Religious Studies News communicates important events of the field and examines critical issues in education, pedagogy, research, publishing, and the public understanding of religion. Sometimes that involves sharing what others are writing about the field and these issues.
In Open Tabs, RSN editors will share the articles they’ve been reading and thinking about. If you have recommendations for articles, podcasts, or other media you’ve recently encountered that examine issues that fall under the purview of RSN, email us.
What We’re Reading
“Why Religious Studies Is in Trouble”
Published September 4, 2025 in The Chronicle of Higher Education
Nell Gluckman, senior reporter for the Chronicle, speaks with various educators in the field of religious studies — including Russell McCutcheon, who chairs AAR’s Academic Relations Committee — and shares their thoughts on what factors are influencing the dismantling of religious studies departments at an increasingly high rate. From the article:
“Counting majors does not reflect the value religious studies brings to a college, its proponents and practitioners say. Courses in religion are popular among undergraduates because they learn, often for the first time, about religion as something to study rather than to practice. Now that is more important than ever, some in the discipline say.
‘It’s always been a field you discover in college,’ said Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst, an associate professor in the religion department at the University of Vermont. ‘So if you don’t discover it, you’re not going to major in it.'”
“Fantasy or faith? One company’s AI-generated Bible content stirs controversy”
Published September 7, 2025 in NPR
You can read or listen to this story by NPR‘s Geoff Brumfiel about the rise in AI-generated bible study and what theologians have to say about these “high-budget Hollywood” recreations of biblical content. From the story:
“Almost from the start, Christianity has been interested in using technology to spread the word. Christians were among the first to pioneer the use of handwritten, bound books over scrolls, and later they used the printing press to mass-produce copies of the Bible.
Today, evangelicals in particular are at the forefront of experimenting with technology, said John Dyer, a professor at Dallas Theological Seminary and author of People of the Screen, which traces the history of Biblical software.
The evangelical movement has become a political force in recent decades, but ‘underneath the hood is a real kind of can-do American spirit of trying stuff,’ he said. To him, the AI Bible is the latest example of that willingness to embrace new ways of storytelling. To evangelicals, ‘if it connects people to the Bible, it’s a good thing.'”
“When Universities Become Informants: A practice from the McCarthy era makes an ugly return”
Published September 13, 2025 in The Chronicle of Higher Education
In this op-ed, Judith Butler, a professor in the Graduate School at the University of California at Berkeley, writes about the experience of learning her institution sent a list of 160 names — including her own — to the Trump administration in a file containing allegations of antisemitism. From the op-ed:
“Forwarding names is a practice from the McCarthy era. This represents a breathtaking breach of trust, ethics, and justice. Various faculty organizations are developing principled positions, calling for full transparency, due process, fair review, and adherence to procedures that have traditionally guided Berkeley and defined its ideals. I can only hope that the university does not fully decimate that tradition as a beacon of free speech and principled dissent. (A spokesperson of the university told The Chronicle: “UC is committed to protecting the privacy of our students, faculty, and staff to the greatest extent possible, while fulfilling its legal obligations.”) It would be disgraceful and self-destructive to sacrifice our integrity to legalistic forms of bullying and extortion.”
“Finding God in the App Store: Millions are turning to chatbots for guidance from on high”
Published September 14, 2025 in The New York Times
Lauren Jackson, writer of the NYT‘s religion and spirituality newsletter, reports on the booming “faith tech” industry and the increasing number of people looking to ChatGPT and other AI bots for spiritual guidance. From the article:
“Heidi Campbell, a professor at Texas A&M who studies technology and religion, said the first time she saw a spiritual chatbot was a few years ago, on the gaming platform Twitch, which hosts a chatbot called A.I. Jesus. She watched gamers ask questions like, ‘Hey Jesus, what’s your favorite football team?’ Others became more personal, asking about death, the nature of time, their depression.
With the rise of ChatGPT, these chatbots are now a growing business. In a way, they’re addressing an access problem. For millenniums, people have longed for spiritual guidance, and have had to travel, sometimes great distances, to reach spiritual leaders. Chatbots are at a user’s fingertips, always.
‘You don’t want to disturb your pastor at three in the morning,’ said Krista Rogers, 61, of Xenia, Ohio. She said she loved the YouVersion Bible app, but said she also often turned to ChatGPT with spiritual questions.”
“I Will Always Be Afraid of James Dobson”
Published August 28, 2025 in Religion Dispatches
Sara J. Moslener — author of Virgin Nation: Sexual Purity and American Adolescence and the forthcoming After Purity: Race, Sex, and Religion in White Christian American — writes about her experience growing up as the daughter of a Presbyterian pastor in the time of James C. Dobson, an influential and controversial leader in the white evangelical community. From the essay:
“James Dobson taught my parents to teach me that I should fear men and desire them to rule over me in equal measure. He taught them that my compliance and the compliance of other fearful girls and women would keep America in good standing with the God who blessed the nation. Defiance of God’s will meant societal and national collapse.
I didn’t know any of this as a teenager. What I knew was that I should expect boys and young men to be sexual predators, and that I should try to get their attention anyway.”
There will be a panel on Sara Moslener’s After Purity: Race, Sex, and Religion in White Christian America on Sunday, November 23, at the 2025 Annual Meeting in Boston.
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