Summary: We are requesting funding from INSBS to support an innovative study examining how religious groups legitimize science by themselves, and for themselves. Whereas most scholarship on religion and science focuses on perceived theological ‘tensions’ between science and religion, we develop a nuanced and bottom-up understanding of the ways religion and science are negotiated and legitimized in everyday life. As a case study, we examine the pioneering publication of Niflaot (Hebrew: ‘Wonders of the World’), the first ‘kosher’ Haredi magazine, launched in March 2021.
Even though Haredi Jews have tended to have an ambivalent stance towards science, COVID-19 has introduced a renewed interest and growing acknowledgement of the importance of science education. To study this watershed moment in Haredi relationality to science, we combine content analysis and interviews with Niflaot’s editorial staff, public relations team and magazine consumers, to capture the ways scientific knowledge is tailored for religious publics.
We anticipate this study will elicit novel data that will drive debates on science and religion, and play an important role is shaping global research in science and religion, science education and science communication in coming years. This innovative research project also has the potential to contribute to critical public debates regarding inclusive science communication, which has become an urgent task amidst the disproportionate effect of COVID-19 on minority groups around the globe.
While scholars have highlighted how science communication reifies forms of structural inequality, especially race and gender, we examine the challenges science communication pose for religious minorities. Whereas a variety of models for inclusive science have been developed to include gender and race, this case study will offer valuable insights to the processes and prices of tailoring science for religious publics. In addition, examining the Jewish-Haredi context in Israel also advances recent calls to go beyond Euro-American (and predominately Christian) contexts to study science and religion.
If awarded, this grant would support data collection, analysis as well as presenting and publishing findings in leading conferences and journals. Research outputs will include three journal articles, as well as a variety of public outreach activities, including: blogs, podcasts and other media. It will also support the development of a local research network in Israel by supporting a graduate workshop and public webinar. INSBS support will also position us to attract funding from large public and private granting institutions for an interdisciplinary study of religion and science among religious minorities around the globe.
