Kate Burton also plays attorney Victoria Adler on the series The Good Wife, and to that show I would now like to turn. The Good Wife‘s central character is Alicia Florrirck (Julianna Margulies), a woman estranged from her politician husband, Peter Florrick (Chris North), whose misdeeds force him to be removed from public office as Cook County state’s attorney. A recording of Peter’s adulterous affairs is aired endlessly on all forms of media; on account of his political crimes, he is […]
Month: April 2014
3rd Annual Dinner at Dr. Ramey’s
As they have for three years now, Prof. Steven Ramey and his wife, Terra Rodgers, hosted the final RSSA dinner for the department. From the homemade Indian food and desserts, to the South Indian coffee after dinner, and the wonderful conversation in between, it was a fantastic night! We even had a few musical performances from Raj and Han, Dr. Ramey’s sons, as well as our own Zach Price. There was a fantastic turnout from students and faculty to family and […]
REL Makes an Appearance at the Undergraduate Research Conference
On April 17, 2014 the University of Alabama held its 7th annual Undergraduate Research and Creativity Conference which allows undergraduates, who are working with a faculty advisor, to present either a research paper or poster presentation. This year we had a few students from the Department presenting their research, and they did a fantastic job! Emily Vork, a triple major in Religious Studies, History, and American Studies was presenting a research poster, “Individuality of Slaves in Runway Advertisement” for the […]
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Religion on the Television (Part 2)
The depiction of Southern Christianity is limited somewhat on Nashville (see previous entry). It also makes a small but significant appearance on another popular prime time TV show: Scandal. Part The West Wing, part Homeland, Scandal develops in two locations, primarily: the Oval Office of the White House and the Office of Pope and Associates. The main characters of the show are Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington), a manager of political crises, and Fitzgerald Thomas Grant III (Tony Goldwyn), the President of […]
Take a Knee
The Freedom From Religion Foundation has drawn attention to what it argues is unconstitutional behavior at Clemson’s football program, led by Coach Dabo Swinney (pictured above, reportedly praying after a 2011 victory over Auburn). […]
Cosmos
By Chris Beacham Chris Beacham is a junior undergraduate majoring in Psychology and minoring in Religious Studies. He is from New Orleans, and enjoys filmmaking and reading eastern philosophy. The television show “Cosmos” premiered on Fox channels Sunday night, hosted by astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. It was a sequel to the 1980’s miniseries “Cosmos: A Personal Voyage” hosted by Carl Sagan. I watched both shows that day and found some interesting information contained within, but also some interesting representations. The […]
Religion on the Television (Part 1)
A recent article in the online journal Religious Dispatches discusses the Southern Christian presence, or lack thereof, on the hit television show Nashville. In an intriguing analysis, writer Carrie Allen Tipton points to the popular “spirituality” the show displays instead of the evangelical piety one would expect to find in a program situated in the Bible Belt and devoted to the culture of country of music. Perhaps the a-religiosity of the show can be attributed to the presumed proliferation of the […]
No One Has a Monopoly on Teaching Critical Thinking
Yesterday my colleague Steven Ramey posted about a recent study of those who took the 2013 Law School Admissions Test (LSAT) — their undergraduate GPA, their undergraduate major, and their LSAT score. The means for each major were then graphed (above), with undergrad GPA on the vertical axis and LSAT score on the horizontal, making Classics majors (far top right corner) the highest preforming by both measures. But you may notice that Religious Studies majors are also near the front […]
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Who is the smartest?
Does it even make sense to generalize about students who major in a discipline, using statistics such as test scores and GPAs? Probably not, as each student’s success depends on her own abilities and hard work, strategic choices and realistic advice. Plus, programs at each university have their own character, and those who major in that program often have a significant self-selection bias. […]
The 12th Annual Aronov Lecture
On March 4, 2014, Dr. Richard King, Professor of Buddhist and Asian Studies at the University of Kent, UK, delivered his “From Mysticism to Spirituality: Colonial Legacies and the Reformulation of ‘the Mystic East’” as the Department of Religious Studies’ 12th Annual Aronov Lecture, named after the late Aaron Aronov — the founder of Aronov Realty and the person for whom the Department’s endowed chair in Judaic studies is also named. To learn a little more about Dr. King, take a look […]