Wednesdays, October 1st - November 19th, 2:30 PM EST
What does alien abduction have to do with civil rights?
Did the CIA really use psychics to spy on the pope during the Cold War?
And why is ghost hunting such a popular subject for reality television?
Though the subject of the paranormal is often excluded from wider scholarly conversations about religion and science, these subjects are far from fringe. Whether it’s bigfoot, demonic possession, or haunted houses, interest in the paranormal is at an all-time high, especially in the United States.
In this class, we’ll take a close look at what makes reports of paranormal phenomena so captivating for so many, and what our growing interest might say about American culture more broadly. Why are we comfortable casting some beliefs and practices as religion while others get called “supernatural” and pushed to the margins? And is any of it science? By the end of this course, students will gain critical insight into the fascinating histories behind the United States’ obsession with the paranormal. From Spiritualist mediums to parapsychology, cryptids to UFOs, haunted tourism to home exorcisms, we’ll consider how the pursuit of the mysterious unknown has shaped a number of established religious movements, as well as the growing number of Americans who describe themselves as “spiritual but not religious.” In doing so, students will interrogate the boundaries around both “religion” and “science”—boundaries that are often more porous than they appear.
Through an examination of the most current scholarship, case studies, and popular media, students will discover how the paranormal provides us with a rich space for considering how contemporary people grapple with a rapidly changing religious landscape.
After taking this class, students will be able to:
-
Assess how “science” and “religion” have been constructed as sometimes-fluid categories
-
Recognize how a variety of reported paranormal phenomena fit into wider historical movements and reflect broad cultural concerns
-
Interrogate the cultural assumptions that relegate some beliefs to “religion” and others to the fringe
-
Engage with marginalized, different, or “strange” beliefs with respectful scholarly seriousness
Once you check out, you will receive instructions within 24 hours about how to join the online class.
About Thorn Mooney:
Thorn Mooney is completing her PhD in Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her research considers the messy cultural and political boundaries around religion, science, and the secular, which leads her to spend a lot of time with communities that tend to exist on the margins: paranormal investigators, contemporary witches and magicians, the spiritual but not religious, and the rapidly growing landscape of new religious movements. Prior to pursuing her PhD, Thorn worked as a Title I English teacher and literacy tutor. Her experience in a wide variety of classrooms has made her a flexible, dynamic teacher with a passion for public scholarship. She is the author of Witches Among Us: Understanding Contemporary Witchcraft and Wicca.
About the Religion Department:
From Religion for Breakfast, the Religion Department is an online school where anyone can learn from leading scholars of religion. Click below to hear about upcoming classes and events.
Stay in the Loop