Berkley Center

Representatives from Georgetown’s theology department and the Berkley Center traveled to Boston for the annual meeting at the American Academy of Religion (AAR) on November 18 to 21. The largest conference for religious studies scholars in the world, the meeting lasted four days, offering over 1,000 events, including panels, workshops, and academic sessions.

Shaun Casey, director of the center, and Michael Kessler, Berkley Center managing director, attended and contributed to workshops and panels throughout the conference. 

Religion, Resistance, and Foreign Policy

The rise of radical, white supremacist ideologies and their manifestation in situations like Charlottesville or policies targeted at immigrants was a topic discussed at length at the conference, with a special focus on how religious discourse and faith-based action can help fight the discrimination permeating our culture.

Shaun Casey offered his perspective on the advantages and downfalls of religion in promoting protest and resistance. 

“Several recent administration policies are having or will have a direct negative on higher education, such as the impending deportation of DACA students and the refusal to grant visas to scholars from multiple Muslim-majority countries. Religion scholars are uniquely equipped to illuminate the historical, philosophical, and theological roots of the rise and manifestation of white nationalism, white supremacy, and neo-Nazism as well as studying forms of historical resistance to these phenomena.”

Casey, the former special representative for religion and global affairs, also spoke with Time magazine journalist Elizabeth Dias about the importance of religion expertise in diplomacy, reflecting on his own experience as a foreign policy professional within the State Department's Office of Religion and Global Affairs. 

Georgetown theology professor and Berkley Center Faculty Fellow Terrence Johnson also spoke on foreign policy, reflecting on recent changes under the Trump administration. 

Faith and Understanding in Academia 

The conference also explored the evolving role of religion in education–both in the classroom and on campus. Participants examined the methods employed when teaching religious topics, the pedagogical uses of social media in religious instruction, and the increasingly important presence of research institutions for religion and public life on college campuses. 

Michael Kessler, professor in the Department of Government and adjunct professor at the Georgetown Law Center, joined a panel of fellow leaders of centers for the interdisciplinary study of religion in public life. The panelists discussed the moral obligations of their organizations and the untapped potential of their various centers to come together in collaborative projects. 

"Centers for the study of religion–and interest in them–have proliferated in the years since 9/11. Academic centers at their best can encourage interdisciplinary work and support research and collaboration in ways that extend beyond the capability of traditional departments. Yet a range of challenges exist,” Kessler said. 

“Our meetings offered an opportunity for center-based academic leaders to share best practices and build collaborations. In many ways, the increase in center-based faculty and disciplinary leaders will have an effect not only on where jobs are located for the next generation of scholars but also on disciplinary methodology and scholarly norms of the field."

Several other Berkley Center and Georgetown colleagues attended and presented at the conference, including Senior Fellow Jocelyne Cesari and Georgetown Associate Professor Marcia Chatelain, who spoke on the rise of ethnonationalism and the social and political consequences for at-risk communities. Gerard Mannion, senior research fellow at the center, presented on ecclesial responses to increasing extremism and nationalism and led a panel on Vatican II.

Senior Fellow Paul Elie engaged director Martin Scorsese in a pre-recorded conversation on Scorsese’s film Silence, for which the director received the AAR’s Religion and the Arts Award. This was the final discussion in a series of three conversations between Elie and Scorsese about the film.