Panel Topic: Internal and External Perspectives
The Inside, Outside, and Somewhere In-between: Anthropology and Theology in Conversation
Authors: Florence Harry, Jan Jensen, Leanne Williams Green, Susie Triffitt, Joseph Powell, Abraham Wu, Marah Sarji
The Cambridge Anthropology Theology Network (CAT) is a recently founded network and platform which aims to foster greater collaboration between staff and students in Anthropology, Theology and beyond who share an interest in contemporary religion, practice, belief, and doctrine. In this panel, members of the network will discuss their research: exploring the productivity of this dialogue, as well as how they have brought Anthropology and Theology together in their own ethnographic and theoretical work. Members of the network will further discuss, critique and progress the current conversation between these two fields as found in the work of Robbins (2006; 2020), Bronkema and Meneses (2017), Furani (2019), Webster (2022) among others, allowing further consideration of the importance of positionality, the researcher’s status as “believer” or “non-believer”, and questions regarding the nature of the ethnographic subject, when anthropology calls us toward ‘beyond the human horizon’ (Mittermaier, 2021). The Network’s panel seeks to show the benefits of using the findings and methodologies of both Theology and Anthropology in order to understand religion, faiths and spiritualities better from the inside, the outside and somewhere in-between.Session 1Chair: Florence Harry (University of Cambridge)Speakers:Florence Harry (University of Cambridge), Anthropology and Theology: an Awkward – or Transformative – Relationship? Jen Janson (University of Cambridge), A familiar voice calling: personal story, auto ethnography—what’s the difference? Leanne Green (University of Cambridge), The irreducibility of concepts: theological and anthropological accounts of humans in the world Session 2Chair: Susie Triffit (University of Cambridge)Speakers:Susie Triffit (University of Cambridge), Born again online: Private conversions online during the Covid-19 lockdowns Joseph Powell (University of Cambridge), Informer Men – "Outsider" Anthropology-Theology Ethnography Amongst Caribbean Rastafari Communities Abraham Wu (University of Cambridge), Augustine and the “End” of Memory: Augustian Memory and Lived Experiences of memory loss Marah Sarji (Tel Aviv University), Doing theology in Community- Palestinian Christians of Christ at The Checkpoint