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Or, the Hidden Power of Religion on Race, Maps, Bodies, and Law
by Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst
A smart, irreverent, and accessible guide to thinking more deeply about how religion permeates and shapes the world around us – and why you need to understand the work it's doing.
Religion lurks in the floorboards of our daily lives, whether we want it to or not. A departure from more traditional approaches to "Religion 101," Religion Is Not Done with You gives thought-provoking context to the basics of religious studies by challenging readers to consider the origins of their assumptions about religion and broaden their perspectives on what religion is and does.
Religion scholars and Keeping It 101 podcast duo Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst and Megan Goodwin offer their straightforward, plainspoken overviews of religious studies theory: that religion is what people do (not just beliefs or individual practices); that people are complicated and messy and constantly changing, which means religion is also complicated and messy and constantly changing; that religion shapes what choices you get to make. Choices like what you can learn in school; how your government works; what kind of options you have (or increasingly don't have) in caring for your own body.
Sure, you have the choice to participate in religion or not. But how you make that choice builds on your entire personal history, your connection to communities and regions, and the systems that surround you. All of which have been shaped by religion.
Religion is systems and structures and assumptions we didn't create or choose – and, to be honest, we might not even like or agree with. You can feel however you want to feel about religion, but religion is shaping your world whether you like it or not. And if you don't like how religion is shaping our world? This book might just be your first step in diagnosing the problems and agitating for positive change. Even if you are done with religion, religion is not done with you.
"Astutely drawing out religion's intimate links to power without painting it as inherently harmful—it's also been used by adherents to 'resist and survive'—the authors perceptively reveal the way morals and norms gain credence when codified as faith, influencing even the most private choices. This is sure to spark debate." —Publishers Weekly
"A straightforward, lighthearted introduction to the many ways in which religion—particularly white European Christianity—shapes the world around us." —Booklist
"Religion Is Not Done with You is a productively enraging and often hilarious invitation to take religion seriously. Whether they're comparing religion to the Boston Red Sox or demonstrating how European imperialist understandings of religion literally redrew our present-day maps, Ilyse and Megan imbue this book with the same combination of deep academic expertise and irreverent feminist killjoy spirit that has made their award-winning podcast Keeping It 101 so popular. Along the way, they provide the reader with all the critical tools we need to engage with how religion shapes our culture, politics, institutions, and even our time." —Hannah McGregor, author of Clever Girl and cohost of the Material Girls podcast
This information about Religion Is Not Done with You was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst, PhD, is associate professor of religion and director of the Humanities Center at the University of Vermont. She was a 2022-2023 Fulbright Scholar at the University of Birmingham. Her research centers on Islam and Muslims in South Asia; imperialism; and intersections of religion, race, and belonging. She is author of Indian Muslim Minorities and the 1857 Rebellion: Religion, Rebels, and Jihad and co-editor of Words of Experience: Translating Islam with Carl W. Ernst. Morgenstein Fuerst is the author of numerous articles about Islam, Islamic studies, and religion in South Asia and is an award-winning teacher. She co-hosts the popular, grant-funded, and award-winning Amplify Podcast Network Keeping it 101: a Killjoy's Introduction to Religion podcast with Dr. Megan Goodwin. In her downtime, she parents two fiercely funny children with her partner and whom they hope become killjoys when they grow up.
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