Decolonizing the Study of Religion and Spirituality

The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free…. (Luke 4: 18).

Dear Colleagues,

When scholars consider religion, spirituality, spiritual institutions, and spiritual narratives, they often consider only colonized and colonizing versions of them. Zoroastrianism, for example, was originally formulated at the grass-roots by the anti-elite mystic Zoroaster (Boyce, 1996). Existing for thousands of years independently, the rich and variable tapestry of this word of mouth religion was violently annihilated by Persian emperor Ardashir (180–242 AD) and his high priest Tanser who created "...in place of the former fraternity of regional communities a single Zoroastrian church…[and] a single canon of Avestan text" tied to his political ends (Boyce, 2001, p. 103). Or, consider the Catholic Church, an institution created when Roman Emperor Constantine and other members of the accumulating class took control of the revolutionary teachings of Jesus Christ (Sosteric, 2020). They created a single orthodox canon  (Ehrman, 2007) after which they, through centuries of brutal inquisatorial (Given, 1997; Green, 2008; Thomsett, 2011) and colonial (Broker, 1983; Elkin, 1994) violence,  mercilessly suppressed various challenges to the autocratic patriarchal elite spirituality they and their agents had created. The accumulating classes were quite successful in this endeavour. As Bart Ehrman notes.

Virtually all forms of modern Christianity...go back to one form of Christianity that emerged as victorious from the conflicts of the second and third centuries. This one form of Christianity decided what was the “correct” Christian perspective; it decided who could exercise authority over Christian belief and practice; and it determined what forms of Christianity would be marginalized, set aside, destroyed. It also decided which books to canonize into Scripture and which books to set aside as “heretical...”  (Ehrman, 2003, p. 4).

Main Western monotheism are not the only institutions or narratives that bear the imprint of elite imposition. During the Industrial Revolution, Freemasons took great pains to convert an innocent deck of Italian Tarot playing cards into the "...most successful propaganda campaign ever launched...[with] An entire false history, and false interpretation, of the Tarot pack … [that is] all but universally believed” (Decker et al., 1996, p. 27). We even find elites mucking about with spiritual narratives and research in modern times. In the 1960s, new schools of psychology emerged (Humanistic Psychology, Transpersonal Psychology) which paid serious attention to spiritual phenomenon. As Elkins points out however (Elkins, 2009), these schools were “murdered” because they were a threat to status-quo narratives, ideology, and practices.                   

Why would members of the accumulating class spend so much time mucking about with the spiritual narratives and institutions of this planet? There is probably no single reason. Partly, it may be to contain or control the spread of a revolutionary, authentic, grass-roots spirituality rooted in mystical/shamanic experience, a spirituality that teaches emancipation, wealth redistribution (in Christianity, Mathew 19:16-21). In Indigenous narratives, the Potlatch and associated beliefs (Frideres & Gadacz, 2011; Gadacz, 2019), and even revolution (Gutkind, 1952, 1952; Harvey, 1998; Sosteric, 2020). Partly, it may be a strategy of indoctrination through carefully controlled and constructed spiritual narratives—a way to spread ideas and narratives conducive to their systems of imperial and colonial domination. This is certainly the reason behind Aradashir’s colonization of Zoroastrianism, whom Boyce notes, used religious propaganda and associated narratives to advance his ends. (Boyce, 2001, pp. 101–102). This is also the reason behind the creation of the Freemason’s Tarot, a tool the emerging capitalist accumulating classes used to indoctrinate not only the masses at large, but their own members as well (Sosteric, 2014). Partly it may be a strategy of opportunistic exploitation, a way for predatorial pastors (“10 American Pastors with Private Jets - ‘It’s What Jesus Would Do,’” 2020) and greedy corporations (Carrette & King, 2008) to separate the spiritually needy from their hard earned cash. Whatever the reason for the machinations of the accumulating class vis a vis the spiritual narratives of this planet, the cleansing of the grass-roots and the colonization of spiritual narratives has had a major and largely unexplored impact not only on the course and development of religion and spirituality, but on our scholarly and collective understanding of spirituality.

