Women’s Places

The Gideons are on campus today, like every Fall, handing out copies of the New Testament. While I leave it to others to debate the place of such an activity on a US public university campus, I thought I’d relate a conversation I had with a gentleman just outside my parking deck this morning. Me: Are there female members of the Gideons? Him: Yes, there’s a women’s auxiliary. Me: I ask because I’ve never seen women handing out New Testaments […]

Read More from Women’s Places

Survey Says…?

Have you seen this new Pew Foundation survey on being Jewish in America? Like all surveys it raises some interesting questions, such as whether it simply describes an already existing object of study (one that nicely divides into a variety of easily and clearly distinguishable sub-types) or whether the questions, categories, and sub-divisions actively constitute an object of study. What’s more, who is doing that constitution: group members themselves or the people who study them? For a survey such as […]

Read More from Survey Says…?

A Few Moments with Monica Miller

Dr. Monica Miller, of Lehigh University, recently delivered the inaugural Day Lecture — an annual lecture in memory of one of our graduates, and generously established this year by his family and friends. Our own Dr. Merinda Simmons sat down and talked with Dr. Miller about her work and the field of the study of religion. A video of Dr. Miller’s lecture will also be posted soon….   A Few Moments with Monica Miller from UA Religious Studies. […]

Read More from A Few Moments with Monica Miller

Ritual Fail

Several of our students and faculty members were at the College of Arts & Sciences’ tent this past Saturday for Homecoming, when Departments are invited to staff a table or two for a few hours and do something creative for fans and alumni attending the football game. There’s face painting and beanbag games, lots of candy and performances by students from the School of Music. While we can’t compete with the huge snakes that the Department of Biology always brings, […]

Read More from Ritual Fail

Biased or Balanced?

So, did you catch that Prof. Altman‘s recent post on Mircea Eliade (which was linked here) was just quoted on Andrew Sullivan’s blog. Maybe you’ve seen Sullivan on TV as a political commentator or maybe you follow his blog — he’s certainly got a national media profile. But did you read Mike’s original post? If so, what do you think of the particular quote from it that appeared on The Dish? Is this what Mike’s article was about…? Was it […]

Read More from Biased or Balanced?