In this roundtable, scholars across fields within religious studies examine how Kimberley C. Patton’s work has influenced their own scholarship, which all draws from the analytic of divine reflexivity she proposed in 2009. Trained as an historian of ancient Greek religion, Patton has worked across nearly a dozen global religious traditions from Neolithic times to the present. Her commitment to the comparative study of religion has produced major theoretical interventions in religious studies, provoked insightful critique of phenomenological categories of analysis, and illuminated unexplored categories of inquiry. With attention to divine motherhood, sacred oceans, oath-swearing spirits, icons and idols, religious animals, and holy tears, this roundtable assembles scholars across various regional, historical, and temporal contexts to critically reflect on divine reflexivity. As a collective, they consider how thinking with Patton has shaped their own work, and what that thinking means for the general practice of the comparative study of religion.
| Kimberley Patton, Harvard University | kimberley_patton@harvard… | View |