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C.V.

Dr. LUDGER HERBERT VIEFHUES-BAILEY

Associate Professor for Methods and Theory in the Study of Religion

OC: Modern Religious Thought

OS: Philosophy and Theory of Religion and Sexuality; Religion in America and Sexuality 

Yale University
Department of Religious Studies
P.O. Box 208287
New Haven, CT 06520-8287
ludger.viefhues@yale.edu
(203) 432-4866

Education

Harvard University – M.A. (1998), Ph.D. (2002), Philosophy of Religion
Ph.D. Thesis: Cavell, The Skeptic and the Diva. The Human Self Between Gender and Transcendence. Advisors: Prof. Sarah Coakley, Hilary Putnam, and Lawrence Sullivan. (Dissertation Defense, December, 2001)
General Exams: Philosophy, Ritual Studies, Theology in the Modern West, and Hinduism/ Buddhism/ Christianity Generic Exam. Examiners: S. Coakley, H. Putnam, L. Sullivan, F. Schüssler Fiorenza (Fall, 1999)

Philosophisch Theologische Hochschule St. Georgen, Frankfurt/Main, Germany – Diplomtheologe (M.Div.), summa cum laude with distinction (1994)
(Exchange semester at the Institut Supérieur Libre de Théologie et de Philosophie de la Compagnie de Jésus, Centre Sèvres, Paris, France)

Hochschule für Philosophie, München, Germany – B.A., Philosophy, summa cum laude (1991)

University of Düsseldorf, Germany – Ärztliche Vorprüfung, (equivalent to Pre-Med B.S.) magna cum laude (1987)

Professional Memberships

Member of the American Academy of Religion; the Society for Social and Political Philosophy; the Society for the Philosophy of Sex and Love; Culture et Religion dans les Pays Anglophones research group, sponsored by the French Ministry of Culture.

Languages

German (native), French (fluent), Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Sanskrit.

Academic Employment

Associate Professor for Methods and Theory in the Study of Religion, Yale University (June 2008-present)

Assistant Professor for Methods and Theory in the Study of Religion, Yale University (January 2002-June2008)

Courtesy appointment as Assistant Professor in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Yale University (September 2002-2008)

Courses at Yale:

  • Junior Seminar on Approaches to the Study of Religion
  • Philosophy and Religious Diversity (uses feminist philosophy as methodological focus)
  • Ritual, Gender, and the Creation of Self
  • World Religions in New Haven (with a thematic focus on migration and gender)
  • Memory, Culture, and Religion (with Stephen Davis; in preparation for spring 2008)
  • Religion and the Big Bang (with Charles Bailyn, in preparation for spring 2008)
  • Graduate Seminar on Method and Theory in the Study of Religion: Major Thinkers
  • Graduate Seminar on Method and Theory in the Study of Religion: Theories of the Body in Religious Studies
  • Graduate Seminar on Method and Theory in the Study of Religion: Post-colonial Theory and Religious Studies
  • Graduate Seminar on Method and Theory in the Study of Religion: Newest Philosophy and Theory of Religion
  • Independent Reading Course on Trauma Theory and Religious Studies

Visiting Assistant Professor in Religious and Gender Studies, University of Luzerne, Switzerland (Summer 2007, Summer 2010)

  • Course: Graduate Seminar: Sex als Biomacht im Spiegel der Religionswissenschaft

Lecturer in Philosophy and Theology, Philosophisch Theologische Hochschule St. Georgen, Frankfurt/Main, Germany (Summer 1999)
Courses:

  • Graduate Seminar: “Analytische Philosophie zwischen Metaphysik und Relativismus. Lektüre und Diskussion von Hilary Putnam: 'Für eine Erneuerung der Philosophie.' (with Dr. H. Watzka)
  • Lecture Course: Ritual Food in Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity

Non-Academic Employment

  • Roman Catholic Diocese of Limburg, Germany (contracted through the Northern German Province of the Society of Jesus, Jesuits): Hospice Ministry for men and women affected by HIV/AIDS in Frankfurt/ Main, Germany (1994-1996)
  • Roman Catholic Diocese of Limburg, Germany (contracted through the Northern German Province of the Society of Jesus, Jesuits): Assistant Pastor at Allerheiligen Pfarrei, Frankfurt/ Main, Germany (1994-1996)
  • Jesuit Province of New England (contracted through the Northern German Province of the Society of Jesus, Jesuits): Prison Ministry at the Suffolk County House of Correction (From 1997-2001)
  • Member of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) (1987-2001)

