Jason Ānanda Josephson Storm (''né'' Josephson) is an American academic, philosopher, social scientist, and author. He is currently Professor in the Department of Religion and chair in
Science and Technology Studies
Science and technology studies (STS) or science, technology, and society is an interdisciplinary field that examines the creation, development, and consequences of science and technology in their historical, cultural, and social contexts.
Histo ...
at
Williams College
Williams College is a Private college, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim ...
.
He also holds affiliated positions in
Asian studies and
Comparative Literature
Comparative literature studies is an academic field dealing with the study of literature and cultural expression across language, linguistic, national, geographic, and discipline, disciplinary boundaries. Comparative literature "performs a role ...
at Williams College. Storm's research focuses on
Japanese religions, European
intellectual history
Intellectual history (also the history of ideas) is the study of the history of human thought and of intellectuals, people who conceptualization, conceptualize, discuss, write about, and concern themselves with ideas. The investigative premise of ...
from 1600 to the present, and theory in religious studies.
His more recent work has discussed
disenchantment
In social science, disenchantment () is the cultural rationalization and devaluation of religion apparent in modern society. The term was borrowed from Friedrich Schiller by Max Weber to describe the character of a modernized, bureaucratic, ...
and
philosophy of social science
Philosophy of social science examines how social science integrates with other related scientific disciplines, which implies a rigorous, systematic endeavor to build and organize knowledge relevant to the interaction between individual people and ...
.
Storm has written three books and over thirty academic essays in English.
He has also published articles in French and Japanese, and translated academic essays and primary sources from Japanese to English. His first book, ''The Invention of Religion in Japan'', earned the 2013 "Distinguished Book Award" from the
Society for the Scientific Study of Religion and was a finalist for the
American Academy of Religion
The American Academy of Religion (AAR) is the world's largest association of scholarly method, scholars in the List of academic disciplines, field of religious studies and related topics. It is a nonprofit member association,
serving as a profess ...
's "Best First Book" award in the History of Religions.
His third book, ''Metamodernism: The Future of Theory,'' won the 2022 award for Excellence in the Study of Religion (Constructive-Reflexive Studies) by the
American Academy of Religion
The American Academy of Religion (AAR) is the world's largest association of scholarly method, scholars in the List of academic disciplines, field of religious studies and related topics. It is a nonprofit member association,
serving as a profess ...
.
Benjamin G. Robinson, a scholar of religion and race, has described Storm's work as "seminal."
Education
Storm earned a
Master of Theological Studies degree from
Harvard Divinity School
Harvard Divinity School (HDS) is one of the constituent schools of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school's mission is to educate its students either in the religious studies, academic study of religion or for leadership role ...
in 2001. He earned a PhD in Religious Studies from
Stanford University
Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...
in 2006, where he studied Japanese religions under
Bernard Faure, Carl Bielefeldt, and
Helen Hardacre. During this time, he also researched
Continental philosophy
Continental philosophy is a group of philosophies prominent in 20th-century continental Europe that derive from a broadly Kantianism, Kantian tradition.Continental philosophers usually identify such conditions with the transcendental subject or ...
, especially
post-structuralism
Post-structuralism is a philosophical movement that questions the objectivity or stability of the various interpretive structures that are posited by structuralism and considers them to be constituted by broader systems of Power (social and poli ...
. He was a visiting student at
St Antony's College, Oxford in the 2004 academic year.
Storm's doctoral dissertation was entitled "Taming Demons: The Anti-Superstition Campaign and the Invention of Religion in Japan (1853–1920)".
Research
Japanese religions
Much of Storm's early writing on Japanese religions built on his doctoral research. This writing particularly examined how the categories of
religion
Religion is a range of social system, social-cultural systems, including designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics in religion, ethics, or ...
,
superstition
A superstition is any belief or practice considered by non-practitioners to be irrational or supernatural, attributed to fate or magic (supernatural), magic, perceived supernatural influence, or fear of that which is unknown. It is commonly app ...
, and
science
Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...
came to be constructed in
Meiji-era Japan. For example, the paper "When Buddhism became a 'Religion'," one of Storm's most cited papers according to
Google Scholar
Google Scholar is a freely accessible web search engine that indexes the full text or metadata of Academic publishing, scholarly literature across an array of publishing formats and disciplines. Released in Beta release, beta in November 2004, th ...
,
examined the categorization of different aspects of traditional
Japanese Buddhism as religion or superstition in the work of
Inoue Enryō.
In his 2012 book ''The Invention of Religion in Japan'', Storm expanded this argument to examine how Japanese thinkers in the Meiji era adopted Western categories of religion, science, and superstition. Storm examined the origins of
State Shinto
was Empire of Japan, Imperial Japan's ideological use of the Japanese folk religion and traditions of Shinto. The state exercised control of shrine finances and training regimes for Kannushi, priests to strongly encourage Shinto practices that ...
in this light.
The book also examined the confluence of Japanese religious thought, political theory, science, and philology in movements such as the ''
Kokugaku''.
