criticaltheoryofreligion.org

Kenneth G. MacKendrick has taught in the Department of Religion, University of Manitoba since 2002. His doctoral thesis on the early writings of Jürgen Habermas was completed at the Centre for the Study of Religion, University of Toronto and has been published by Routledge as Discourse, Desire, and Fantasy in Jürgen Habermas’ Critical Theory (2008). He has also published articles on critical theory and religion, discourse ethics, thanatology, and the writings of Chuck Palahniuk. MacKendrick’s teaching interests deal with four areas of study: contemporary Christianity (fundamentalism and charismatic movements, secularization), evil and world religions, method and theory in the study of religion (critical theory, hermeneutics, psychology of religion), and thanatology / thanatopraxis. His current research focuses on the theorization of communicative rationality and ritual interaction, death rituals and deathscapes, and the relation between religion and youth culture. He is a member of the editorial review board for the series Studies in Critical Research on Religion in association with Brill Academic Publishers and Haymarket Books and a research associate of the Center for Critical Research on Religion.


Kenneth MacKendrick's Blog

Selected Publications:

Books:

2008. MacKendrick, Kenneth G. Discourse, Desire, and Fantasy in Jürgen Habermas’ Critical Theory. New York: Routledge.

Articles in Academic or Professional Journals:

2005. “Intersubjectivity and the ‘Revival of Death’: Toward a Critique of Sovereign Individualism.” Critical Sociology 31(1-2): 169-185.

2000. “The Moral Imaginary of Discourse Ethics.” Critical Horizons 1(2): 247-269. 

1999. “The Aporetics of a Tennis Playing Brontosaurus, or, A Critical Theory of Religion: A Rejoinder to Russell McCutcheon and William Arnal.” Studies in Religion / Sciences Religieuses 28(1): 77-83.

Chapters (in Books or Proceedings):

2006. “Intersubjectivity and Religious Language: Toward a Critique of Regressive Trends in Thanatology.” In Marx, Critical Theory, and Religion. Edited by Warren S. Goldstein, 179-201. Leiden and Boston: Brill.

         2009. Chicago: Haymarket Books (paperback).

2004. “The Moral Imaginary of Discourse Ethics.” In Critical Theory After Habermas: Encounters and Departures. Edited by Wayne Hudson, Dieter Freundlieb, and John Rundell, 280-306. Leiden and Boston: Brill Academic Publishers.

2003. “The Theatre of Western Capitalism: Competing for Reality.” In Image-Makers and Image-Breakers. Edited by Jennifer A. Harris, 221-232. Toronto: Legas.

Curriculum Vitae

Pictures from Manitoba

Confusion Corner

Assiniboine River

Red River