A Serious Perspective

Brittany Brooks is a senior from Midland City, Alabama, who is majoring in Religious Studies and minoring in Anthropology. She has a beautiful, lovable, four pound sister named “Eva the Diva” and enjoys the “awesomeness” that is taught in the Department. This post was originally written for Dr. Sarah Rollens’ course, REL 360: Popular Culture/ Public Humanities. The Indie film A Serious Man is a work that is fascinating, perplexing, gloomy, and funny all at the same time! It tells the story […]

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Book Review: Pollution and Religion in Ancient Rome

Pollution and Religion in Ancient Rome. Jack J. Lennon. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2014. 229 pages. Mark Ortiz is a senior majoring in Religious Studies and New College with a depth study in Political Ecology. This review was written as a final project as part of Dr. Sarah Rollens’ course, REL 237: Religion and Identity in the Ancient Mediterranean World. In many societies, concepts of social order have been shaped considerably by notions of purity and pollution. According to […]

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A Pleasant Surprise: Lage Raho Munnabhai

Vincent M. Hills is a senior at the University of Alabama majoring in History and minoring in Religious Studies. This post was originally written for Dr. Rollens’ course, REL 360: Popular Culture/Public Humanities. Lage Raho Munnabhai is a prime example of the statement that “appearances can be deceiving.” What at first glance looks like a mediocre comedy ends in a film that not only provokes laughter, but also serious thought. The movie attempts to show that people, regardless of their social […]

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The Rabbi and the Lawyer

Khortlan Patterson is a Junior at the University of Alabama majoring in Religious Studies and African American Studies. She is interested in education reform and minority academic achievement. This post was originally written for Dr. Rollens’ course, REL 360: Popular Culture/Public Humanities. A Serious Man is a film detailing a series of unfortunate life events of a Jewish man, Larry Gopnik. Many of us find ourselves in similar messes where we look for or actively commission others, who we consider qualified […]

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REL Announces a New Hire

The Department of Religious Studies is very pleased to announce that it has now finalized another new hire: Vaia Touna, who works on ancient and modern Greek identity, as examples of wider issues in identity studies, will begin as a tenure-track Assistant Professor, in August 2015. Vaia is currently completing her dissertation in the academic study of religion at the University of Alberta, entitled “The Politics of ‘Greek Identity’: Discourses on the Religious Self and Tradition”; she has also earned […]

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Zombieland is Your Land

Sarah Griswold is a junior double majoring in Mathematics and Religious Studies. She spends her “free time” analyzing her favorite shows on Netflix, which of course winds up ruining them. This post was originally written for Dr. Sarah Rollens’ course, REL 360: Popular Culture/Public Humanities. Stories about zombies are a fascination for many people in today’s popular culture. Beyond zombie movies and television shows, there are books, games, and even people who are preparing in real life for a threat that […]

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Just Look at That Parking Lot

Catie Stewart is a sophomore at the University of Alabama from Madison, Mississippi. She is double majoring in English and Religious Studies and minoring in Psychology. This post was originally written for Dr. Rollens’ course, REL 360: Popular Culture/Public Humanities. I recently watched the film A Serious Man for REL 360, and as the plot unfolded, I found myself wondering: What is going on? The storyline is riddled with seemingly disastrous events that all lead up to the movie’s finish, which […]

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