# Literature, Religion, and the Secular: Cultural Perspectives for English Literary Studies through a Reading of Postsecular Theory

- Institution: IIT Hyderabad
- Department: Humanities and Social Sciences
- Teacher: Prof. Shuhita Bhattacharjee
- Level: Graduate
- Language: English
- Subjects: Society and politics
- Source: [NPTEL](https://nptel.ac.in/courses/109106005)
- Licence: [CC BY-NC-SA](https://nptel.ac.in/faq) (Non-commercial use only.)
- Syllabus: [at the source](https://nptel.ac.in/courses/109106005)
- Who can watch: Teens profiles and older (sources give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the source's own words)

In this course we will conduct a study of the relationship between religion and literature from the perspective of Postsecular Studies, with close attention to the religious context from within which key works of British literature were produced. Students will explore the primary insights of 'Postecular Theory' as a recent well-established field of critical inquiry in Western academia, learning how the capitalist and colonial construction of the ‘religious-secular’ binary needs to be dismantled through close literary readings, often conducted from a postcolonial perspective. To understand the relationship between religion and literature, we will study the entire trajectory of English literature from the eighteenth to the twenty first century with case studies from different contexts—eighteenth-century Gothic literature, Victorian New Woman fiction, nineteenth-century scientific romances, Victorian Gothic, colonial (Anglo-Indian) fiction, and modern graphic novels— asking repeatedly how concepts of ‘religiosity’ and ‘secularism’ were often being sculpted from within imperialist and capitalist paradigms with a disregard for alternative templates of faith and meaning. Students will learn how an informed postsecular reading of literary texts can help us question Western post-Enlightenment constructions of ‘secular’ identities—identifying the inherent exploitative violence of neoliberal ‘secularism’ while also resisting the influx of violent exclusionary 'faith'-based discourses. The course will also examine in detail the critiques of postsecular theory that have questioned its tendency to obfuscate the crucial question of human rights in its centering of religious vocabularies.

The topics covered include:

● The representation of religion in English literary texts from the late eighteenth century to contemporary times

● The field of postsecular theory (Undoing the ‘Secularization Thesis’)

