JCRT Publishes First of Two Special Issues from the 2023 Mapping the Doctrine of Discovery Conference

For immediate release

JCRT Publishes First of Two Special Issues from the 2023 Mapping the Doctrine of Discovery Conference

The first of two special issues emerging from the 2023 Mapping the Doctrine of Discovery Conference is now available in The Journal for Cultural and Religious Theory (JCRT). Issue 24.2, Winter 2026, is titled “Challenging the Justifications of Domination Through Religion: ‘We Were Planting Corn and They Were Planting Crosses’ Part 1”. The issue grows out of “The Religious Origins of White Supremacy: Johnson v. M’Intosh and the Doctrine of Christian Discovery,” the conference held at Syracuse University on December 8–10, 2023, with support from the Henry Luce Foundation and Syracuse University.

This first volume gathers essays that confront the religious logics of conquest, white supremacy, and domination across theory and method, U.S. case studies, international case studies, and pedagogy.

Issue link: https://jcrt.org/archives/24.2/

Table of Contents for JCRT 24.2, Winter 2026

• A Preface to Challenging the Justifications of Domination Through Religion: “We Were Planting Corn, and They Were Planting Crosses” — Philip P. Arnold, Sandra Bigtree, and Adam DJ Brett
• Introduction — Philip P. Arnold, Sandra Bigtree, and Adam DJ Brett
• Christian Control of Women and Mother Earth: The Doctrine of Discovery and the Doctrine of Male Domination— Sally Roesch Wagner
• Charting the Doctrine in the Colonial Archive: Papal Bulls and the Translation of the “Discovery” Purpose — Sebastian Modrow
• Using the Doctrine of Discovery to Increase Shared Language and Conceptual Frameworks Between Black and Indigenous Feminist Organizing — Sarah Nahar
• The Medieval Origins of Religious White Supremacy: English Imperialism, Crusade Defeats, and the Doctrine of Discovery — Maeve Callan
• The Chosen People at Grouse Mountain — Wendy Felese
• “Engineering Marvel”: Towards Resisting the Affective Politics of Erie Canal Heritage — Danielle S. Nagle
• Deconstructing the Erie Canal: Three Lessons for its Next Century — Renée Barry
• Silencing the Doctrine of Discovery – The Brazilian Process: Accidental Discoveries, Secret Manuscripts, Imaginary Lines and Myths — Telma Alencar
• Baltic Religion: The Sacred Things — Eglutė Trinkauskaitė and Ellen B. Cutler
• Other Forms of Dwelling: A Dalit – Feminist Perspective — Shrutika Lakshmi
• Hindu Political Theology: Beyond Hindutva’s Political Monotheism — Pranay Somayajula
• Expecting Excellence in Education: When Content Conditions Class Consciousness — Michael E. Chaness
• Flesh of Words: Confrontation, Navigation, and Integrity in the English Classroom — Roberta Hurtado
• Schools, Teachers, and Teacher Educators: Education Through the Disruption of White Supremacy — Ritu Radhakrishnan
• Dismantling White Supremacy in the Classroom and Beyond — Celinet Duran Jimenez
• Unselling the Classroom: Confronting History and Ourselves — Elaina Berlin

Looking Ahead to Part 2

The forthcoming companion issue will turn from religion to law. It will feature essays by Adam DJ Brett and Betty Hill (Lyons), Peter d’Errico, Joseph J. Heath, Steven J. Schwartzberg, Phillip Rodgers-Falk, Robert J. Miller, Steven Newcomb, and Jode Goudy, along with a conclusion by Philip P. Arnold, Sandra Bigtree, and Adam DJ Brett, and a postscript by Adam DJ Brett, Betty Hill (Lyons), and Nethanial Belmont.

We offer deep thanks to Connie Castro for the cover art, to Carl Raschke and Victor Taylor of JCRT for their flexibility and partnership in bringing these volumes to publication, and to all sponsors and presenters whose work made these issues possible.