Last Thursday, the Religious Studies Department hosted its second annual book event at Ernest & Hadley Booksellers in downtown Tuscaloosa. The refreshments and cozy ambiance created the perfect atmosphere for any book lover to mingle and browse the store. Professors, students, and even Tuscaloosa locals joined us to discuss Prof. Ramey‘s and Prof. Loewen‘s recently published books.
Our host this year, Prof. Richard Newton, picked each scholars brain before encouraging the audience to ask questions of their own. When introducing Prof. Ramey, Dr. Newton admitted that a colleague had warned him of Ramey’s intellectual power — claiming he could destroy a person with his mind. Thankfully for Prof. Newton (and as we all already know), he quickly realized that Prof. Ramey is much too kind to ever even think of performing some sort of said mind-melt.During the first annual book event in 2017, Prof. Ramey, an interviewee this year, hosted Vaia Touna and Michael Altman. Prof. Touna’s book, Fabrications of the Greek Past, is pictured above.
Prof. Ramey responds to an audience member about his work as an editor for Fabricating Difference, a book that evaluates the possible implications of using a widely accepted “difference” to establish social relationships. Ramey recollects drawing on the 2016 presidential election to exemplify a similar form of classification in the conclusion of the book.
Prof. McCutcheon chats with Prof. Emily Crews and Marshall Cunningham during a short intermission.Ernest & Hadley Booksellers was once again the perfect venue for our second annual book event. Very few audience members left the cozy bookstore empty-handed.Prof. Newton re-evaluates a passage in Beyond the Problem of Evil, with a bit of help from the author, Prof. Nathan Loewen.Event goers disperse amongst the bookshelves to browse, chat, and munch on snacks.Several Tuscaloosa community members came by the event and even stayed after to chat. Here, Prof. Loewen responds to a question about the often overlooked limitations of religion and philosophy.During the event, both Prof. Ramey and Prof. Loewen each read a short excerpt from their work. Prof. Newton reacts to Prof. Loewen admitting that he is all too familiar with evil.BA and MA students catch up with professors before heading home with their new books in tow.
Despite their busy schedules at home and in the classroom, our professors still make time to explore and share their academic interests. Nothing quite beats a chilly November evening spent in a bookstore — not to mention the great conversation and even better company. Thanks to everyone who spent their Thursday night with us. We look forward to another fun evening at next years book event.