Kevin Schilbrack has associated ''The Invention of Religion in Japan'' with "Critical Religion" or the "critical study of religion", an approach in religious studies that challenges the stability of
religion as an analytical category.
Other thinkers in this movement include
Talal Asad and
Russell T. McCutcheon. Within this field, ''The Invention of Religion in Japan'' draws on insights from postcolonial theory and has been connected to
Edward Said
Edward Wadie Said (1 November 1935 – 24 September 2003) was a Palestinian-American academic, literary critic, and political activist. As a professor of literature at Columbia University, he was among the founders of Postcolonialism, post-co ...
's ''
Orientalism
In art history, literature, and cultural studies, Orientalism is the imitation or depiction of aspects of the Eastern world (or "Orient") by writers, designers, and artists from the Western world. Orientalist painting, particularly of the Middle ...
'' and
Richard King's ''Orientalism and Religion''.
At the same time, Storm complicates Said's thesis, noting in particular that Japanese scholars adapted the concept of religion to their own ends and contributed to orientalist scholarship to position Japan as a culturally and intellectually dominant force in East Asia, including over
Korea
Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...
during Japan's
colonization of the region.
In his book introducing different concepts of religion, Benjamin Schewel claimed that Storm's work in ''The Invention of Religion in Japan'' made "major conceptual contributions" to what Schewel terms the "Construct Narrative" of the definition of religion.
Other ideas developed in ''The Invention of Religion in Japan'' have been applied more broadly in religious studies. For instance, the ideas of
hierarchical inclusion and exclusive similarity, which Storm coined to describe Japanese methods of conceiving religious difference,
have been applied in research on South Asian religions.
Magic and disenchantment
Storm's 2017 book ''
The Myth of Disenchantment'' challenged the validity of the thesis of
disenchantment
In social science, disenchantment () is the cultural rationalization and devaluation of religion apparent in modern society. The term was borrowed from Friedrich Schiller by Max Weber to describe the character of a modernized, bureaucratic, ...
in the social sciences. The book argues that social-scientific data do not support the idea of a widespread loss of belief in magic in the West.
The book distinguishes between
secularization
In sociology, secularization () is a multilayered concept that generally denotes "a transition from a religious to a more worldly level." There are many types of secularization and most do not lead to atheism or irreligion, nor are they automatica ...
and disenchantment as theoretical and sociological phenomena and argues that they have not been correlated in European history. According to Storm, these data challenge traditional definitions of
modernity
Modernity, a topic in the humanities and social sciences, is both a historical period (the modern era) and the ensemble of particular Society, socio-Culture, cultural Norm (social), norms, attitudes and practices that arose in the wake of the ...
.
Storm argues that disenchantment has come to serve as a myth in the sense of a "regulative ideal" that impacts human behavior and leads people to act as though disenchantment has occurred, even though it has not.
In addition to its sociological critique of the reality of disenchantment, ''The Myth of Disenchantment'' offered new intellectual-historical interpretations of sociological theorists commonly associated with disenchantment. The book argued that many of these thinkers, including
Max Weber
Maximilian Carl Emil Weber (; ; 21 April 186414 June 1920) was a German Sociology, sociologist, historian, jurist, and political economy, political economist who was one of the central figures in the development of sociology and the social sc ...
,
James George Frazer
Sir James George Frazer (; 1 January 1854 – 7 May 1941) was a Scottish social anthropologist and folkloristJosephson-Storm (2017), Chapter 5. influential in the early stages of the modern studies of mythology and comparative religion.
...
, and
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud ( ; ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating psychopathology, pathologies seen as originating fro ...
, engaged with
mysticism
Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute (philosophy), Absolute, but may refer to any kind of Religious ecstasy, ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or Spirituality, spiritual meani ...
and the
occult
The occult () is a category of esoteric or supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of organized religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving a 'hidden' or 'secret' agency, such as magic and mysti ...
.
For this reason, Storm argues, accounts of disenchantment derived from the work of these figures may need to be revised. In ''The Myth of Disenchantment'' and other academic articles, Storm also argued for a close connection between
Western esotericism
Western esotericism, also known as the Western mystery tradition, is a wide range of loosely related ideas and movements that developed within Western society. These ideas and currents are united since they are largely distinct both from orthod ...
and the origin of religious studies as a discipline.
Around the time of ''The Myth of Disenchantment's'' publication, Storm discussed the thesis and main arguments of the book in articles for
aeon.co and
The Immanent Frame as well as through interviews with magazines and podcasts.
Theory
Storm has written on broader questions of
epistemology
Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that examines the nature, origin, and limits of knowledge. Also called "the theory of knowledge", it explores different types of knowledge, such as propositional knowledge about facts, practical knowle ...
and theory in religious studies. Some of his work in this field seeks to extend and generalize concepts developed in ''The Invention of Religion in Japan''.
Building on ideas in his 2012 book, Storm has developed a trinaristic approach to examining the relationship between secularism, superstition, and religion that he argues is applicable more generally.
This trinary contrasts to earlier social-scientific accounts of secularization, which tend to presuppose a binary between religion and secularism. According to Storm, the trinaristic formulation may allow for a more refined theorization of secularism, secularization, and modernity.
