An Evening with Annette Yoshiko Reed

The Aronov Lecture brings to the University of Alabama renowned scholars of religion whose work can communicate lessons and insights relevant to the broader human sciences. One of our department’s two annual lectures, we are excited to host this year’s speaker, Dr. Annette Yoshiko Reed on the evening of Wednesday, October 21 at 7 pm (central time). […]

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The Science of Religion–A Work in Progress

Prof. Richard Newton reports on a discussion topic from his graduate seminar on the history of religious studies. His students have been talking about the backstory of debates on definition as it pertains to religious studies. This week, students read a little bit from the nineteenth century Dutch scholars, Cornelis P. Tiele. In my History of the Study of Religion seminar, our Religion in Culture graduate students have been discussing the very enterprise in which we are engaged. The course […]

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Studying The Bible in Culture: Is it Syncretism or Redaction?

In our series on studying the Bible in Culture. Religion major Will Watson ’21 shares how he studied the Bible in Culture as part of an independent study with Prof. Newton. Be sure to also check out the first and second installments of this series.  During the course of my independent study with Dr. Newton, we covered a wide range of topics that ultimately coalesced in an essay that outlined the process for understanding religion in culture that we had extrapolated throughout our semester […]

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Teaching the Bible in Culture: Identifying Room for Questions Unanswered

Prof. Newton reflects on his approach to teaching the Bible in a public university. Study religion and find out about the Bible in Culture here, part 1, and in future posts. One of my aims in my Introduction to New Testament course is to lead students in thinking carefully about the actors and drama represented in the text. As Adele Reinhartz notes, when our explanations employ terms like “Pharisee,” “Jews,” “Samaritans,” or “Romans” too assuredly, we probably have more questions to ask […]

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Bringing REL to San Diego–#aarsbl19 #naasr2019

November is in full swing, and that means it is annual meeting season for scholars of religion. The North American Association for the Study of Religion, the American Academy of Religion, and the Society of Biblical Literature will all conference in San Diego, November 23-26. Many of our REL faculty and graduate students will be on the program. Learn a bit more about what they’ll be up to and where you can find them. […]

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