Robert A. Yelle
PDA Report
During fall semester 2012, I was on Professional Development Assignment leave from my regular duties
at the University of Memphis. I spent the period from July 4 to December 30, 2012, in Andover,
Massachusetts. I was located there primarily for proximity to the Harvard University libraries.
From the beginning of July and into the first few weeks of August, I continued work on the final
stages of production of two book manuscripts that were both published in late 2012: The Language of
Disenchantment: Protestant Literalism and Colonial Discourse in British India (New York: Oxford
University Press, 2013; published September 2012) and Semiotics of Religion: Signs of the Sacred in
History (London: Bloomsbury, 2013; published in the UK in November, 2012). These weeks were spent
making final changes to the proofs and compiling the indexes for both works. The Language of
Disenchantment has been nominated for a book award at the American Academy of Religion; while
Semiotics of Religion will be the subject of a forthcoming issue of Religion journal.
During August, I began research at the Harvard University libraries. However, most of my time
that month was spent writing two articles for book review symposia, both of which were published in
December 2012: Review Article on Brad Gregory, The Unintended Reformation: How a Religious
Revolution Secularized Society, in Church History 81 (2012): 918-24; and “Comparative Religion as
Cultural Combat: Occidentalism and Relativism in Rajiv Malhotra’s Being Different,” Review Article on
Rajiv Malhotra, Being Different: An Indian Challenge to Western Universalism, in International Journal
of Hindu Studies 16 (2012): 335-48.
In September and October, as well as the first half of December, the bulk of my time was devoted
to straight library research. I was conducting research for what will become my fourth monograph, which
is tentatively entitled Sovereignty and the Sacred: The Religious Exception in Law, Politics, and
Economics, and its Exclusion under Secularism. Most of my research during this time consisted of
background reading on later chapters of the book that will deal with economic theories of religion. I
surveyed the literature on evolutionary theories of religion, rational choice theories, economic
anthropology, and theories of the gift and of reciprocity and social exchange. I also continued to read in
the areas of biblical studies (especially of Herem and Jubilee) and political theology. Much of the
research for the book has now been completed, so I expect to begin writing early chapters of the book late
in summer 2013.
During October, I also conducted research for a book chapter that I drafted and submitted to the
editors in December. In March 2013, I submitted a revised chapter based on comments from the editors.
The volume is being submitted to the University of California Press, which had already reviewed the
proposal favorably. The chapter in question is “Secular Blasphemies: Symbolic Offenses in the Modern
U.S.,” in Profane: Sacrilegious Expression in a Multicultural Age, ed. Chistopher S. Grenda, Chris
Beneke, and David Nash.
During November some unexpected travel took me away from the library. I was asked to be a
platform speaker at “Rethinking Religion in India IV Conference: Law, Religion, and Secularism,” in
Mangalore, India. I spoke for all four days of the conference. A conference volume is in preparation. I
also attended the American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting in Chicago. This was unexpected
because I had not submitted any proposal; I went instead to interview for the position of editor of a book
series. The interview was successful; I am now the Editor of the AAR/Oxford University Press series in
Religion, Culture, and History, and have begun vetting manuscripts and proposals.
All in all, despite its brevity, I consider my PDA leave to have been quite successful. I have some
tangible accomplishments, and was able to advance my research agenda on several fronts. I laid the
foundations for a fellowship proposal, submitted in January and accepted in March 2013, to be a fellow at
NYU Law School this coming year, where I will write Sovereignty and the Sacred. So I think the purpose
of the PDA was well served.