Brill's ''Method & Theory in the Study of Religion'' devoted an issue to further discussing and applying Storm's idea in other subfields of religious studies.
Storm has also been a proponent of what he calls "Reflexive Religious Studies," inspired by the "reflexive sociology" of
Pierre Bourdieu
Pierre Bourdieu (, ; ; ; 1 August 1930 – 23 January 2002) was a French sociologist and public intellectual. Bourdieu's contributions to the sociology of education, the theory of sociology, and sociology of aesthetics have achieved wide influ ...
and
Loïc Wacquant, which describes sociology itself in sociological terms. Reflexive Religious Studies addresses the way that "that academic social science produces feedback in culture in such a way that it produces greater coherence in the social sphere that it then studies."
More specifically Reflexive Religious Studies "examine
those societies in which the category “religion" and its entangled differentiations (e.g., the distinction between religion and the secular) have begun to function as concepts" and it describes how the academic study of religion "actually reverberates in the religious field, revitalizing and even producing religions."
In a 2020 article for ''Method & Theory in the Study of Religion'', Storm applied
analytic philosophy of science
Philosophy of science is the branch of philosophy concerned with the foundations, methods, and implications of science. Amongst its central questions are the difference between science and non-science, the reliability of scientific theories, ...
to critique attempts to model the methods of religious studies on the
natural science
Natural science or empirical science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer ...
s.
There Storm also discussed his plans to develop a new approach to the social sciences that he terms
metamodernism.
This fed into his 2021 monograph, ''Metamodernism: The Future of Theory''.
Reception
''The Myth of Disenchantment'' has been favorably reviewed in several academic publications, including ''
Magic, Ritual, and Witchcraft'', ''
Fides et Historia'', and the ''
Journal of the American Academy of Religion''.
Writing in ''
History of Religions
The history of religion is the written record of human religious feelings, thoughts, and ideas. This period of religious history begins with the invention of writing about 5,200 years ago (3200 BCE). The prehistory of religion involves the st ...
'',
Hugh Urban called ''The Myth of Disenchantment'' "a powerful book that forces us to rethink many of our basic assumptions in the modern
history of ideas", although he argued that Storm could have more closely examined the relationship between modern enchantment and
capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their use for the purpose of obtaining profit. This socioeconomic system has developed historically through several stages and is defined by ...
.
''The Invention of Religion in Japan'' was a finalist best first book in the History of Religion at the
American Academy of Religion
The American Academy of Religion (AAR) is the world's largest association of scholarly method, scholars in the List of academic disciplines, field of religious studies and related topics. It is a nonprofit member association,
serving as a profess ...
and it won a distinguished book of the year award from the
Society for the Scientific Study of Religion. It has also been favorably reviewed in ''
Numen
Numen (plural numina) is a Latin term for "divinity", "divine presence", or "divine will". The Latin authors defined it as follows:For a more extensive account, refer to Cicero writes of a "divine mind" (), a god "whose numen everything obeys", ...
'', the ''
Journal of Japanese Studies'', ''
Religious Studies Review'', and the ''
Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion'', among other academic publications.
A 2019 doctoral dissertation has engaged extensively with the arguments in ''The Myth of Disenchantment'', recognizing their significance but seeking to more deeply examine the connection between enchantment and European
colonialism
Colonialism is the control of another territory, natural resources and people by a foreign group. Colonizers control the political and tribal power of the colonised territory. While frequently an Imperialism, imperialist project, colonialism c ...
. Matthew Melvin-Koushki, a scholar of
Islam
Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
and
Islamic occultism, has also cited ''The Myth of Disenchantment'' to challenge orientalizing accounts of magic in the Islamic world.
The 2017 annual
AAR-
SBL meeting in
Boston
Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
included an "Author Meets Critics" panel devoted to ''The Myth of Disenchantment''.
There have been multiple journal round-tables dedicated to ''Metamodernism: The Future of Theory'' (2021). Writing for
Religious Studies Review, philosopher of religion, Kevin Schilbrack referred to it as "a powerhouse intervention in theorizing in the human sciences." It has also been favoribly reviewed in
American Literary History,
Philosophy Now,
and elsewhere. Ultimately, ''Metamodernism'' won the prestigious book award for "Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion" (Constructive Reflexive Studies) from the
American Academy of Religion
The American Academy of Religion (AAR) is the world's largest association of scholarly method, scholars in the List of academic disciplines, field of religious studies and related topics. It is a nonprofit member association,
serving as a profess ...
with the jury describing it as a "theoretical tour de force."
Bibliography
Books
*
*
*Josephson Storm, Jason Ānanda (2021). ''Metamodernism: The Future of Theory''. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0226602295
Select journal articles in English
*
*
*
*
*
References
External links
Faculty profile at Williams College*
Personal blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Storm, Jason Josephson
Living people
21st-century American philosophers
American Buddhist studies scholars
American historians of religion
American Japanologists
American male writers
American social sciences writers
Harvard Divinity School alumni
Postcolonial theorists
Stanford University alumni
Williams College faculty
Year of birth missing (living people)