnography. From a pedagogical quents Wal-Mart. ty of the students were already in their seats perspective, I was also pleased to have a With this particular class, however, a couple of as class began; this was one time when I context in which to engage the class in self- I am indebted, then, to one Wiccan priest- things were noticeably different. First, as a was convinced that punctuality was not a analysis, asking questions like the follow- ess and to forty-five students for demon- graduate student-turned-brand-new teacher, I positive trait. When the speaker arrived, ing: “Why did you feel relief when you saw strating how the use of material culture can was hoping that my speaking skills and song- several of the students were visibly sur- that she appeared, as we’ve called it, ‘nor- provide a significant lesson on the utter and-dance routines would compensate for the prised (and, they would tell me later, mal,’ and what’s at stake in that word?”; intricacy of society while providing a forum huge holes in my knowledge. As countless relieved) to find an intelligent, eloquent, “How might this conversation be different to introduce and investigate some of the others have undoubtedly experienced, my first funny woman who wore neither robes nor had she been wearing black robes?”; and — central questions of religious studies. Of all lecture was met with a barrage of questions any other garb that might distinguish her the question I could not ask before, “How of the lessons I learned during those first that I simply could not answer. Adding to from anyone else in our campus communi- would our responses to the ‘town flag’ con- few semesters of teaching, this was one of this was a local community debate involving ty. A number of students gathered around troversy be different had the person speak- the most valuable. ❧ religion and the constitutionality of its expres- her during the break, eager to ask questions ing out been a Christian? Does this experi-

Testamints™ and heat-sensitive yin-yang pencil (Photo courtesy of V.-L. Nyitray)

x • May 2003 AAR RSN SPOTLIGHT ON TEACHING

NYITRAY, from p.ii order to draw blood for the production of Everyday Life: Papers Given at a Symposium trated, tongue-in-cheek cautionary tale of amulets and medicines. I treasure my trea- in Stockholm, 13-15 September 1993. future archaeologists who discover a slides and videos as well, but, as Smith’s sures, but I am sometimes troubled when Stockholm: Kungl. Vitterhets, 1994. “motel,” whose sealed chambers (“Do Not essay documents, the physical presence of students admire them. How can I help Disturb”) reveal personal altars and ablu- actual objects is often supremely catalytic them steer clear of the tendency to either Buddhanet. Online at www. tion chambers containing sacred papyrus for class discussion. Tactile teaching was a exoticize or trivialize a tradition, to carica- buddhanet.net/e-learning/history/buddhist-art/ (folded into a “sacred point”) and a “musi- staple of our own early childhood educa- ture someone else’s faith as infantile or monastery.htm. Provides basic introduction cal instrument” that relies on periodic tion, introducing us to new worlds of expe- primitive? How are they to understand the to structure and contents of a typical flushes of water. rience; why now do we abandon it, particu- use and misuse of the material cultural Chinese Buddhist temple. A link to larly in “introductory” courses? products of others’ religious imaginations? www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/ temple/c-tem- Material History of American Religion pro- Both Freund and Strenski pose useful ques- ple.html provides a detailed look at a partic- ject. materialreligion.org. Working from Introductions come through a variety of tions for enabling students to examine their ular temple in Singapore. Although the site 1995 through 2001, this Lilly-funded media. The Spring 2001 issue of Spotlight a priori assumptions about material mani- is still under construction, it is a fine exam- Project studied the history of American reli- on Teaching focused on aurality, in the form festations of religion. ple of a virtual lesson in temple architecture gion through examining material objects of music, in the classroom. In the current and symbolic meaning. and economic themes. Although the pro- issue, contributor Daniel Sack focuses on a Popular items and religious kitsch yield dif- ject has concluded its work, the website has material aspect of orality — discussing the ferent interpretive issues relative to naive Caldwell, Mark. “Church Signs 4 You.” been maintained; it houses an archive of its uses of food and notions of eating in teach- art, mass consumption, humor, and cyni- Online collection of church signs (“We’re e-journal, interviews with project partici- ing the material culture of religion. cism. My crowded office is home to musi- not Dairy Queen but we have great pants, documents and objects collected by Through the study of this most basic cal Marys, garish Guanyins, and Buddha Sundays!”) and billboards (“You think it’s the project, and links to other internet human activity, Sack illustrates the multiple squeaky toys. I have soap bars that promise hot here?” -God) resources. On the dangers of interpreta- perspectives students gain into the social to “wash away sins”; votive candles dedicat- www.members.truepath.com/churchsigns tion, see especially independent scholar and doctrinal assumptions of a religious tra- ed to “Our Lady of Deadlines” and “Our Mary Ann Clark’s electronic journal article, dition and its institutions. Lady of Perpetual Housework”; light-up Chester, Laura. Holy Personal: Looking for “Seven African Powers: Hybridity and devotional shrines to Ganesh and to St. Small Private Places of Worship. Appropriation,” for a discussion of the mis- The importance of treating food, textiles, Anthony; Christian “testamint” candies; Bloomington: University of Indiana Press, interpretation of devotional candles. toys, music, and so forth is also asserted by heat-sensitive, color-changing yin-yang 2000. materialreligion.org/journal/candles Strenski: “Material religious culture is com- pencils; and yes, I do have a plastic Jesus posed of all the sensate entities and events of “sitting on the dashboard of my car.” I am Cort, John E. “Art, Religion, and Material McDannell, Colleen. Material Christianity: religion.” I would add that an overlooked not always sure what Hindu students make Culture: Some Reflections on Method.” Religion and Popular Culture in America. aspect of these entities and events is their of the Kali lunchbox I use to carry white- Journal of the American Academy of Religion New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, interlocking nature. For example, in a board markers to class, but perhaps when 64 (Fall 1996). 1995.

