Day Lecture – Studying Religion in Culture

Join Us For the 9th Annual Day Lecture

February 1, 2022 by Jeri Wieringa

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 the 2021 Day Virtual Lecture: Sporting the Sacred

March 5, 2021 by Jeri Wieringa

Poster for the 2021 Day Lecture. Information in post text.

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 […]

Dr. Roshan Abraham: A Day Lecturer’s Origin Story

October 9, 2019 by Richard Newton

Dr. Roshan Abraham is our 2019 Day Lecturer. Prof. Newton was able to chat with him to learn a little bit more about his training and his scholarship. We’ve heard you’ll be talking about the Bible and comics. Comics often involve origin stories. What’s your scholarly origin story? I don’t really have a simple story about my academic training; I got to the study of religion through a very circuitous route. I’ll try to keep it brief. I did my […]

The 6th Annual Day Lecture

November 9, 2018 by Morgan Frick

The Department of Religious Studies hosted its 6th annual Day Lecture. The series (established, by his family, in the memory of REL grad Zachary Day) focuses on religion and popular culture, attracting students from across campus. […]

5 Questions with Teemu Taira

October 22, 2018 by Russell McCutcheon

With the annual Day Lecture at the end of October, we posed a few questions to our upcoming guest, Prof. Teemu Taira (pictured above at Malham Cove, Yorkshire Dales, England). Q: Can you tell us a little about your background: what did you first go to university to study and how did you come across the academic study of religion? Was it always clear that a future career in the university was ahead for you? A: I did not even […]

#Day2018 is here

February 27, 2018 by Russell McCutcheon

Tonight: #Day2018 — our fifth annual Day Lecture. The topic of this series is religion in pop culture and tonight we have Dr. Elijah Siegler visiting campus — he had a busy day yesterday of visiting with faculty and students — who will be talking about the Coen Brothers’ movies. It’s in Smith Hall 205 this year, starting at 7 pm. Looking for a crash course on Coen movies…? See you there! […]

#Day2018

October 13, 2017 by Russell McCutcheon

We’re very pleased to announce that Dr. Elijah Siegler, of the College of Charleston, will be our 2017-18 Day Lecturer. The date for the event is still to be set, but we anticipate it being early in the Spring 2018 semester and we’re looking forward to Dr. Siegler being on campus for a couple days, visiting classes and meeting with students and faculty. In his public lecture, Dr, Siegler will be speaking on what a scholar of religion might have […]

The 4th Annual Day Lecture, Episode 5

November 11, 2016 by admin

Dr. Jason Bivins speaking, prior to his lecture, with Charles Day, whose family and friends have generously made this series possible. In this concluding episode of our five-part series on the 4th Day Lecture, Dr. Bivins summarizes the central themes of his lecture, providing a few closing remarks on the commonalities between religion and jazz. If you want to learn more about the Annual Day Lecture, click here. The Fourth Annual Day Lecture 2016: Dr. Jason Bivins, Episode 5 from […]

The 4th Annual Day Lecture, Episode 4

November 10, 2016 by admin

Dr. Jason Bivins speaking with audience members after the conclusion of his lecture; at the far left is Mr. Charles Day, whose family & friends have made this series possible. In the fourth episode of this five-part series, Dr. Bivins presents his second case study on Sun Ra, an American jazz composer from the 1960s well known for his experimental music and cosmic philosophies. […]

The 4th Annual Day Lecture, Episode 3

November 9, 2016 by admin

Spirits Rejoice! by Dr. Jason Bivins discusses in further detail the research he presented in his lecture on jazz and religion. In this third installment of the 4th Day Lecture, Dr. Bivins introduces one of the many case studies from his book Spirits Rejoice!. This case study focuses on Albert Ayler, a jazz composer from the 1960s who “proceeded from a predictable location into something wild.” […]

Studying Religion in Culture

Ongoing Discussions at the University of Alabama

Tag: Day Lecture