Prof JM Strijdom

Qualifications

• BA Degree (University of Pretoria)
• BA Honours Degree in Ancient Greek and Semitic Languages (University of Pretoria)
• BD Degree (University of Pretoria)
• MA Degree in Ancient Greek (University of Pretoria)
• MDiv Degree in New Testament Studies (University of Pretoria)
• DD in New Testament Studies (University of Pretoria)

NRF Rating

Currently teaching

RST2601, RST3709, RST4801, RST4802, RST4803, RST4804, RST4805

Fields of academic interests

• African indigenous religions and human rights
• Early Christianity within its Jewish and Greco-Roman contexts
• Human rights, constitutional law and religion
• Religious nationalism and violence
• Critical theories of religion (comparative and historical, colonial and post-colonial, sociological and anthropological)

Field of Specialisation

• Critical theories and key terms in the comparative study of religions
• Social, economic and political uses of religion
• Material religion: objects and senses in religions

Books

• 2015: Klassifikation und Vergleich in der Religionswissenschaft: Das Beispiel indigener Diskurse. In: Anil Bhatti & Dorothee Kimmich (eds) 2015. Ähnlichkeit: Ein kulturtheoretisches Paradigma, pp 255-276. Konstanz: Konstanz University Press. Translated and republished as:
• 2018: Comparison and Classification in Religious Studies: Indigenous Discourses as Case Study. In: Anil Bhatti & Dorothee Kimmich (eds) 2018. Similarity: A Paradigm of Culture Theory, pp 255-272. New Delhi: Tulika Books.
• 2021: Comparing uses of religion in cases of violence: Assessing Chidester’s analysis of violence and religion in Jonestown and apartheid South Africa. In Tobias Köllner & Alessandro Testa (eds) 2021. Politics of religion: Authority, creativity, conflicts.  Zürich: LitVerlag.
• 2022: Definition, comparison, critique: A Response to Suzanne Owen on economy, class and religion. In King, Rebekka (ed) 2022. Key categories in the study of religion: Contexts and critiques. Equinox.

Submitted and accepted

• Comparison after materiality. In S Brent Plate & Pooyan Tamimi Arab (eds) Routledge handbook on material religion. Routledge. 
• Rituals of gender and race: Assessing Chidester’s material analysis of their intersection in African Indigenous Religion. In Beyers, Jaco (ed) What has Religion Studies in Africa been up to? Themes and topics. Wipf&Stock.

Edited volumes

• 2017 (with Joram Tarusarira): 'The role of religion in violence and peace-building'. Special issue of the Journal for the Study of Religion 2017, 30 (1).
• 2018 (with Lee Scharnick-Udemans): ‘Materializing religion: Essays in honor of David Chidester’. Special issue of the Journal for the Study of Religion 2018, 31(2).

