Kemet Online: Followers of The Religion of Ancient Egypt: Priests Scholarly Activities Updates

Rev Renee and Rev Sedgwick have received approval and will be presenting the following at the American Academy of Religion meeting in April. The meeting will be in Minnesota (we are glad it will be in April when things warm up)

AFRICAN TRADITIONAL RELIGIONS
AND THE ACADEMIC STUDY OF RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE

Ma’at and Mystical Experience: A two-part presentation

Drawing on Egyptologist Jan Assmann’s writings on the ancient Egyptian notion of Ma’at as “connective justice,” along with a variety of observations and reflections by scholars and practitioners of traditional African religions, Dr Heskett and Dr Levant suggest an alternative to traditional approaches to the study of mystical experience. By rethinking mysticism, they suggest an alternative that allows a richer comparative framework—one that honors African cultural and religious experiences and ideas equally with those of Western religious traditions.

We will explore the experience of Netjer (God) in Ancient Egyptian Religion and Traditional African Religions and will look at those expressions of religious experience that have presented the greatest obstacle to modern Western sensibilities and comprehension: possessory trance, ancestor veneration, and the existence of both God and gods. We will suggest that neither monotheism nor polytheism can account for the religious experience of the ancient Egyptians or other indigenous African religions. Further, we will argue that these descriptive categories are neither necessary nor helpful to a culturally sensitive study of religious experience.

The presenters:

Both participants recently received their doctorates in complementary studies of methodology in the study of religion, with a focus on how the religious experience of traditional African religions might help re-think contemporary understandings of the relationships among religion, mysticism, and culture. Both are practitioners as well as scholars who, as converts to an African traditional religion, bring reflections from both inside and outside on the faiths they study and live. While Sedgwick’s studies in religion began with Buddhism and Ancient Near Eastern religions at Northwestern University, a place committed to the idea that academic integrity demanded personal distance from the religions under study, Renee’s early studies in the Christian philosophy of Aquinas and Augustine and religious studies occurred in departments with just the opposite position in the context of her formation as a Catholic sister.

Dr Levant has spoken widely at American Philosophical Association meetings on the intersection of race, religion, and culture in pubic discourse. She received her Master’s degree with honors from the Graduate Theological Union at Berkeley, and her PhD from Penn State University. She is currently looking for a full time position in religion and philosophy.

Dr Heskett received her PhD in Religious Studies from Union Institute. She has taught courses in world religions and Buddhism at Northwestern University and is employed fulltime by Kaplan University.

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Rev Renee Levant, Hemet Sekhmet & Aset
Founder & Wehemu & Educational Director
Per Ankh: The Traditional Religion of Ancient Egypt
http://www.per-ankh.org