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The Nature of Truth, Categorization, and Other Blurry Matters

April 23, 2014

By Brooke Champagne Brooke Champagne is an instructor of English and the Assistant Director of First-Year Writing at The University of Alabama. She received her Master of Fine Arts degree in creative nonfiction from Louisiana State University. While she makes her living as a teacher, she is a perennial student of writing, religion, and language, including REL 419 in Spring 2014. If categorization is an ideological act, then the literary nonfiction genre is undergoing a major existential crisis. While there […]

Cosmos

April 16, 2014

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 […]

Approaching the Bible

April 9, 2014

By Max Hartley Max Hartley is a senior studying Anthropology and Asian Studies, with a focus on East Asia. She is particularly fascinated by mythology, religion, and the influence of folk religions in the modern age, as well as shamanism in its many forms, particularly as it is practiced in Korea. This article from the Huffington Post, notes prominent physicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson stating “don’t try to use the Bible as a textbook.” This small statement could mean a lot in […]

Renaming Our Boats

April 2, 2014

Christopher Hurt graduated in 2008 with an REL major and a minor in Creative Writing. Now living in Los Angeles and training dogs at The Zoom Room (he’s been working with dogs for 3 years), he is pursuing a career in music: recently singing and playing Hammond Organ in the Jamestown Pagans. Like many people, from what I read, I have been obsessed with HBO’s “True Detective” lately…. […]

What Does Your Jesus Look Like?

March 31, 2014

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Les petits pas: A Response to Baby Steps

March 19, 2014

By Kim Davis Kim Davis earned her B.A. in French and Religious Studies from the University of Alabama in 2003. She went on to get her Masters in French Linguistics and Literature in 2007 and a Masters in Secondary Language Pedagogy in 2010, both from UA. Kim now teaches French and Mythology at Tuscaloosa County High School. I recently have gone through a period of questioning how much I have been able to accomplish in my job as a French […]

Honors Day 2014

March 18, 2014

Yes, campers, it’s that time of year again — time to wash behind your ears and dust off the good shoes: Honors Day is coming! […]

The Humanities, the UK, and Southern Food

March 14, 2014

Prof. Richard King, professor of Buddhist and Asian Studies at the University of Kent, sits down to discuss his work, as well as the Humanities, higher education in the United Kingdom, and even veggie corndogs. Dr. King delivered the 12th annual Aronov Lecture, titled “From Mysticism to Spirituality: Colonial Legacies and the Reformulation of ‘the Mystic East,’” so be on the lookout for the posting of the lecture video. Also, check out this lecture getting some press in the UK. […]

Retellings of Baridegi

March 6, 2014

By: Max Hartley Max Hartley is a senior studying Anthropology and Asian Studies, with a focus on East Asia. She is particularly fascinated by mythology, religion, and the influence of folk religions in the modern age, as well as shamanism in its many forms, particularly as it is practiced in Korea The Korean myth of Bari-degi or The Abandoned Princess Bari tells the story of the first mudang, or shaman. The myth details how the young princess, abandoned at birth […]

Lectures and Films and Blogs, Oh My…

March 5, 2014

REL 360 is the course number that we’re now using for a new, 1 credit hour course (repeatable for up to a total of 3 semesters/credit hours), beginning in the Fall of 2014, on what happens when the Humanities bumps into popular culture. Offered each semester, it is the outgrowth of the past two years of informal movie nights with our student association — although they were successful events they lacked the opportunity of delving into the issues of the […]

Studying Religion in Culture

Ongoing Discussions at the University of Alabama

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