Journal articles

• 1990: Markus 16:1-8 in die konteks van ‘n konstruksie van die Markaanse gemeente [Mark 16:1-8 within the context of a construct of the Markan community]. Hervormde Teologiese Studies 46, 153-89.
• 1995: The unconventionality of Jesus from the perspective of a diverse audience: Evaluating Crossan’s historical Jesus. Neotestamentica 29(2), 313-23.
• 1995: Diversiteit van die begin af: ‘n Vergelyking van Mack en Crossan se konstruksies van die vroegste Christendomme (ca 30-70 nC) [Diversity from the beginning: A comparison of Mack and
• Crossan’s constructs of the earliest Christianities (ca 30 - 70 CE)]. Hervormde Teologiese Studies 51(1), 108-33.
• 1997: Teologieë as gevaarlike mensemaaksels: Burton Mack se evaluasie van vroeg-Christelike mites [Theologies as dangerous human constructs: Burton Mack’s evaluation of early Christian myths]. Hervormde Teologiese Studies 53(3), 609-22.
• 1998: A historical Jesus hallucinating during his initial spirit-possession experience: A response to Stevan Davies’ interpretation of Jesus’ baptism by John. Hervormde Teologiese Studies 54(3&4), 588-602.
• 2001: A model NOT to be imitated?: Recent criticisms of Paul. Hervormde Teologiese Studies 57(1&2), 612-22.
• 2003: A historical Jesus to think with and live by: Story and ideology in Crossan’s Jesus research. Religion & Theology 10(3), 276-94.
• 2004: The social class of the Baptist: Dissident retainer or peasant millennialist? HTS Theological Studies 60(1&2), 441-58.
• 2004: Images of love and politics: Plato’s conscious manipulation of myths. Phronimon 5(1), 1-12.
• 2005: Suffering for a worthy cause?: The misplaced focus of Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ. Journal of Literary Studies 21, 155-63.
• 2006: On social justice: Comparing Paul with Plato, Aristotle and the Stoics. HTS Theological Studies 63(1), 19-46.
• 2007: The uses of ancient Greek myths: From social-historical description to ideological criticism. Myth and Symbol 4(2), 39-48.
• 2008: Paul, the Stoics and Human Rights. Phronimon 9(1), 101-110.
• 2009: Ways of resisting Empire and alternatives to Empire: Comparing ancient and modern options. Phronimon 10(2), 59-69.
• 2009: Nationalizing religion: The violent path of religious nationalism. Alternation Special Edition 3, 254-69.
• 2011: Towards a critique of indigenous African religion. HTS Theological Studies 67(1). Available at http://www.hts.org.za/index.php/HTS/article/view/950/1480.
• 2011 (with Rosemary Rowe): The concept of ‘compassion’ in the authentic Pauline letters. Phronimon 12(1), 65-80. At http://www.phronimon.co.za/index.php/phroni/article/view/4/4.
• 2012: Problems with indigeneity: Fragmentation, discrimination and exclusion in postcolonial African states. Image & Text 19, 24-33. At
• http://www.imageandtext.up.ac.za/images/files/issue19/19_2012_johan_strijdom.pdf.
• 2013: A political problem in inter-human relations: Autochthony in ancient Greek and modern African thought and practice. Phronimon 14(1), 79-92. At http://www.phronimon.co.za/index.php/phroni/article/view/84/69.
• 2014: The material turn in Religious Studies and the possibility of critique: Assessing Chidester’s analysis of ‘the fetish’. HTS Theological Studies 70(1). At http://www.hts.org.za/index.php/HTS/article/viewFile/2116/4621.
• 2014: Uses of social theory in comparative Religious Studies: Assessing Chidester's sociological analysis of ‘wild religion’ in post-apartheid South Africa. Journal for the Study of Religion 27(2),10-24. At http://www.scielo.org.za/pdf/jsr/v27n2/02.pdf.
• 2015: Conservative and liberal, hierarchical and egalitarian: Social-political uses of the concept of ‘home’ in Greco-Roman antiquity and early Christianity. Phronimon 16(1), 1-10. At http://www.scielo.org.za/pdf/phronimon/v16n1/03.pdf.
• 2015: Transformations in Religious Studies. Maandblad Zuid-Afrika 92(8). Special edition: Transformation at South African universities. At https://www.mysubs.co.za/pdf/850899/true?hash=g9UTOXKohnXxso8Ekhzg7oH68WfYzqpIlSlRdxgutJ41.
• 2016: Violence in the Christian Bible: Assessing Crossan’s use of ‘violence’ as a key analytical concept. HTS Theological Studies 72(4), 1-11. At http://www.hts.org.za/index.php/HTS/article/viewFile/3445/pdf_1.
• 2016: Vernuwing in die bestudering van religie en religieë. Litnet Akademies (Godsdienswetenskappe) 13(3), 536-554.  At http://www.litnet.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/LitNet_Akademies_13-3_Strijdom_536-554.pdf .
• Revision of inaugural lecture as professor in Religious Studies, Unisa, Innovation in the study of religion and religions at http://uir.unisa.ac.za/handle/10500/22555.
• 2016: 'Colonialism' and 'material culture' in David Chidester's oeuvre: Key terms for teaching about religion and religions at South African universities. Religion and Theology 23, 386-402. At
• https://www.academia.edu/26933346/Colonialism_and_material_culture_Key_terms_for_teaching_about_religion_and_religions_at_South_African_universities.
• 2017: The role of religion in violence and peacebuilding. Guest editor and introduction with Joram Tarusarira (University of Groningen) of JSR special volume. Available at http://www.scielo.org.za/pdf/jsr/v30n1/01.pdf.
• 2018: ‘Nkulunkulu’. In Douglas Thomas and Temilola Alanamu (eds) 2018. African religions: Beliefs and practices through history. ABC-CLIO publications. eISBN-13: 9781610697521. At http://publisher.abc-clio.com/9781610697521.
• 2018: ‘Primitive’: A key concept in Chidester's critique of imperial and Van der Leeuw's phenomenological study of religion. HTS Theological Studies 74(1). https://doi.org/10.4102/hts.v74i1.4797.
• 2018: Gerardus van der Leeuw at the Voortrekker Monument: A postcolonial critique of his concept of sacred space. NTT Journal for Theology and the Study of Religion 2018, 72(3). Amsterdam University Press.
• 2018: ‘Senses’: Assessing a key term in David Chidester’s analysis of religion. Journal for the Study of Religion 31(2), 161-179. Online ISSN 2413-3027; DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17159/2413-3027/2018/v31n2a7.
• 2020: Vulnerabilities and interventions in times of Corona: Bodies, food and religion in South Africa. Contribution to Birgit Meyer’s Religious Matters blog at  https://religiousmatters.nl/vulnerabilities-and-interventions-in-times-of-corona-bodies-food-and-religion-in-south-africa/
• 2021: Animism: Comparing Durkheim and Chidester’s analyses of EB Tylor’s theory of religion. HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies. Vol 77, No 2.

