Open Lecture at the Centre for Theology and Religious Studies.

Close comparison of discourses on religion and conspiracy theories (popular and academic) reveals that both categories function to manage knowledge claims which trouble the epistemic basis of liberal democratic states. Religion serves to domesticate certain kinds of non-empirical knowledge claims for historical reasons, while conspiracy theories conversely control counter-hegemonic claims deemed dangerous. But close comparison reveals that both these categories are based on surprisingly similar non-empirical epistemic claims - a similarity which has uncomfortable ramifications for the academic study of religion, as well as for understanding the so-called "post-truth" age.  

Contact Paulina Gruffman (paulina.gruffman@ctr.lu.se) for a link to Zoom.