Studying Religion in Culture

What do you mean, “I don’t look like a religious studies major”?

March 9, 2023 by admin

An actor playing Elle Woods with her small dog in the musical stage adaptation of the film Legally Blonde.

by Madeline Brodbeck, who is a junior majoring in Religious Studies and Political Science. While participating in an icebreaker last semester, we were asked to share our major with a small group of classmates. When it came to be my turn, I informed the group that I was double majoring in political science and religious studies. My classmates were very interested to learn more about my religious studies major. One classmate responded, “You don’t look like a religious studies major.” […]

The Power of Religious Language

February 28, 2023 by Steven Ramey

Decorative image of American flag flying, blue sky background

Describing ideas and movements as religious can promote or diminish the ideas or movements, depending on how the speaker frames the religious language according to their interests. […]

Crafting a Warrior Idiom

February 8, 2023 by Daniel Levine

By Daniel Levine. Anyone who’s taken REL 371 with me over the past three years – or has taken my Israel-Palestine course – will recall a persistent interest in fear: what it does to us, and the various means by which it is channeled to political ends. Some of this work appeared in print for the first time last summer. One aspect of such ‘channeling’ comprises the use of ‘private languages’ to mark off particular fearful experiences: by soldiers and […]

Humans and Nazis: Reevaluating the Conversation of Us and Them

February 6, 2023 by admin

Kadence D. Jackson is a freshman majoring in Political Science and Religious Studies, along with a minor in Judaic Studies. “Evil, animals…,” “Devils, monsters, equivalent to Satan himself…”—these are expressions commonly used when we reference those who belonged to the National Socialist German Workers’ (Nazi) Party during the Second World War. This language is usually voiced casually, perhaps as a means of rationalization; but ironically, I believe it’s actually disassociating Nazis from mankind. […]

In the Shadow of No Future: Justice Claims and the Israel-Palestine Conflict?

January 27, 2023 by Daniel Levine

In a short essay for the AJS Review, I consider how claims of justice work when teaching the Israel-Palestine conflict – a topic which figures centrally in my teaching both for Religious Studies (REL 371, offered every spring) and Political Science (PSC 344 – the Israel-Palestine Conflict). […]

Rituals, Traditions, and… Country Roads?

January 25, 2023 by Ellie Dilworth

Ellie Dilworth is a sophomore double majoring in Business Management and Religious Studies. This past summer, I had the privilege of serving as a camp counselor. For 9 weeks straight, I was pummeled with at least 200 questions a day (no joke), most of which along the lines of: […]

Honors Day Tradition Continues in REL

January 24, 2023 by Russell McCutcheon

REL returns to its pre-pandemic tradition of an in-person Honors Day on April 7, 2023. […]

Welcome to Spring 2023!

January 10, 2023 by admin

Classes begin this week, and REL’s faculty are looking forward to seeing who’s there. The on-campus undergraduate courses in REL this semester include introductions to religious studies by Profs. Altman and Szanto. Other 100-level, introductory courses are being offered by Profs. Ramey, Loewen, and Kyselov. The 200-level courses have a variety of topical foci, with Prof. Jacobs teaching on Judaism, Prof. Newton on African Diaspora Religions, and Prof. Szanto on Islam. Prof. Jacobs also teaches a 300-level course on Jewish-Christian […]

When Do I Get to Be a Scholar?

December 29, 2022 by Ellie Dilworth

Ellie Dilworth is a sophomore double majoring in Business Management and Religious Studies. Just the other day, I was visiting the Museum of the Bible in Washington, DC. As I was walking around, I was brainstorming my upcoming blog post on the institution and thinking of my opening remarks. I was chiefly trying to decide whether to identify myself as a “religious studies scholar” or “scholar of the Bible.” In the midst of this conundrum, I had a very religious […]

REL100 in Retrospect, Part 3

December 14, 2022 by Vaia Touna

An open page of McCutcheon's textbook Studying Religion

The third of a three-part series on students’ reflections written as part of a final assignment in Prof. Vaia Touna’s REL 100 “Introduction to the Study of Religion” in Fall 2022. […]