Paper presentations

• 1999    The Baptist in comparison with millennialist movements: Peasant millennialist or dissident retainer? International Conference of the Society of Biblical Literature, Helsinki/Lahti, Finland.
•  2001    From social description to ideological criticism: The social functions of Greek myths. Classical Association of South Africa, Biennial Conference, University of South Africa.
•  2001    Op grond van ‘n kritiese lees van Plato, Aristoteles en die Hellenistiese filosowe: Martha Nussbaum se verstaan van die liefde. [By virtue of a critical reading of Plato, Aristotle and the Hellenistic philosophers: Martha Nussbaum’s understanding of love].  Nuwe-Testamentiese Gespreksgroep, University of Pretoria.
• 2002    A historical Jesus to think with and live by: Story and ideology in Crossan’s Jesus research. Conference on Crossan’s Jesus, Unversity of South Africa.
• 2003    Om terug te keer uit die dood, om weer te lewe: Grieks-Romeinse parallelle vir die vroeg-Christelike mites van die opstanding uit die dood en die ewige lewe. [To return from death, to live again: Greco-Roman parallels for the early Christian myths of the resurrection of the dead and eternal life]. Nuwe-Testamentiese Gespreksgroep, University of Pretoria.
• 2003    Love and politics: Functions of Platonic myth. Classical Association of South Africa, Biennial Conference, University of Stellenbosch.
• 2004    Suffering for a worthy cause?: The misplaced focus of Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ. Interdisciplinary Roundtable Seminar on Gibson’s Passion, University of South Africa.
• 2005    Op grond van ‘n kritiese lees van Plato en Aristoteles: Martha Nussbaum se rehabilitasie van die liefde. [By virtue of a critical reading of Plato and Aristotle: Martha Nussbaum’s rehabilitation of love]. Philosophy Colloquium, University of Pretoria.
• 2005    Images of love and politics: Plato’s conscious manipulation of myth. Interdisciplinary lecture in Classics, Modern European Languages, Philosophy and Religious Studies at the University of New Orleans.
• 2006    On social justice: Comparing Paul with Plato, Aristotle and the Stoics. Presented at the International Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature (Programme Unit: Greco-Roman World) in Edinburgh, Scotland, and in adapted form at the International Association for Greek Philosophy in Kavala, Northern Greece.
• 2006    'The answer of Socrates' and 'The perplexity of human rights': Discussant to papers on Hannah Arendt’s relevance for understanding mass violence in Africa at the Conference on Mass Violence in Africa, Uppsala (Nordic Africa Institute &  Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation).
• 2007 On the emotions: Comparing Paul with Philo. Logos and the Word: Stellenbosch Conference on Ancient Philosophy, Hellenistic Judaism and Early Christianity. Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study.
• 2007 Ways of resisting Empire and alternatives to Empire: Comparing ancient and modern options. International Conference of The Classical Association of South Africa, University of Cape Town.
• 2008    Paul, the Stoics and Human Rights. Presented at the 5^th International Conference of the Society of Greek Philosophy and the Humanities (University of Pretoria) and at the International Conference of the Society of Biblical Literature and the American Academy of Religion (Auckland, New Zealand).
• 2009  Discussant to Anil Bhatti, Heterogeneity and Homogeneity: On the tension between religious nationalism and secular/ syncretic positions. School for Graduate Studies, Unisa.
• 2009 Nationalizing religion: The violent path of religious nationalism read at ASRSA Conference, Stellenbosch.
• 2009 Discussant of Vasti Roodt’s Cosmopolitan Citizenship: Between sitautedness and homelessness at workshop on States of statelessness: Politicide and Constitution in the African postcolony (Unisa).
• 2010 Present paper Towards a critique of indigenous African religion at IAHR Conference, Toronto.
• 2011 Present paper The mask of Africa: Memory, intercultural translation and values in VS Naipaul. English Studies Colloquium, Unisa.
• 2011 Present paper Problems with indigeneity: Fragmentation, discrimination and exclusion at workshop on Vryheidspark and other governmonumentalities (Unisa).
• 2012 Present paper 'A political problem in inter-human relations: Autochthony in ancient Greek and modern African thought and practice' at the International Conference of Philosophy, Greece.