Dorgan, Howard. The Airwaves of Zion: McKee, Susan. Material Culture of Religion Tactile teaching was a staple of our own Radio and Religion in Appalachia. Knoxville: Glossary, ed. 6 (August 1998). Online at early childhood education, introducing us to new University of Tennessee Press, 1993. www.religionatlas.org/TeacherResources/Glossary. A work of the Project on Religion and worlds of experience; why now do we abandon it, Hartel, Heather. Online collection of Urban Culture at the Polis Center at “ particularly in “introductory” courses? gravestones, of which she notes a contem- Indiana University-Purdue University porary shift from images of the afterlife and Indiana (itself a good resource); only one reminders of the transience of this life, e.g., section is operational at present, providing study of radio and religion in Appalachia, they notice my sparkle-red Jesus earrings — angels, a handshake, and various momento definitions of architectural terms relevant to Howard Dorgan was led to describe meet- his visage embedded in acrylic that’s been mori images to those that “celebrate the religious sites, from abutment to zendo. ing houses and tent revivals as sites for live poured into Diet Coke bottle caps — they person’s life on earth, remembering them broadcasts; this led in turn to a discussion can at least see that I am an” equal-opportu- for the things they liked while alive,” Morgan, David. Protestants and Pictures: of “swooning in the spirit,” in which listen- nity collector of such goods. I see these including, it seems, Garfield and Mickey Religion, Visual Culture, and the Age of ers fall to the ground, bodies frozen in artifacts as evidence of the deeply rooted Mouse. angelfire.com/ny5/mediamedusa/ American Mass Production. New York: place; this introduced the topic of carpets nature of religion in human culture. If the projects/gravestones/index.html Oxford University Press, 1999. upon which to fall and of the need for manufacture and use of tools are central to “coverlets” to protect a woman’s modesty the definition of ourselves as human, it is Kieschnick, John. The Impact of Buddhism Visual Piety: A History and Theory of Popular once she’s hit the ground — and thus were natural for us to create tools for the expres- on Chinese Material Culture. Princeton: Religious Images. Berkeley: University of woven together everything from AM radios sion — whether devotional, ritual, practi- Princeton University Press, 2003. California Press, 1998. to portable organs to squares of velveteen. cal, or satirical — of our religious and spiri- tual realities, however we embrace or reject Knapp, Ronald G. China’s Living Houses: Strenski, Ivan. “Why It Is Better to Have Over the years, as colleagues and students them. To leave the evidence of material Folk Beliefs, Symbols, and Household Some of the Questions Than All of the have tumbled to my predilection for reli- culture out of the teaching of religion is, Ornamentation. Honolulu: University of Answers.” Method and Theory in the Study of gious objects, I have been helped to build then, to eviscerate our humanity. ❧ Hawai’i Press, 1999. Religion 14 (in press, Winter 2002). up quite a collection. In addition to an heirloom Buddhist rosary of perfectly Lee, Jonathan H. X. “Journey to the West: Judith Weisenfeld’s syllabus can be reviewed round hand-carved beads, I have vials of Tianhou in San Francisco.” Unpublished online at the AAR Syllabus Project: holy water and bags of healing soil, devo- M.A. thesis, Graduate Theological Union, www.aarweb.org/syllabus/syllabi/w/ tional cards, yarrow stalks, festival lanterns, 2002. weisenfeld/rel160/film_site.html. Teaching shadow puppets, and, most dramatically, a Selected Resources religion and film was also the theme for the ball studded with nails — used by Macaulay, David. Motel of the Mysteries. May 1998 issue of Spotlight on Teaching, Taiwanese shamans to beat themselves in Bringéus, Nils-Arvid, ed. Religion in Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1979. An illus- archived online at www.aarweb.org.

