Although dating to 1932, in 2016-17 we’re celebrating our 50th anniversary, given how the Department was reinvented in 1966-7 — in keeping with how the study of religion was established then across public universities in the US. No longer confessionally-oriented and staffed by campus ministers, it became a cross-culturally comparative and interdisciplinary field.

So all semester we’ll be posting some weekly fun facts from 1966 — not that long ago for some of us yet ancient history for others.

In 1966 TIME magazine unveiled this iconic cover, resulting in tremendous backlash from the public. Later in 1969 they ran a follow-up article asking “Is God coming back to life?”.