Lenny Lowe
Assistant Professor
Office Hours: W 11:00 am-2:00 pm or by appointment only
Phone: 843-953-8033
E-mail: lowelj@cofc.edu
Lenny grew up in Kentucky and lived in Port-de-Paix, Haiti from 2004 until 2011. He teaches courses in global Christianity, Black Atlantic religion, and theory and method in the study of religion.
In His Own Words
Teaching religion, for me, is about unlearning, setting aside expectations, and learning how to encounter and appreciate basic human differences. Because my courses are focused on a subject that we call “religion,” I am also exploring some of the most important and foundational values and practices that characterize human social groups. Therefore, learning about religion is, in part, learning what it means to be human and participate in human social life. Teaching, for me, is also about building relationships and encouraging an approach to the world that is empathetic, affirmative, curious, and constructive. My courses are designed with all of these things in mind.
I specialize Black Atlantic traditions, like Haitian Vodou, in which West and Central African traditions have encountered and recombined with Euro-American Christian traditions. For me, these traditions are rich and exciting forms of cultural creativity. They frequently frustrate efforts by scholars to pin down specific religious traditions, and they demonstrate the fluidities, historical and cultural contingencies, and the ultimately bricolage character of what we call “religion.”
My dissertation, “After God is Music: Affliction, Healing, and Warfare in Haitian Pentecostalism,” explores a new turn in Haitian religion which combines the combative and “hot” musical-religious traditions of Vodou with Pentecostal-Charismatic spiritual warfare theology to express and address conditions of inequality and abject poverty in the Haitian countryside. Future projects will continue to explore the contours of contemporary Haitian Christianities as they interact with transnational missionary and humanitarian forces.
Education
Ph.D., Religious Studies, Religion in the Americas, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2017
M.T.S., Ancient Mediterranean World, Duke University, 2004
B.A. Biblical Studies, Kentucky Christian University, 2002
Courses Taught
- RELS 101: Approaches to Religion
- RELS 105: Intro to World Religions
- RELS 210: Theories of Religion
- RELS 230: The Christian Tradition
- RELS 250: Religions in America
- RELS 298: Black Atlantic Religions
- RELS 360: Myth, Ritual and Symbol
- RELS 370: Millennialism, Apocalypticism, and Conspiracy in American Religion
- RELS 450: Senior Seminar
- RELS 451: Capstone Colloquium
- HONS 175: Make Believe or Make Belief?
- HONS 255: Myth, Ritual, and Symbol in the Study of Religion
Publications
“The Blood of a Pig Has No Power: Lame Selès and the Spirit-Filled History of the Haitian Revolution.” The Journal of Haitian Studies. 2020, Vol. 26 (2), p. 4-30.