This special topics course analyzes religion through its material cultures and considers the ways that practitioners engage with this “stuff” of religion to establish individual and communal identity and to experience the sacred. By learning and utilizing the theoretical approaches of material religion and new materialism, we will learn how the human body functions as a site of religious experience through engaging with the world via the senses. Following, we will analyze select examples of populous religions as well as various syncretic and Neopagan traditions via these theoretical lenses. We will observe how engagement with various ritual technologies and aspects of religious material culture such as music, sculptures, relics, spaces, paintings, and the landscape function to facilitate religious experiences and refine religious identity.
Instructor: Padraic Fitzgerald, Ph.D.
Date/Time of synchronous meeting: Fridays, 5 pm ET
Required texts:
Animism: Respecting the Living World 2nd ed. by Graham Harvey
A History of Religion in 5 ½ Objects by S. Brent Plate
Key Terms in Material Religion by S. Brent Plate
Summer Semester runs May 11 to Aug 23, 2025. Log in to your Populi account to register. Note that a non-refundable deposit of $200 must be paid by Dec 22. (Deposit will be refunded if class is cancelled.)