Academic and Professional Service

Administrative Service

  • Assistant Director of Graduate Studies for the Philosophy of Religion subfield, Department of Religious Studies. (2006 – present)
  • Lesbian and Gay Studies Committee of Yale University, Member (Nominated by the Provost of Yale University, 2004 – present)
  • Committee for Honors and Academic Standing, Member, which is tasked with enforcing, interpreting, and applying the academic regulations of Yale College, as well as administering Yale College Prizes and Distinctions. (2006 – present)
  • Director of Undergraduate Studies of the Religious Studies Department at Yale University (2003-2005)
  • Served on the Hiring Committees of the Department of Religious Studies (Spring 2005) and the Department for Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (Spring 2005, 2006)
  • Served on the Admissions Committee of Yale College (2004,2005)
  • First Year Student Advisor Timothy Dwight College (2004, 2005, 2007)

Other Academic Experiences

  • Steering Committee of the Philosophy of Religion section of the American Academy of Religion, Co-Chair since fall 2007.
  • Book Award Jurist in the Analytical-Descriptive category for the American Academy of Religion, 2008- present
  • Core-faculty group of the Women, Religion, and Globalization Initiative at Yale University, member, (Primary investigators: Professors Cheryl Doss, Serene Jones, Laura Wexler)
  • Peer Reviewer for the journal Sociological Theory
  • Peer Reviewer for Columbia University Press and Palgrave McMillan
  • Tenure Referee for the Religious Studies Department of Beloit College
  • Conference steering committee, member: Sex and Religion in Migration 2005 (secured $23,000 in seed money for funding; brought together and served on the steering committee with Shannon Craigo-Snell, Rebecca Kobrin, and Siobhan Garrigan.)
  • Conference steering committee, member: Religion as Colonial Commodity. 2003 (member of the Steering Committee with Dale Martin, Shannon Craigo-Snell, Ward Blanton, Tracy Swan-Tuite, and Jacob Brogan.)

Awards & Fellowships

  • The Sarai Ribicoff '79 Award for the Encouragement of Teaching at Yale College, 2008
  • Research Grant from the Griswold Fund administered by the Whitney Humanity’s Center at Yale University, 2006
  • Research Grant: Lesbian and Gay Studies Committee, 2006
  • Morse Faculty Fellowship for a yearlong sabbatical, Yale University (2005-2006)
  • Whiting Junior Faculty Fellow at the Whitney Humanities Center, Yale University (2005-2006)
  • Whiting Dissertation Fellowship (2001-2002)
  • The Certificate of Distinction in Teaching for excellence in undergraduate teaching from Harvard University's Derek Bok Center (1999)
  • Award for the best Graduate Student Paper at the 1999 Harvard Divinity School GABLE conference “Celebrating Our Faith.” for “‘On my Bed at Night I sought Him whom my Heart Loves’ Reflections on Trust, Horror, G*d, and the Queer Body in Vowed Religious Life” (1999)
  • German Academic Exchange Service Fellowship (1998-1999)
  • Holtzer Fellow, Harvard University together with the German Academic Exchange Service (1997-1998)

Scholarly Publications

Monographs

Beyond the Philosopher’s Fear. A Cavellian Reading of Gender, Origins and Religion in Modern Skepticism. (Ashgate Press: Aldershot, G.B., 2007)
[Based on a detailed analysis of gender in Stanley Cavell's treatment of the skeptical problem, this book addresses the relationship between gender and religion in modern skepticism. Engaging in dialogue with Julia Kristeva's philosophy, I argue that a religious problem underlies Cavell's understanding of the feminine.]

Between a Man and a Woman? Making Sense of Christian Opposition to Same-Sex Love (in pressColumbia Press) [analyses how different rhetorical constructions of homosexuality in conservative Christian discourse serve to create the Christian body as a powerful field of politically and theologically productive tensions.]

 

Articles

"‘Religion’ in Anglo-American Philosophy of Religion." In: Theory/Religion/Critique, Richard King (Ed): New York, Columbia University Press, 2009 (In press)

"Familienideologie und Männlichkeiten im christlichen Fundamentalismus." In: Handbuch Gender und Religiöse Bildung, Monika Jacobs et al. (Ed): 2009 (In press)

“Sexual Citizenship and Religious Violence in the Secular State” Fondatione Bruno Kessler, Bologna, 2009 (In press)

“Religious Violence in the Secular State” in: Bauman, Martin (Ed) Religionswissenschaftliche Beiträge, Luzern, 2009 (In press).

