Upcoming Events
We tend to think of the problem of paying attention while being bombarded with an overwhelming quantity and variety of information and seduced by ever more invasive forms of distraction as a uniquely contemporary one. But medieval monks, pious early modern poets, and others from the past developed strategies to focus during what they perceived as their own moments of distraction or information overload. What were the pious practices of attention that these medieval and early modern Christians cultivated? How might better understanding these practices from the past help us to think critically about focus and distraction today in both sacred and secular contexts?
From a keystroke to a commute, our seemingly private, and innocuous, actions rarely remain unobserved. Emerging digital technologies, changing forms of media, and new configurations of public spaces have made many aspects of our daily lives hyper-visible. American religious communities are no strangers to such visibility, with a long histories of entanglement with law enforcement and securitization, including as targets of surveillance or as requesters of increased monitoring to protect gathering spaces. IRCPL’s “American Religion is…Surveillance” helps us think together about what it means to watch, to be watched, and to witness, in our present moment.
When it comes to health and wellness, Americans are divided on whether religion is healing or harming. Recent years have shown how our bodies can become sites of vulnerability and contestation, but do our religious identities and communities serve as sources of dignity and individual autonomy or as barriers to access and accurate information? The “American Religion is…Healing” program offers new perspectives on how we can move past this kind of binary thinking, focusing instead on how ideas about religion and spirituality shape not only American public health approaches, but also the information we classify as credible or conspiracist. Join us for a conversation about what it means to feel well and to live well in precarious times.
