Studying Religion in Culture

Welcome to Spring 2023!

January 10, 2023 by admin

Classes begin this week, and REL’s faculty are looking forward to seeing who’s there. The on-campus undergraduate courses in REL this semester include introductions to religious studies by Profs. Altman and Szanto. Other 100-level, introductory courses are being offered by Profs. Ramey, Loewen, and Kyselov. The 200-level courses have a variety of topical foci, with Prof. Jacobs teaching on Judaism, Prof. Newton on African Diaspora Religions, and Prof. Szanto on Islam. Prof. Jacobs also teaches a 300-level course on Jewish-Christian […]

When Do I Get to Be a Scholar?

December 29, 2022 by Ellie Dilworth

Ellie Dilworth is a sophomore double majoring in Business Management and Religious Studies. Just the other day, I was visiting the Museum of the Bible in Washington, DC. As I was walking around, I was brainstorming my upcoming blog post on the institution and thinking of my opening remarks. I was chiefly trying to decide whether to identify myself as a “religious studies scholar” or “scholar of the Bible.” In the midst of this conundrum, I had a very religious […]

REL100 in Retrospect, Part 3

December 14, 2022 by Vaia Touna

An open page of McCutcheon's textbook Studying Religion

The third of a three-part series on students’ reflections written as part of a final assignment in Prof. Vaia Touna’s REL 100 “Introduction to the Study of Religion” in Fall 2022. […]

REL100 in Retrospect, Part 2

December 13, 2022 by Vaia Touna

The first of a three-part series on students’ reflections written as part of a final assignment in Prof. Vaia Touna’s REL 100 “Introduction to the Study of Religion” in Fall 2022. […]

REL100 in Retrospect, Part 1

December 12, 2022 by Vaia Touna

The first of a three-part series on students’ reflections written as part of a final assignment in Prof. Vaia Touna’s REL 100 “Introduction to the Study of Religion” in Fall 2022. […]

Announcing the 2023 American Examples Cohort

December 5, 2022 by Michael Altman

We are excited to announce our cohort of participants in the 2023 American Examples program! These early career scholars of religion will participate in a series of three workshops on research, teaching, and digital public humanities hosted by the Department of Religious Studies during the 2023 calendar year. Each workshop is led by mentors from the Department’s faculty and the program is funded by a grant from the Henry Luce Foundation. […]

The Possibilities of Graduate Education

November 26, 2022 by Steven Ramey

Why pursue an MA in the humanities when the chances of securing a tenure track position with a PhD are so low? That is a common question that students and faculty grapple with in the current university context. Helping students prepare for both their future and the myriad ways that they can contribute to society needs to be emphasized, which is something that we take seriously in the MA in Religion in Culture program at Alabama. Last Monday in Denver, […]

Originalism is not Original

October 20, 2022 by etech_admin

A series of diverging railroad line switches in a switchyard.

I have never wanted to go to law school or to become a lawyer, though interestingly enough, at least for me, as a scholar of both the Holocaust/Shoah and historical and contemporary genocides, I find myself addressing so-called “legal questions” in both. […]

None is Too Many*

October 19, 2022 by etech_admin

Cover art for Ken Burns' documentary "The U.S. and the Holocaust"

Bar none, Ken Burns (b. 1953) is decidedly America’s most important documentary filmmaker, notable as well for his multi-episode contributions exploring facets of this nation’s history and story His latest contribution—The U.S. and the Holocaust [2022; 3]—is no exception, and, as he himself has acknowledged in more than one interview, builds upon his 2014 The Roosevelts where the Holocaust/Shoah played only a relatively minor role, but one which he readily has also acknowledged may yet prove to be the “most […]

2023 American Examples Call for Participants

October 14, 2022 by etech_admin

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 […]