“Bearing the Beyond: Women and the Limits of Language in Stanley Cavell” in: online journal gender-forum: special issue: gender and language, 2008 [examines the interconnection between issues of religion and sexuality in Stanley Cavell’s work.]


"Kulturkampf im Bett? Sexualität, Religion und die Legitimation Politischer Herrschaft im Modernen Naitonalstaat” in: Garhammer & Heiniger (Eds), Die Ehe als Ernstfall der Geschlechterdifferenz: Frau und Mann in Kulturellen Symbolsystemen (forthcoming Münster, 2008)
[Analyzing examples from the current US debates about same-sex marriage through the lens of post-colonial scholarship, this contributing chapter explains why and how issues linking sexuality and religion become the focal point for contestations of modern national identity.]

"Patriotic Dreams, Illicit Sex, and Divine Graces: The Intersection of Religion, Politics, and Sexual Normativity in Conservative Christian Discourse on Homosexuality," International Studies in Philosophy, 39.2(2007) forthcoming
[Analyzing the rhetorical constructions of male homosexualities in mostly web-based materials of the influential conservative Christian media organization Focus on the Family, I show that the rhetorical production of homosexualities by Focus helps stabilize normative Christian and American masculinity in a perpetual crisis mode.]

"‘On my Bed at Night I sought Him whom my Heart Loves’ Reflections on Trust, Horror, G*d, and the Queer Body in Vowed Religious Life." Modern Theology, 17:4 (2001): 413-425
[I argue that understanding the body of the vowed religious body as a queer body allows characterizing the political and soteriological nature of the vowed religious life in a post-Vatican II theology.

"Der Kuss der Ungestalt. Gedanken über unsere Sendung in der Kultur der Moderne." Ordenskorrespondenz 38, no. 2 (1997): 179-191. Translated as: “Pocalowac ulomnosc.” Homo Dei LXviii, no. 3 (1998): 65-80
[This final article in a tri-partite series argues that vowed-religious life embodies a critique of theological support for marginalizing power structures by inviting bodily proximity with and witness to the life and theological experiences of those suffering from modern exclusionary violence.]

"Ewigkeit und Erfüllte Zeit. Gibt es ein Leben vor dem Tod?" Geist und Leben 69, no. 2 (1996): 86-97. Abridged translation in: “Eternity and the Fulfillment of Time.” Theology Digest 43, no. 1 (1996): 8-14
[In witness of the religious experiences of some Christians suffering through the AIDS crisis in Germany, I argue for a critical eschatology predicated not on perfection but on an acknowledgment of the fragmentary nature of the experience of the suffering body.]

"Dem kreuztragenden Christus folgen. Gedanken zu einer Theologie der Gelübde." Ordenskorrespondenz: Zeitschrift fur Fragen des Ordenslebens.36, no. 2 (1995): 157‑170. Abridged translation in: “Following Christ: Toward a Theology of Religious Life.” Theology Digest 42, no. 2 (1995): 109‑116
[In this first of a tri-partite series of articles, I argue that the prophetic valence of the body of the vowed religious is not grounded in its anthropological perfection. Rather, its imperfection draws such a body towards solidarity with the politically marginalized.]

"Lebensrecht und Überlebensinteresse: Darstellung und Kritik einiger Thesen von Norbert Hoerster." In Theologie und Philosophie, 68, no.1, 89‑94, 1993. Indexed in: ‑a‑ International Philosophical Bibliography/ Répertoire Bibliographique de la Philosophie. XLVI(1994) p.194. ‑b‑ The Philosopher's Index. An International Index to Philosophical Periodicals and Books. 27(1993). p.711.
[This article is a critical engagement with Norbert Hoerster’s utilitarian notion of „survival interest.”]

