We established the REL blog two years ago this summer, originally linked to our 2012-13 lecture series on the relevance of the humanities (hence the theme of many of our early posts) but then widened the lens considerably last summer, developing a faculty blog along with one for current students, grads, and even for guests. Overall, we’ve had 23,500 hits, with 599 being our best single day. We’ll be posting from the archives throughout the summer, and publishing new content […]
Yes, the year-end report for 2013-14 has been written, proofed, and sent to the Dean. So it’s in the record books now. It was another great year in REL: the newly inaugurated Day Lecture series; a new undergraduate research symposium established; new faculty members coming on board and even hired for the coming year; four grads returned to talk about the relevance of their degrees; the Manly Cup Kick-ball Megabowl…; more Vimeo videos featuring some wonderful students, both new and […]
Did you get your copy of the annual newsletter? (We gave it a facelift… It looks good in Greece, no?) No? Well, find it here or send us your address. […]
Among the assorted knick-knacks that line my office’s shelves—ranging from such relics as photos of friends and family or gifts I’ve accumulated over the years to a selection of tattered romance novels shelved long ago among my books by mischievous students—is a nicely matted and framed “fossil” of Knightia, a long extinct genus of small boney North American freshwater fish, dating to more than 35 million years ago (or what scientists know as the Eocene epoch), and which was recovered […]
We received an interesting commentary the other day, from a Distance Learning student, concerning one of our courses, REL 100 Introduction to the Study of Religion, which is also offered as an online course (developed by our own Prof. Merinda Simmons and taught, this past semester, by Mary Rebecca Read-Wahidi). The comment read (our thanks for permission to post it): […]
My first book, Manufacturing Religion, was a critique of what I called the discourse on sui generis religion — that is, the approach to studying religion that presumes its object of study is somehow unique, self-caused, original, one of a kind, can’t be fully explained, etc. To rephrase it, it was a critique of those who think that, when it comes to studying religion, a special set of interpretive tools must be used, to get at the deep meaning of […]
Does technology improve or replace universities? There was a debate recently, at Columbia University, on this very topic; read about it here or watch it. […]
This semester I taught our senior seminar, required of all majors and minors before they graduate from the department. It was on the topic of tradition. Well, not really. It was on the topic of the discourse on tradition. That’s a difference that matters, I think. […]
The 2013-14 newsletter is here. And, yes, we’ve shaken things up a little… […]
The Freedom From Religion Foundation has drawn attention to what it argues is unconstitutional behavior at Clemson’s football program, led by Coach Dabo Swinney (pictured above, reportedly praying after a 2011 victory over Auburn). […]