• 2012    Present paper '"Similarity" and "difference" as critical concepts in the comparative study of religions: Indigenous discourses and practices across time and space as case study' at the University of Constance's Cluster of Excellence: Cultural formations of integration, Germany. At https://streaming.uni-konstanz.de/talks-events/after-postcolonialism-similarities-in-an-entangled-world.
• 2013    Present paper 'The anchor, the plough, images and the Bible: Uses of material objects in religions of 19^th century South Africa' at the New University of Lisbon, Portugal, on Colonial (mis)understandings.
• 2013    Keynote address 'The material turn in Religious Studies and the possibility of critique: Assessing Chidester's analysis of "the fetish"' at ASRSA Conference, Bloemfontein on Emerging trends and trajectories in the study of religion.
• 2014    Present paper 'Uses of social theory in comparative Religious Studies: Assessing Chidester's sociological analysis of "wild religion" in post-apartheid South Africa' at ISA World Congress of Sociology in Yokohama, Japan.
• 2014    Present paper 'Conservative and liberal, hierarchical and egalitarian: Social-political uses of the concept of "home" in Greco-Roman antiquity and early Christianity' at Interdisciplinary Conference on Home, Pilanesberg.
• 2015    Present paper 'The fetish': A key term in Chidester's analysis of religion. Read on invitation          at UCT's Southern Knowledge Conference.
• 2015    Read paper '"The senses" in religion and religious studies: Assessing David Chidester's use of a critical term' at International Association for the History of Religion Conference, Erfurt, Germany.
• 2015    'Violence in the Christian Bible: An assessment of John Dominic Crossan's use of analytical             concepts.' Read at ASRSA Conference, Johannesburg.
• 2016    ‘Colonialism’ and ‘material culture’: Key concepts for teaching and researching about religion at South African universities. Read at ASRSA Conference, Pretoria.
• 2016    Inaugural lecture as professor in Religious Studies, Unisa, Innovation in the study of religion and religions. Read in revised form as How to study religion?, Public lecture in the Aula, University of Pretoria. Available at http://uir.unisa.ac.za/handle/10500/22555.
• 2017    Concepts of ‘sacred space’: the Voortrekker Monument as case study. Read at Doing religious studies in the periphery (International workshop, University of Cape Town). At https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B4gSGluQ-lGWMlZ2MUdvbjd1Wm8.
• 2017    From 'primitive' to 'indigenous': Key concepts in Gerardus van der Leeuw and David Chidester's study of religion. Paper in plenary session 'Critical concepts and theories in the study of religion', ASRSA Conference, University of Cape Town. At https://docs.google.com/document/d/1T9qEgHutxEYMoOewACuis3xqifl2qKE8zbu-PKsRcBk/edit.
• 2018    Papers on ‘Rationale for the clustering of material terms’ and ‘Material comparisons’.  Workshop on the new Routledge Handbook on Material Religion. Utrecht University.
• 2018    Comparing cases of violence: Assessing Chidester’s analysis of violence and religion in Jonestown and apartheid South Africa. Read at the ISA World Congress of Sociology in Toronto, and in revised form at the SIEF Anthropology of Religion Conference in Siena.
• 2018    Economy: Assessing a key category in David Chidester's analysis of material religion. Read at conferences of the Association for the Study of Religion in Southern Africa (ASRSA), Durban. and American Academy of Religion (AAR), Denver.
• 2018    Definition, comparison, critique: A response to Suzanne Owen on economy, class and religion. North American Association for the Study of Religion (NAASR) Conference, Denver. Critique in context: Surveying key categories in the study of religion. Theme: Class and Economy.
• 2019    'Material dynamics': Assessing David Chidester’s key term for studying religious change.  European Association for the Study of Religion (EASR) Conference, Tartu (Estonia). Conference theme: Religion – Continuations and disruptions.
• 2019    Religion as cooking, foodways of the world: Assessing Chidester’s analysis of food in the political economy of the sacred. Association for the Study of Religion in Southern Africa (ASRSA). Theme: Religion and Economy.