"Warum steht dem Nasciturus kein Recht auf Leben zu? Entgegnung auf Norber Hoerster." Goltdammer's Archiv fur Strafrecht (GA) 140, no. 8 (1993): 360‑363
[In this article in a prominent German law journal I respond to Hoerster’s objections to my reading of his and Singer’s work. Norbert Hoerster referred in his article «Überlebensintersse» (Prima philosophia 7(1994), p.211, to our controversy: „Wer sich mit diesen Argumenten in einer primär sachorientierten Form auseinandersetzten möchte, sei auf die folgenden Fundstellen in juristischen Fachzeitschriften verwiesen, in denen Kollegen die Thematik kontrovers mit mir diskutiert haben ... Goltdammer's Archiv für Strafrecht 1991, 455ff., 1992, 245ff., 1993 359ff and 1993, 364ff. (Viefhues/Hoerster). (Those looking for authors who give my (Hoerster's) argument a serious thought should refer to the following scholarly law reviews, in which professional colleagues engaged in a controversial discussion with me on that topic. . . )]

"Modelle zur Rechtfertigung des Schwangerschaftsabbruchs. Ein Uberblick uber gangige Argumente mit und gegen Thesen von Peter Singer."Goltdammer's Archiv fur Strafrecht (GA) 138, no. 10 (1991): 455‑466
[In this article in a prominent German law journal I expand my arguments from my previous article in conversation with the German ethicist and legal philosopher, Norbert Hoerster’s utilitarianism.]

"Rechtfertigung des Schwangerschaftsabbruchs? Zu den Thesen Peter Singers." In Stimmen der Zeit, 208, no.11, 752‑762, 1990. Last citation know to me: Adrian Holderegger: «Was zeichnet den Menschen als Menschen aus». Zeitschrift für Medizinische Ethik 40(1994)
[After a systematic overview of arguments in favor of abortion rights, I critique Peter Singer’s argument that only those interests are ethically relevant at t1, which are actualized at t1.]

Reviews

  • Review of Blessing Same-Sex Unions: The Perils of Queer Romance and The Confusions of Christian Marriage. By Mark D. Jordan. (Chicago, Il: University of Chicago Press, 2005) in: Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 75.1 (2007) 230-233)
  • Review of Liturgy Wars: Ritual Theory and Protestant Reform in Nineteenth-Century Zurich. By Theodore M. Vial(London: Routledge, 2004) in: Journal of Religion, 85:1 (2005): 167–169

Book and Article under Review


"What Lies Beyond the Failure of ‘Religion’? Anglo-American Philosophy of Religion and Methodological Reflections on the History of Religious Studies." (submitted to Ars Disputandi, May 2007)
[Using Putnam’s notion of “conceptual relativity” I argue first that engaging theoretical debate on the concept of religion is epistemically incumbent on philosophers of religion with realist commitments, and secondly that we can avoid the false alternative of unquestionably accepting or of rejecting the concept of religion as ideological.]

