We are pleased to announce publication of Material Religion 20.5, with proceedings from CIP’s 2023 conference. An online launch event will be held on 21 May at 15:00 BST.
CIP hosted Materiality and the Future of Inter-Religious Encounters in September 2023. The two-day cross-disciplinary conference was convened by Dr Anastasia Badder (Cambridge) and Dr Lea Taragin-Zeller (HUJI), and supported by the Spalding Trust and the Sultan Qaboos Fund for Abrahamic Faiths and Shared Values.
Selected papers from the conference are now available to read in a special issue of the journal Material Religion. The Materiality of Interreligious Encounters features contributions from Hanane Benadi, Yulia Egorova, Samuel Everett, Lindsay Simmonds, and Erica Weiss, together with reflections and response from Birgit Meyer, Ayala Fader, Jeremey Walton and Vlad Naumescu.
Edited by Anastasia Badder and Lea Taragin-Zeller
The guest editors explain:
“Together, these wide-ranging articles offer three main contributions: they demonstrate the material pragmatics of living together; they illuminate interreligious proximities that tend to be lost in discursive processes of religious differentiation; and they subvert normative views of interreligious encounter as primarily a matter of clashing beliefs, texts, and theologies.”
A rich collection, the essays should invite further stimulating questions: Might closer attention to the material enable us to better understand and, possibly, support interreligious encounters?
Accessing the essays
The digital edition of Material Religion is published by Taylor and Francis, with access dependent on subscriptions. Four articles from the collection are available free for all readers:
Everett, S. S. (2024). Curating Commonality: Multimodal Materialities of Intercommunal Northern African Heritage. Material Religion, 20(5), 324–338.
Sami introduces two curatorial modes showcasing Maghrebi Jewish trajectories in Paris, exploring the impact of two exhibitions as sites encounter and interaction, in comparison with a grassroots festival for North African Jewish cultures which closed with a cemetery visit of great Jewish Algeria Andalusi musicians (singers and composers). Access Sami Everett’s article free via doi.org.
Benadi, H. (2024). Divine Trust (Amana) and Climate Change in Jordan: Valuing Water in the Face of Water Scarcity. Material Religion, 20(5), 357–371.
A commodity or a right? Based on ethnographic research, Hanane shows how Muslims and Christians in Jordan provoke a mode of water valuation that is grounded in the idea of the ethical imperative to fulfil the amana (divine trust). Central to amana is the constant ethical labor of balancing the human right to govern/enjoy public resources such as water with divine responsibility. Access Hanane Benadi’s article free via doi.org.
Egorova, Y. (2024). Time, Materiality, and History in UK-Based Interfaith Solidarity Work. Material Religion, 20(5), 372–383.
Drawing on fieldwork conducted among members of a UK Jewish-Muslim dialogue initiative, Yulia discuss how interlocutors thematize the temporal dimension of anti-minority discrimination and perceive remaining historical material heritage associated with it using the example of problematic artifacts pertaining to mediaeval Lincoln. Read Yulia Egorova’s article free via doi.org.
Weiss, E. (2024). Aesthetics, Kinaesthetics, and Taste in Contrasting Israeli-Palestinian Reconciliation Initiatives. Material Religion, 20(5), 384–396.
Comparing secular and religious reconciliation initiatives between Jewish Israelis and Muslim Palestinians, Erica demonstrates and interprets two very dissimilar material, aesthetic, and kinesthetic experiences. The secular initiatives have an aesthetic ideal of demonstrative simplicity and asceticism, while the religious initiatives, though often on a very limited budget, invest in the decor and aesthetic atmosphere of luxury and hospitality. Read Erica Weiss’s article free via doi.org.
Online and in print
The guest-edited issue is published online and will soon be out in print. View the full contents of Material Religion 20.5 and access all articles via TandFonline.com.