In the spirit of the critique of categories in the study of religion as protective strategies, I wonder what nature…
Nature as protective strategy: The environment and a new normal
science
Orders of nature, norms of order
The sentiment that we are in a troubled, uncertain, and unusual period reverberates throughout media think pieces, anodyne corporate advertisements,…
Crisis pregnancy centers and sonograms
In this essay, I reflect on the paradox of anti-abortion activists’ use of sonograms, suggesting that, in this case, the…
“Citizen science,” environmental action, and religious pluralism
I joined Restoring Eden as a participant observer in 2016, soon after they carried out a series of citizen science…
Credulity, or Science as an intoxication
[Emily] Ogden intends to “accentuate the negative,” so the train of questions I have—questions that view science in a more…
Proximate enigmas
I’m delighted—and daunted!—for this chance at engaging the rich discussions of this forum. Nothing I say in this short space…
On continuity and rupture: A reply to Elshakry and Quadri
By pulling at different threads of the book’s argument, Elshakry and Quadri expose a basic tension between the book’s emphasis…
Encountering another science
The Lighthouse and the Observatory’s learned account of nineteenth-century Egyptian astronomy’s imbrications with religion, empire, and the social realities and…
Rethinking the history of the astral sciences in modern Egypt with The Lighthouse and the Observatory
How the history of science can inform histories of the modern Middle East (and vice versa) is precisely what The…
On epistemic possibility: A reply to Hirschkind and Tambar
In their thoughtful reflections on The Iranian Metaphysicals, Charles Hirschkind and Kabir Tambar focus on my analysis of how different…