Seminar 2: Rhetorics of U.S. Religious Identity

Leaders: Kristina M Lee (University of South Dakota) and Jonathan J. Edwards (University of South Carolina).

This seminar examines how religious rhetorics constitute American identity,
highlighting how national identity and ideal citizenship is imagined, contested, and transformed.
The seminar will be organized around several interconnected themes that trace the rhetorical
construction of U.S. religious identity. These include analyzing religious rhetoric from and about
the founding of the United States, understanding competing definitions of religion in relationship
to national and racial identities, dissecting competing names for political rhetoric, contending
with the hegemonic influence of Christian nationalism in the United States, and exploring how
religious political discourses get strategically utilized. For each theme, participants will engage
with historical and contemporary texts that have influenced rhetorical scholarship. We explore
how dominant narratives around religion get utilized, resisted, and reshaped. We also consider
how religion intersects with national understandings of race, gender, and other influential aspects
of national identity and citizenship. This seminar explores the complexities of particular national
myths, such as the Christian Nation Myth and the Myth of Religious Freedom, key debates
within public discourse about the role of religion in American life and within the field of rhetoric
regarding the role religious rhetoric plays in shaping understandings of national identity and
citizenship. Participants will engage in resources and feedback for developing their own
individual projects relating to the Rhetorics of U.S. Religious Identity while building new
connections within the interdisciplinary community of scholars committed to advancing critical
research on religion, rhetoric, national identity, and citizenship in the United States.