When I was in New Orleans in late November for the Religious Communication Association and National Communication Association annual conferences, I realized I needed to do some serious work in refining how I talk about my own research.
In some settings, saying that I study religious rhetoric and religious communication can serve as quite a differentiating quality. For example, when I was working through my MA at the University of Nebraska-Omaha, religious comm was such a unique niche that I was almost embarrassed to bring it up. It was like telling people that I dabbled in amateur stand-up comedy: it’s way off the beaten track, but as you come to understand when you’re in it, not actually that impressive or unique in itself. That changes (and pleasantly so) when you come to a place like the University of Memphis, where, thanks to Dr. Andre Johnson and Dr. Kellie Carstensen, it is now the place to come for graduate studies focused on religious communication, either alongside or 1.B. to Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, which has the mixed advantage of formal religious affiliation.
So, I honed in a little further. Since I’m committed to a mixed method approach incorporating both rhetorical and qualitative communication studies, there’s nothing particularly differentiating about my methodology. I focus my study on the communication universe of white American evangelicalism; but white American evangelicalism is, without a doubt and for a multitude of reasons, the most prolifically studied faith group in the United States right now.1
In some ways, my work here at 3 Points and with the Journal of Communication and Religion pushes me towards my generalist tendencies. Both call upon me to keep at least one eye on this field called “Religious Communication” as a whole. And you know what? I know about myself that my research interests are always going to be somewhat eclectic. So why not just lean into being a religious comm generalist?
Well, employment, for one thing. I’m hitting the job market soon. I need to be able to tell people—other scholars, department heads, deans, administrators, student groups, etc.—what it is specifically I’m studying, and what questions I’m seeking to answer with my work. And I need to be able to do that in ways that are both elaborate and zippy to fit multiple circumstances where that question might be asked.
Public interest and legibility, for another. I’m deeply committed to research that serves communities outside of the academy. Without a doubt, saying I study “religious communication” or “the rhetoric of white Evangelicalism” will be interesting to some. Most, it will put to sleep faster than a mug of Excedrin PM.
But, most importantly, I need to articulate my research goals well for the sake of the research itself. To give me direction and focus. What questions do I want to see answered? What am I curious about? I don’t think the professional purpose for which I’ve been created is to pontificate about white American evangelicalism2, but to play a role in birthing greater knowledge and understanding into the world, along with my classroom role of nurturing and empowering folks in finding and bringing their Voice into the world.
But what sort of knowledge and understanding do I want to help birth into the world?
Counting this one, I want to talk about that in five posts. But let me give you the elevator pitch now:
I study religious rhetoric and communication regarding Heroism, especially as it is expressed in white American Evangelicalism.
That involves three major components that get discussed a lot in religious circles (Evangelical and otherwise): (1) worldview, (2) goodness, and (3) personal significance—both how understandings of these components are constructed in religious communities themselves, and how they interact with outside constructions of them in the broader culture.
The structure of this series will be simple: I’ll talk about each of those three components in one post each. Then I’ll tie it all together and talk about what exactly I refer to by “Heroism” in this context.
I hope you’ll join me!
Which does not, in itself, mean that white American evangelicalism is particularly well-understood within academia at large.
It’s more of a hobby.
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