August 2016 – Studying Religion in Culture

#RELResearch: Professors Simmons, Loewen, and Altman Publish Together

August 29, 2016 by admin

If you pick up the most recent issue of the venerable journal Method and Theory in the Study of Religion you will find three essays from REL faculty discussing the recently published Norton Anthology of World Religion. Rather than a simple review of the multivolume work, the essays from Merinda Simmons, Nathan Loewen, and Mike Altman consider what the publication of the anthology means for the larger field of religious studies. Each essay puts the anthology into a larger context of how […]

Ar·ti·facts Returns for the 2016 Semester!

August 25, 2016 by admin

We’re kicking off the fall semester with the resurgence of the ar·ti·facts series, in which faculty showcase an item from his or her office that bears some significance or importance to the professor and his/her role in the department. This season starts off with Dr. Nathan Loewen and a bit of family history… […]

REL Movie Nights Return with Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai

August 23, 2016 by admin

Our one credit hour course–REL 360–returns for the fall semester with the showing of Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai. This 1999 crime/action film follows “Ghost Dog”, a hit-man for the mafia who models his life by the code of the samurai. When one of his missions goes awry, causing him to leave a witness alive, Ghost Dog himself becomes a target of the mafia. […]

Constructing Judaism and Claiming Christianity: Modern Jewish Philosophy in an Age of Theory

August 23, 2016 by admin

Robert Erlewine is an Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Illinois Wesleyan University where he teaches courses related to philosophy of religion and Judaism. He is the author of two monographs, Monotheism and Tolerance: Recovering a Religion of Reason (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2010) and Judaism and the West: From Hermann Cohen to Joseph Soloveitchik (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2016). In recent years, in the academic study of religion there have been rather public disputes about the nature of religious […]

Whose Line Is It Anyway?

August 17, 2016 by admin

It’s a new academic year so, yes, we have some new posters going up around Manly Hall — one being the new and improved faculty display case. Located between the offices of Dr. Jacobs and Dr. Touna, this new poster reveals, for the first time ever, some fun facts that you probably didn’t know about your professors. […]

Welcome Back 2016

August 16, 2016 by admin

The Department of Religious Studies is thrilled to welcome you back to the start of another eventful academic year! We’re ushering in the new semester with a bit of a blast to the past as the Department celebrates fifty years of studying religion in culture. Check out the video to see just how much things have changed around Manly Hall. Welcome Back ’16 from UA Religious Studies. […]

“Celebrating Merrily Their Happy Anniversary…”

August 8, 2016 by Russell McCutcheon

Yes, we’re celebrating the Department’s 50th anniversary throughout 2016-17. Although we’ll wait until later to let you know precisely what that celebration will entail, I thought I’d let you know the rationale for why we’re celebrating this now. […]