Papers and Public Lectures

  • Religious Violence and the Secular State: Keynote Address at the conferecne “Europe in Today’s World Crises” at Babes - Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
  • Holiness Sex: Conservative Christian Sex Practices as Acts of Sanctification. Paper at RELIGION/SEXUALITY: POLITICS/AFFECT conference, The Johns Hopkins University, September 2009
  • Religion as Abject? Julia Kristeva’s religion meets contemporary Anglo-Saxon debates on religion and modernity. Paper at the Jour d’Etude of the Culture et Religion dans les Pays Anglophones research group, Poitier, France, June 2009
  • Sexual Selves and Religion in Secular Polities. Invited Paper at the conference “Sexual Selves” conference, organized by the Society for the Philosophy of Sex, Friendship, and Love. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign May 2009.
  • Bearing the Beyond Women and the Limits of Language in Stanley Cavell. At the annual meeting of the Eastern Division of the American Philosophical Association, Philadelphia, December 2008.
  • Religion and Violence in the Secular State. At the international research seminar “Gender – Sessualitá - Religione. Gender – Sexuality – Religion” The Centre for Religious Studies at the Fondazione Bruno Kessler. Trento, Italy, December 2008
  • Religion und Gewalt im säkularen Staat. Lecture at the University Lucerne, Switzerland, December 2008
  • Modern Religion as Negotiation of Violence: Accounting for and Subverting the Epistemic Violence of the Category of Religion.” At the conference Culture(s) and Conflict(s), Culture(s) in Conflict: Religious Issues in the English-Speaking World., Oxford University, September 2007
  • Der Kampf der Kulturen findet im Bett statt: Sex, Religion und die Herstellung politischer Identität in den USA. University Luzern, May 2007
  • Sex in the City? What Conservative Christians Can Teach Us About Marriage, Homosexuality, and the Nation. Invited Lecture at Symposion Graduierten Kolleg Würzburg, February 2007
  • Patriotic Dreams, Illicit Sex, and Divine Graces: The Intersection of Religion, Politics, and Sexual Normativity in Conservative Christian Discourse onHomosexuality. At the annual meeting of the American Philosophical Association, December 2006
  • What Lies Beyond the Failure of ‘Religion’? Philosophy of Religion and Methodological Reflections on the History of Religious Studies. At the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion, November 2006
  • ’Modern Religion’ as the Negotiation of Violence: Accounting for and Subverting the Epistemic Violence of the Category of Religion. At the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion, November 2006
  • American Macho: Konservative Christen, Theologie und die Politik normierter Männlichkeit. University Luzern, Switzerland, December 2005
  • American Masculinity and Christian Salvation in Conservative Christian Discourse on Homosexualities. University of Connecticut in Storrs, October 2005
  • On Grace, Sissies, and Exploding Manholes: The Impossible Theology of Manhood of Focus on the Family. Larry Kramer Initiative for Gay and Lesbian Studies, Yale University, March 2005
  • Ritual und Selbst zwischen Geschlecht und Transzendenz. Public lecture invited by Dr. Andrea Baerenreuther, general director of the Staatliche Museen Berlin as part of a year-long lecture circle on occasion of an exhibition project called Mary, Miriam, Mariam … or the Female and the Sacred, December 2004
  • On Grace, Sissies, and Exploding Manholes: The Impossible Theology of Manhood of Focus on the Family. At the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion, November 2004
  • Bearing the Beyond: What Stanley Cavell’s Vision of Gender Can Teach Us About Philosophy. At the Philosophy, Interpretation, Culture Conference at Binghampton University, April 2004
  • Julia Kristeva and the Eucharist: The Self, Body and Knowledge in Ritual Practice. At the Liturgy Symposium of the Institute for Sacred Music of Yale University, March 2004
  • The Unorthodox Wittgenstein of the Investigations and Consequences for Category Formation in Religious Studies. At the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion, November 2003
  • Sisyphus’s Staircase Identity & Religion in Migration. Invited paper at a closed conference on Religious Responses to Globalization at the Center for the Study of World Religions at Harvard University, May 2003
  • Masculinity as Crisis. The Anti-Queer Rhetoric of Focus on the Family. Invited paper presentation at Beloit College in Beloit, Michigan, March 2003
  • Catherine Bell, the Eucharist, Gender, and Resistance. At the Ritual Studies & Liturgy Group of the Institute for Sacred Music at Yale University, February 2003
  • Insights from the Straight‑Jacket: Epistemological Concerns Expressed by Religiously Motivated Anti‑queer Sentiments.Central Division Meeting of the American Philosophical Association (Minneapolis), March 2001
  • The Absoluteness of Philosophy and the Diversity of Religions. Methodological Challenges for Philosophers of Religion. At Congress 2000: The Future of the Study of Religion organized by Boston University and Harvard University, September 2000
  • What is at Stake? Understanding Religious Homophobia.The Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies (CLAGS) conference, Whose Millennium?: Religion, Sexuality, and the Values of Citizenship, April 2000

Current Research Projects

No Separation: How Religion Makes the Secular State (in progress:) [Bringing together critical theories of religion with those pertaining to political philosophy, No Separation focuses on the topic of sexual citizenship to argue that the globally produced modern discourse of religion creates realities that shape in precise ways the legitimization of state power in modern nation states.]  

 

"Modern Religion as Negotiation of Violence: Accounting for and Subverting the Epistemic Violence of the Category of Religion." (In progress.)

[Critically examining recent scholarship on epistemic violence and the modern category of “religion” (Fitzgerald, Masuzawa), the paper theorizes epistemic violence and religion in a way that avoids the fruitless alternative of either resisting or embracing “modern religion.”]

"What is and is Not the Philosophical Problem Raised by Religious Diversity?" (In progress).
[Engaging some analytic philosophers of religion on the issue of religious diversity (Hick, Alston, Basinger) I argue that the problems these authors identify as resulting from diverse religious beliefs in our public spheres are not philosophical in nature. Rather, as I will show in critical conversation with Habermas this failure to formulate religious diversity as a philosophical issue point out how religious claims, as they are conceived by philosophers, lead to complication in the construction of public intelligibility. Philosophically conceived religion threatens philosophical reason.]

 

No Koala! theme by Ross Kendall