IN In the next THIS IS SU E Fall 2 Teachin 001 g Religio and n Publish Theolo ed by th gy in e America Great B n Acad ritain emy of R eligion Vo I l. 16, N ntroduc o.3 H tion . ugh Py ...... per . . . . .2 Issues in Teachin g Syste Theolo matic D gy Toda avid Fe y . . . . rguson . . . . .3 Teaching Teachin g South Religio Asian ns . . Chakrav ...... arthi R . . . . . Spotlight on am-Pras .3 ad Religion R eligious I Studie nternet s and th G . . . . . e ary Bun ...... t . . . . .4 Teachi ng abou & t schools religio . . . . n in the Denise C ...... 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Until n urces Studies N mation and tracking down contacts has subjects or facing particular problems. ow, b Edition ews, AA Research projects into topics such as the ecause as a spe R been time-consuming. It has involved there sectio cial pul use of W n focus lout searching through the ind and ing on t problems ebof mparticularaterial in disadvantaged teaching, the AAR/SB learnin eaching sites of British universities, coll L Annual Meeting. The T p g aroun ividual web student groups, and creative ways to and Learning Com articular d a related bodies. theme, eges, and deal with increasing student numbers, been very supportive,mittee and theof the possibilities AAReaching has or setti concern ng. , This edition of are sponsored by the PRS-LTSN of exchange are very promising. shortly to launch a journal to provide a Rich introduces a newSpotlight project that,on Teaching am ard A. F forum . W This edition falls into six sections, written Un ruend other things, offers a one-stop site for for publication of such material.e are iversity access to the whole field of theology and The aim by a variety of people involved with the of Hartf ong of the PRS-LTSN Editor. ord religious studies in Britain. The project is about a change of culture so that talking LTSN and its work. Together, they give a is to bring particularly concerned to foster the and writing about teaching becomes as window into the teaching of theology and L aurie L. com accepted a part of the life of academics religious studies in Britain today. W Patton munication of effective practice in to explain som Emory U teaching and learning. The new site is as the discussion of research. W niversity delighted to offer readers of features of the educationale of the characteristic traditions eand hope Associate administered by the Philosophical and Editor Religious Studies Subject Centre of the Studies News e are systems in Britain in a way that m an invitation to Religiouslearn more food for thought for those in other Hugh Learning and Teaching Support about the PRS-LTSN Pyper, becom countries — ay give Teaching about Peace Univ Network, or PRS-LTSN e involved in the ’sexciting work, possibilities and to whether as a source of e rsity of L British institutions teaching theology of pooling resources and teaching strate- inspiration or as a cautionary tale. Gue eeds, . Links to all the st Editor and religious studies, and to British col- gies internationally. leagues teaching in a particular field, are We begin with a general description of available at Some issues are specific to the British the PRS-LTSN The site alsohttp://www.prs-ltsn.leeds.ac.uk offers discussion groups, situation, of course, but the basic by Hugh Pyper, andthe Associateits purposes D written problem of the Centre with special responsibility web-based publications, and news of . s of teaching students to think conferences. It offers a new possibility creatively in these subjects, and of finding for theology and religious studies.irector He is for sharing best practice and teaching and assessing teaching m also Senior Lecturer in Biblical Studies cross national boundaries. Com at the University of Leeds. W learning, not just within Britain, but aterials to use, between Britain and the rest of the problem move on to D s exist, for instance, in com enise Cush’s discussione then of world. In the following pages, we hope terms with the proper use of the Internet,mon teaching religion at school level in to introduce this project to you and to the changing educational experience ofing to Britain, which has some im suggest som students at the school level, and the ten- differences from the situation in the United States. Gary Bunt addressesportant the might cover.e topics this new sion between teachers’ independence and dialogue the need to ensure proper standards. role of the Internet in British religious The web site is the most accessible part Broadening the dialogue can only help us studies education. T of the LTSN, but behind it is a great all. The PRS-LTSN has already benefited three personal views onhis teachingis followed by deal of other activity. LTSN offers work- from strong links with the W religious studies and theology in m shops for teachers involved in particular for Teaching Theology and Religion based Britain. The first is by Dr Chakravati and Violence in Religions at W abash Center Ram-Prasad of the University of odern abash College, Crawfordsville, Indiana. The two bodies are co-operating Lancaster, the second by Professor D in a Special Session at this year’s Fergusson of the University of Edinburgh, and the third by Bill avid Campbell, Associate D PRS-LTSn in Lampeter.irector of the