This special issue of Religions will explore the colonization of authentic spirituality. In this issue, we are looking for authors to provide case studies that examine, among other things, the social class roots of various elite religions, the economic and political motivation of elites, the strategies used to suppress authentic spiritual narratives, strategies used to construct and distribute said narratives (e.g., the Freemason’s Tarot (Sosteric, 2014), examples of resistance to the spiritual hegemony of the elites, e.g., Wicca (Starhawk, 2011), potential elite interference in our beloved academies of sciences (e.g., Elkins, 2009), and examples of the potential for recovering or creating revolutionary alternatives to the elite quo spirituality. We are also look for papers on research methods to help decolonize the study of religion and spirituality.

It is hoped that this special issue of Religions will help deepen our understanding of religion and human spirituality and bring a much need class-awareness back to the study of religion and spirituality.

References

American Pastors with Private Jets—’It’s what Jesus would do’. (2020). Aero Corner. https://aerocorner.com/blog/american-pastors-with-private-jets/

Boyce, M. (1996). A History of Zoroastrianism: Volume One The Early Period. E. J. Brill.

Boyce, M. (2001). Zoroastrians: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices. Routledge.

Broker, I. (1983). Night Flying Woman: An Ojibway Narrative. Minnesota Historical Society Press.

Carrette, J., & King, R. (2008). Selling Spirituality: The Silent Takeover of Religion. Routledge.

Decker, R., Depaulis, T., & Dummett, M. (1996). A Wicked Pack of Cards: The Origins of the Occult Tarot. St Martin’s Press.

Ehrman, B. D. (2003). Lost Christianities (Fourth). Oxford University Press.

Ehrman, B. D. (2007). Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why. Harper One.

Elkin, A. P. (1994). Aboriginal Men of High Degree. Inner Traditions.

Elkins, D. (2009). Why Humanistic Psychology Lost its Power and Influence in American Psychology. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 49(1), 267–291. https://www.lightningpath.org/readings/elkins-humanistic-murder.pdf

Frideres, J., & Gadacz, R. R. (2011). Aboriginal Peoples in Canada | 9th edition | Pearson. Pearson Canada Inc. https://www.pearson.com/store/p/aboriginal-peoples-in-canada/P100000533415/9780132161978

Gadacz, R. R. (2019). Potlatch | The Canadian Encyclopedia. The Canadian Encyclopedia. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/potlatch

Given, J. B. (1997). Inquisition and Medieval Society: Power, Discipline, and Resistance in Languedoc. Cornell University Press.

Green, T. (2008). Inquisition: The Reign of Fear. Pan Books.

Gutkind, E. (1952). Choose Life: The Biblical Call to Revolt. Henry Schuman.

Harvey, A. (1998). Teachings of the Christian Mystics (Kindle). Shambhala Publications. https://amzn.to/2VrC7CY

Sosteric, M. (2014). A Sociology of Tarot. Canadian Journal of Sociology, 39(3). https://www.academia.edu/25055505/

Sosteric, M. (2020). Rethinking the Origins and Purpose of Religion: Jesus, Constantine, and the Containment of Global Revolution. Athens Journal of Social Sciences, 9(1), 69–88. https://www.academia.edu/34970150/Rethinking_the_Origins_and_Purpose_of_Religion_Jesus_Constantine_and_the_Containment_of_Global_Revolution

Starhawk. (2011). The Spiral Dance. Harper Collins.

Thomsett, M. C. (2011). Heresy in the Roman Catholic Church. McFarland & Company.

Dr. Mike Sosteric
Dr. Osiris González-Romero
Dr. Sarah Gallant
Guest Editors

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• religion
• spirituality
• mysticism
• European colonialism
• ideology
• critical theory