Elon University’s Center for the Study of Religion, Culture and Society hosts on Tuesday a Yale University scholar whose talk in the McBride Gathering Space of the Numen Lumen Pavilion will look at specific types of spirituality in American life.
Tuesday, April 14
Kathryn Lofton, “But I’m Not Religious: Goldman Sachs, The World of Warcraft, Oprah’s Favorite Things and Other Resistant Subjects”
McBride Gathering Space, Numen Lumen Pavilion, 5:30 p.m.
Elon University’s Center for the Study of Religion, Culture and Society will host a lecture by Kathryn Lofton, a Yale University professor of religious studies, American studies, history and divinity. Lofton’s 2011 book, “Oprah: The Gospel of an Icon”, has been named on several lists of the most important recent books in American religious history.
Lofton’s lecture will draw from that book as well as reveal her latest religious interest: the multinational investment banking firm Goldman Sachs.
Why is a historian of American religious history writing about Oprah, Goldman Sachs, or any of her other pet interests, including the office cubicle, early Protestant fundamentalism, and the music of Bob Dylan? Lofton has focused on the public emotions, intimate desires, and corporate entities that she argues have influenced – and in turn are influenced by – religious activity.
Elon University Professor Brian Pennington, director of the Center for the Study of Religion, Culture and Society, said Lofton detects a very specific kind of spirituality in the everyday elements of American religious life.
“For Lofton, America has not abandoned religion, it has pursued the satisfaction of religious desires through popular culture and other not-so-obviously-religious means,” he said. Religions are all about transforming oneself or one’s society, confronting mortality, and seeking belonging. “Oprah, for example, urges us to create our better selves—by reading certain books, buying certain products, and even, in the case of Barack Obama, voting for certain candidates. These may look like secular pursuits, but Lofton helps us see how they meet classically religious needs.”
Oprah has been praised by reviewers for its surprising revelations as well as for its excellent writing. It has been called an “artful,” “satirical,” “tantalizing,” and “vitally important” book.
Professor Charles Irons, chair of Elon University Department of History and Geography, calls Lofton a “peerless intellect” who, in addition to being a great scholar and writer, is a celebrated teacher.
Lofton won one of Yale’s top teaching awards in 2013.
“She is both brilliant, funny, and brilliantly funny,” Pennington said. “You won’t want to miss this.”