Location: Tozzer Room #203, 21 Divinity Ave. Cambridge, MA 02138
1:30-2:30 pm: The Legacy of Charles H. Long
Presenters: Davíd Carrasco & Raymond Carr
Contact: Philip P. Arnold,
Open to all AAR & SBL members
3-4:30 pm: How & Why White Supremacy Persists
Chair: Adam DJ Brett
Panelists: Philip P. Arnold, Natalie Avalos, Teresa Smallwood, Emilie Townes, & Corey D.B. Walker
Contact: Philip P. Arnold,
Open to all AAR & SBL members
The phenomenon of religion is exerting a critical role in the world. Our times require more robust religion theory. The tradition of the history of religions, as articulated by Charles Long, urges us to take religious phenomenology seriously. While the academy has spent years discounting and dismissing history of religions this panel investigates its continued relevance. Long foresaw how religion is integral to nation states and the rise of authoritarianism as an extension of colonialism as a context for cultural contact and erasure. There’s an urgency today for returning to Long’s critical theoretical framework from various perspectives with renewed vigor and creativity.
Panelist
David Carrasco
Raymond Carr
Philip P. Arnold
Natalie Avalos
Teresa Smallwood
Emilie Townes
Corey D.B. Walker
Doctrine of Discovery and Environmental Devastation
Date: Monday, 12:30 PM – 2:30 PM |
Location: Hynes Convention Center, 310 (Session ID: A24-226)
Roundtable Session
Hosted by: Religion and Ecology Unit
Theme: Doctrine of Discovery and Environmental Devastation
The “Age of Discovery” ushered in widespread devastation for Indigenous Peoples through land theft, enslavement, and cultural and physical genocide. Rooted in 15th-century Papal Bulls known as the Doctrine of Discovery, colonial powers justified violence by declaring non-Christians as “enemies of Christ.” These decrees echoed the Crusades and aimed to establish a global Christian empire and economy, treating land as an extractive commodity. In 1823, the U.S. Supreme Court adopted this doctrine in Johnson v. M’Intosh, embedding it in U.S. property law to justify further Indigenous land seizure. Though rooted in Catholic theology, this logic has shaped U.S. Protestant nation-building and persists today. The economic systems born from these ideologies—including the transatlantic slave trade and modern corporate extractivism—have played a central role in the environmental crises we now face. Environmental destruction and Indigenous dispossession are thus deeply intertwined in the legacy of colonial expansion.