Professional positions, fellowships & awards

• Professional positions

  2005 – 2018  Executive member of the South African Society for Greek Philosophy and the Humanities (SASGPH)

  2011 External member on academic review committee of the University of Cape Town’s Department of Religious Studies

  2015 External reviewer of University of Pretoria’s high impact module Kaleidoscope of religions

  2000 –  External examiner of numerous undergraduate and Hons courses, Master dissertations and Doctoral theses in Religious Studies, Philosophy, and Classics at the University of Cape Town, University of Pretoria, University of the Witwatersrand, University of Kwazulu-Natal and University of the Western Cape

  2008 –  Member of Tuition, Higher Degrees and Research & Innovation Committees of the Department of Religious Studies and Arabic, and the College of Human and Social Sciences, University of South Africa

  2017 Secretary of the Association for the Study of Religion in Southern Africa (ASRSA)

  2017 – 2021 Executive member of the Association for the Study of Religion in Southern Africa (ASRSA)

  2019 Academic Promotions and Appointment Panel for the School of Religion, Philosophy and Classics (SRPC), UKZN

  2019 Member of National Research Foundation (NRF) panel assessing funding applications from Thuthuka, rated and unrated academics in the Human and Social Sciences

  2021 Member on panel of the NGG (Dutch Association for the Study of Religion) to adjudicate on the best PhD thesis in the past three years in religious studies for the Gerardus van der Leeuw PhD Dissertation Award

  2022 Member of Unisa’s Senate

   

  Recent awards

  2012    Recipient of award to participate in University of Konstanz’ Cluster of Excellence Cultural Foundations of Integration

  2016    Recipient of Erasmus Mundus INSPIRE staff mobility scholarship to present Masters and Doctoral seminars and conduct research at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands

  2017    Invited and funded by Prof Birgit Meyer as research fellow at Utrecht University and plenary speaker on 'Key figures in the study of religion from 

  postcolonial perspectives', at the 70^th Anniversary Conference of the Dutch Association for the Study of Religion, Utrecht, the Netherlands

  2018    Invited and funded by Prof Birgit Meyer to Utrecht University to participate in workshop on the new Routledge Handbook on Material Religion

  2019    Invited and funded by Prof Birgit Meyer to Utrecht University as part of her project on ‘Religious matters in an entangled world’

  2019    National Research Foundation (NRF) rated researcher (established researcher with some international recognition)

   

Projects

• Key concepts in David Chidester’s analysis of religion from a South African perspective