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Racial profiling?: Theorizing essentialism, whiteness, and scripture in the study of religion
Author(s) -
Newton Richard
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
religion compass
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.113
H-Index - 1
ISSN - 1749-8171
DOI - 10.1111/rec3.12369
Subject(s) - essentialism , nationalism , interpretation (philosophy) , racial profiling , colonialism , white (mutation) , psychology , gender studies , sociology , religious studies , social psychology , philosophy , race (biology) , law , political science , linguistics , biochemistry , chemistry , politics , gene
Leaders in the American Academy of Religion have committed the guild to resisting the current wave of white nationalist and white supremacist machinations, presenting our discipline as particularly suited for the task. But given the study of religion's intimate historical relationship with the modern Christian colonial project, scholars can equally find themselves reinforcing the socio‐interpretive modalities—namely essentialism—upon which whiteness is premised. This paper presents critical scripture studies, particularly its elaboration of processes abbreviated in biblical interpretation, as an avenue for deconstructing assumptions about how whiteness works.