Fall 200 1 AAR RSN • 1

May 2003 AAR RSN • xi Religious Studies News, AAR Edition

FREUND, from p.viii ing and drawing of the piece, it is a full vessels and limestone vessels are seen as work. All of these experiences make field learning environment that involves many “Jewish.” Limestone vessels are particularly studies a unique learning environment. tried to connect the decorated stone to different skill sets that bring a student into meaningful in this context; they are not easy non-Israelite influences in a mixed Iron encounters with multiple disciplines and to make and are impractical, breaking easily, In the past few years, planning for these Age settlement at the site, while the lack faculty. At our afternoon “pottery read- so limestone ware “special” pieces at expeditions has become more difficult as of symbols on the undecorated stone is ings,” we teach students how to “read” a Bethsaida suggest a Jewish presence that political and social conditions in the seen as evidence of an Israelite population. piece of pottery like a text and how to dis- cared about such matters. Daily ware pot- Middle East and Israel have become more tinguish every aspect of pottery produc- tery may also raise ritual purity issues. Our complex. I have found that these complex- The most ubiquitous find at any archaeo- tion from elements used in the prepara- daily ware pottery finds suggest that a good ities also provide important teaching and logical site is pottery: cooking pots, stor- tions of the clay to style changes and use- proportion of these vessels were made at a learning opportunities both before and age pots, vessels for grinding, oil lamps, all crucial for dating a site since pottery well-known Galilean rabbinic site called after the expedition to the field is complet- etc. At a site such as Bethsaida, pottery types are so particular to time and place. Kefar Hanaya. If this is so, it would also ed. One of the most significant additions I finds usually are not intact and require suggest a Jewish rabbinic presence. We have made to the student assignments in restoration but they are uncovered every Limestone vessels and pottery become a spend time in evening lectures discussing field studies in archaeology has been the day in every locus. They are the “nuts major teaching opportunity, and the lessons rabbinic texts and purity laws in the hopes daily journal. Originally it was intended to and bolts” of our material culture study, go way beyond the standard archaeology that we can train students not only to “look” mimic the site log and included excavation actually providing us with a window into classroom. Pottery seemed to us to be the for subtle differences in pottery but to “see” information, pottery readings, lab experi- the lives of the people that lived at a site. place to actually engage the students in the the possibilities that even a minor discovery ences, and lectures. Students are now told This is the most important lesson that we larger questions of ethnicity and religion. makes to scholarship. I often worry to record not only the scientific findings of teach in different ways every day, from the Since purity laws are an important defining whether all of this work in the details of dis- every day at the site but also the experi- moment that students begin working in mark of a Jewish life, the discovery of white covery makes students unable to see the larg- ences and learning opportunities that occur the field loci to the lectures in the limestone vessel pieces and pottery types er perspective of “Ancient Judaism” in the outside of the excavations. The moments evening. From the washing of the pottery made from the clay and style of a rabbinic midst of all of the details of pottery, architec- of insight recorded in the student journals find, the recording of each shard in the center of pottery in Galilee become enor- ture, coins, glass and metal studies, etc. I have convinced me that despite the com- daily log, the designation of the find and mously important. According to biblical have not found this to be the case. In fact, I plexities that field studies present, they are its elevation on the site on the map grid, and, especially, rabbinic texts, stone vessels find that students can appreciate the larger worth the effort that both students and fac- and the marking of location numbers of are unlike pottery vessels in that they do not questions even more by understanding how ulty expend to make them successful. ❧ each shard in the lab, to the photograph- contract ritual impurity; therefore, basalt the collection process for data really does

Spotlight on Teaching Solicits Guest Editors and Articles

AAR members interested in guest editing an issue of Spotlight on Teaching are invited to submit the title of a theme focusing on teaching and learning in the study of religion, along with a succinct description (500 words) of the theme’s merit and significance, to Spotlight’s general editor, Tazim R. Kassam. In addition to issues devoted to specific themes, problems and settings, Spotlight on Teaching Buddhist/Hindu Mala (Photo courtesy of V.-L. Nyitray) will also occasionally feature a variety of indepen- dent articles and essays critically reflecting on peda- gogy and theory in the field of religion. Please send both types of submissions to: Tazim R. Kassam, Editor Spotlight on Teaching Department of Religion Syracuse University Syracuse, NY 13210 E-MAIL: [email protected] TEL: 1-315-443-5722

Tasbih (Photo courtesy of Online Islamic Store, www.store.talkislam.com)

xii • May 2003 AAR RSN