Reassessing Religion and Social Movements: From Rebellious Clergy to Counter-Hegemonic Theology and Praxis

Dear Colleagues,

We invite contributions to our Special Issue titled “Reassessing Religion and Social Movements: From Rebellious Clergy to Counter-hegemonic Theology and Praxis”. The intricate relationship between religions and social movements remains marked by ambivalence and fracture. While commonly perceived as a force that maintains and legitimises the hegemonic socio-political order, there is a less common viewpoint that positions religions as a counter-hegemonic force mobilising the populace for social change, justice, liberation, and emancipation. This includes movements around the classic Latin American liberation theology; Black theology; Asian liberation theology; and indigenous, religions, feminist, and Marxist interpretations of Islam and Hinduism.

To date, the social scientific community recognizes this dual nature of religions throughout history—functioning as both an emancipatory, counter-hegemonic force and a reactionary and oppressive one. This suggests the need to reassess the role of religions in the struggle for liberation and human emancipation from a contemporary perspective. Against the backdrop of today’s global challenges, we seek contributions that provide a contextualisation of contemporary counter-hegemonic religious movements. Key questions guiding this Special Issue include the following: How are contemporary religious movements motived by a global capitalist society, authoritarian states, environmental crises, and ongoing (religious) conflicts? What concrete practices and theological ideas are employed to contest hegemonic organised religions as well as navigate religious persecution by repressive states? What conditions contribute to the sustained popular support or decline of religious movements (i.e. protest cycles/waves)? And how do these movements inform us about a potential reconceptualization of “progressiveness”, “emancipation”, “liberation”, and “justice” from a perspective that reconciles or further alienates religions with/from emancipatory politics?

Therefore, we welcome contributions focusing on rebellious clergy and counter-hegemonic religious movements that shed light on how particular religious–political praxes can be motivated by specific contexts of conflict, oppression, capitalism, environmental crisis, and the authoritarian state. These contributions will prompt us to rethink the meaning of lived religions and political praxis in the contemporary world, as well as inform us about how religious communities and their leaders contest the repressive realities of hegemonic forces.

Contributors are invited to reassess and contextualise the ambivalent and contested relationship between religions and social movements in Global Northern and Southern contexts, via case studies and comparative analyses of ground level practices and “grounded” theologies. We hope to initiate a conversation about potential conceptual and practical updates of the religion–state–society nexus from a global perspective.

Therefore, we encourage contributions from diverse perspectives, religions, and regions, welcoming original research articles in areas such as the following:

• A: Case studies on political ideas and praxis of contemporary progressive religious movements of the Global North and/or South;
• B: Cases studies of rebellious/progressive clerics;
• C: Liberation theology and/or theology of liberation;
• D: Black theology and/or Asian Liberation theology;
• E: Feminist, queer, anarchist, Marxist Islam, Hinduism, or Buddhism;
• F: Indigenous religions;
• G: Other related topics.

The deadline for abstract submissions is 1 May 2024.

We look forward to your contributions.

Dr. Paul-Francois Tremlett
Dr. Anh Susann Pham Thi
Guest Editors

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• new religious movements
• progressive religious movements
• emancipatory religion
• progressive priests
• progressive clerics
• theology of liberation
• religious change
• religion and politics