● Critiques of postsecular theory

● Rise of the Novel with the…

## Lectures

1. [Defining Postsecular Theory: The Basics](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109106005/230bd704289d) (YouTube)
2. [The Salient Features of Postsecular Theory](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109106005/4e9c80775061) (YouTube)
3. [Defining Religion, Studying Religiosity: Disciplines and Thinkers](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109106005/cd023cf05ede) (YouTube)
4. [Defining Religion, Studying Religiosity: John Caputo and Jacques Derrida](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109106005/926d12251aa9) (YouTube)
5. [Defining Religion, Studying Religiosity: Callum Brown, Charles Taylor](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109106005/56edfc7b5915) (YouTube)
6. [Postcolonial Approaches to Postsecular Studies](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109106005/a5ffd44aae5a) (YouTube)
7. [The Eighteenth-Century ‘Secular Turn’ and the Rise of the Novel: Matthew Lewis’s The Monk](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109106005/89d390b77eb3) (YouTube)
8. [Nineteenth-Century ‘Crisis-of-Faith’: Scholarly Debates](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109106005/15ee44baf571) (YouTube)
9. [Science-Religion Hybridity and the Tensions of the Secular: Marie Corelli’s A Romance of Two Worlds-I](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109106005/5b6110b4433d) (YouTube)
10. [Awakening of Colonial Guilt and the Electric-Aesthetic Christianity: Marie Corelli’s A Romance of Two Worlds-II](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109106005/49bd2d9dca87) (YouTube)
11. [Redefinitions of Pain and Ethical Commentary: Marie Corelli’s A Romance of Two Worlds-III](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109106005/c475a4e02b97) (YouTube)
12. [Religious Experience and the Victorian New Woman: The Case of Cholmondeley’s Red Pottage -I](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109106005/504b1b67c92c) (YouTube)
13. [Gendering of Religious Doubt and Experiences of Suffering: Questioning assumptions through the New Woman Novels-II](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109106005/f24bc1f3d9ae) (YouTube)
14. [Female Agency, Spiritual Suffering, and Debates of Empowerment: The Victorian New Woman and Cholmondeley’s Representations-III](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109106005/89e0fb42635a) (YouTube)
15. [Foreign Faiths, Fears Familiar: Novels of Colonial India and Alternative Religiosities-I](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109106005/8888d079f956) (YouTube)
16. [British Domestic Religious Anxieties and Representations in Novels of Colonial India-II](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109106005/c6428e2bd78b) (YouTube)
17. [The Question of ‘Simplicity’ in Religious Experience: Debates in Novels of Colonial India-III](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109106005/37b22c373e79) (YouTube)
18. [Theosophical Fiction as a Genre: \[Lecture-I by Dr. Shaona Barik\]](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109106005/5fcd28e5a4e4) (YouTube)
19. [Mesmeric Fiction: Nuanced Perspectives \[Lecture-II by Dr. Shaona Barik\]](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109106005/b5571ff10383) (YouTube)
20. [Cosmic Horror and Christianity \[Lecture-I by Dr. Dibyakusum Ray\]](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109106005/8773abca38c3) (YouTube)
21. [Cosmic Horror and Christianity-II \[Lecture-II by Dr. Dibyakusum Ray\]](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109106005/6cec833cf445) (YouTube)
22. [Ecocentric Perspectives in Village Hinduism \[Lecture-III by Dr. Dibyakusum Ray\]](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109106005/2b2e217d9121) (YouTube)
23. [Automatons and Religious Alterity: The Case of Richard Marsh’s The Goddess: A Demon and F. Anstey’s A Fallen Idol-I](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109106005/240fb7d02de5) (YouTube)
24. [The Conscious Automaton Theory and Fears of Volition: The Case of Richard Marsh’s The Goddess: A Demon and F. Anstey’s A Fallen Idol -II](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109106005/862bc5708977) (YouTube)
25. [Miracle Devices and Contemporary Fears: The Case of Richard Marsh’s The Goddess: A Demon and F. Anstey’s A Fallen Idol-III](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109106005/2578ef680eb6) (YouTube)
26. [Theosophical Mahatmas and British Chelas: The Case of F. Anstey’s A Fallen Idol and Richard Marsh’s The Mahatma’s Pupil-I](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109106005/1bf337f251fb) (YouTube)
27. [Electromagnetic Networks in Theosophy and Technology: The Case of F. Anstey’s A Fallen Idol and Richard Marsh’s The Mahatma’s Pupil-II](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109106005/35d2816f84f1) (YouTube)
28. [Staging Global Harmony: Mohsin Hamid and Mira Nair- Part I](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109106005/3ac8001c77ec) (YouTube)
29. [Staging Global Harmony: Mohsin Hamid and Mira Nair- Part II](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109106005/0e882783a1ce) (YouTube)
30. [Cultural Tropes: The ‘Veil’ in Popular Culture and Scholarship](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109106005/f39090f9cfd1) (YouTube)
31. [Critiques of Postsecular Theory-I](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109106005/957b23c0a341) (YouTube)
32. [Critiques of Postsecular Theory-II](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109106005/381947b73629) (YouTube)
33. [Afterlives of the Victorian Supernatural and Contemporary Debates: Realms of Justice and Figures of Faith in the Cinema of Anushka Sharma-I](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109106005/b014d925d0ee) (YouTube)
34. [Afterlives of the Victorian Supernatural and Contemporary Debates: Realms of Justice and Figures of Faith in the Cinema of Anushka Sharma-II](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109106005/6b73bf8c39f2) (YouTube)
35. [Revisiting Rebellion and Liberal Agency: The Case of Satrapi’s Persepolis-I](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109106005/5263b75f4cbd) (YouTube)
36. [Bodies and Freedoms: The Case of Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis-II](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109106005/05b4f4d23e57) (YouTube)
37. [Dilemmas of Belonging and the Way Forward: The Case of Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis-III](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109106005/a0c983dc7571) (YouTube)
38. [Closing Discussion](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109106005/ce95df823c01) (YouTube)