Understanding the various systems that organize the world is one outcome of a major inReligious Studies. Though it was not his first expectation, that is exactly what Justin Nelson (RELmajor who graduated in 2007) credits for contributing to various successes he has experienced.Last month, Justin returned to campus for Grad Tales, a department event that features alumnisharing with students their journey from graduation to wherever they are now. It is anencouraging event to attend during undergrad as most, if not […]
Category: Public Events
Posts in this category discuss the Department’s various public events — whether announcing them, providing an excerpt from a speaker’s talk, or commenting on their significance and application.
Welcome Back Fall 2023
We are glad to have students returning to classes this week after a busy summer for everyone. We have a new department chair and an exciting group of incoming MA students. Check out our Welcome Back video to see some of the changes that we have made to get ready for Fall 2023. We have had a productive summer beyond those changes. As a faculty, we have finished 6 books, more than 20 book chapters, 4 journal articles, and international […]
Honors Day Tradition Continues in REL
REL returns to its pre-pandemic tradition of an in-person Honors Day on April 7, 2023. […]
2023 American Examples Call for Participants
American Examples is a collaborative working group for early career scholars who study religion in America, broadly conceived, from a variety of disciplines. The program is generously funded by the Henry Luce Foundation. American Examples engages the study of religion in America across three areas: research, teaching, and public scholarship. Drawing on expertise from across the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Alabama, American Examples produces scholars whose work exceeds the academic and geographic boundaries of “American religion” or “American […]
The 19th Annual Aronov Lecture
Join us for the 2022 Aronov Lecture with Prof. Andrea Jain, hosted by Prof. Steven Ramey. March 23, 2022 at 7pm (Central Time) The Aronov lecture will be virtual again this year as we transition back to normal operations and look forward to next year’s in-person event. Andrea R. Jain, Ph.D. is Professor of Religious Studies at Indiana University, Indianapolis, editor of the Journal of the American Academy of Religion, and author of Selling Yoga: From Counterculture to Pop Culture […]
Join Us For the 9th Annual Day Lecture
Join Prof. Michael Altman in a virtual conversation with Cody Musselman of Yale University February 16, 2022 at 7pm (Central Time). Cody Musselman is a scholar of contemporary American religion with degrees in Religious Studies from Yale University, Harvard Divinity School, and Kalamazoo College. Her work focuses on the theories and embodiment of religion in everyday life. Her current manuscript, “Spiritual Exercises: Fitness and Religion in Modern America” uses the fitness franchises CrossFit and SoulCycle as case studies for theorizing […]
Announcing Uncivil Religion: A Digital Resource about Religion in the January 6 Attack on the Capitol
Following announcements from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History and the University of Alabama, the Department of Religious Studies is proud to announce a new digital resource produced in collaboration with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History’s Center for the Understanding of Religion in American History Uncivil Religion uses publicly available digital media to trace the threads of religious symbols, ideas, discourses, and identities throughout the events at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. Launching just days […]
Got a question? 1-800-REL-HELP is here with an answer.
Sometimes there are tough questions in the academic study of religion. That’s why there’s 1-800-REL-HELP, a hotline for your most difficult religious studies quandaries. Written by participants in the 2020 American Examples working group and produced by recently graduated MA students Jack Bernardi and Jeremee Nute, these videos answer questions about everything from atheism to ritual and cults to charisma. The videos are posted on the American Examples YouTube channel (Subscribe!) or you can watch them on the playlist below. […]
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Announcing the 2021 Day Virtual Lecture: Sporting the Sacred
We invite you to join us on March 10th at 7pm (central) for our annual Day Lecture — which will be a virtual event this year, hosted by Prof. Richard Newton. Dr. Zachary T. Smith will discuss the academic study of religion and sports, beginning with the question: how can we think beyond the common scholarly (and popular) characterization of sport as some kind of new quasi-religious phenomena of secularized society? Zach is an Assistant Teaching Professor in Kinesiology, in […]
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New Titles in REL: Second Virtual Book Event (Zoom)
Join us for another evening of conversation, this time hosted by REL’s own Dr. K. Merinda Simmons and celebrating the recent publication of another new title in REL, Identifying Roots: Alex Haley and the Anthropology of Scriptures, by Dr. Richard Newton. Due to pandemic protocols, our book events for Spring 2021 are virtual and open to guests both on and off campus. We invite you to join us virtually, via Zoom, on February 23, 2021, at 7 p.m. (US central time). […]
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