Department News
Jeremy Steinberg Publishes Article in Judaica
Jeremy Steinberg, doctoral candidate in RELS, has just published a new journal article in Judaica: Neue Digitale Folge
Dr. Angela Xia Interviewed about Her Research
Dr. Angela Xia, former doctoral student and now a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Notre Dame, has been interviewed by the Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism.
Congratulations to Dr. Max Dugan!
Max Dugan successfully passed the defense of his doctoral dissertation “Feeling Authentically Islamic: Halal Consumption, Islamic Traditions, and Material Religion in a Gentrify
Professor Schaefer's "Sacred Stuff" Gets Coverage in Penn Today
Professor Schaefer took members of his Penn Global Seminar, "Sacred Stuff," on a tour of the UK to sites such as churches and stone circles.
Congratulations to Dr. Angela Xia!
On July 10, Angela Xia successfully defended her dissertation, "The Rest of Life: Old Age and the Politics of Care in the United States, 1946-1981." The newly minted Dr.
Congratulations to Dr. Ali Noori
Ali Noori successfully defended his dissertation, "Pious Praise Poetry: Emotions, Piety, and the Making of Medieval Islamic Subject," on June 27th, 2024.
Jeremy Steinberg Named 2024–25 Wolf Humanities Center Doctoral Fellow
PhD Candidate Jeremy Steinberg has been named the Wolf Humanities Center Doctoral Fellow for the 2024–25 academic year. He will participate in a series of workshops on the theme of "Keywords."
Graduate Students Win Research Prizes
The Graduate Group in Religious Studies is pleased to announce the recipients of several annual prizes.
Kirby Sokolow Receives Dissertation Research Award
PhD Candidate Kirby Sokolow has received a Dissertation Research Award in support of her archival and oral historical research for her dissertation, “Buddhist Exceptionalism Behind Bars: Transformi
Claire Elliot Receives Hopkinson Fellowship
PhD student Claire Elliot was recently selected as a recipient of the Hopkinson Fellowship.
With particular strengths in the study of Christianity, Judaism, American religions, Islam, secularism, Buddhism, and other Asian religions, the Department of Religious Studies emphasizes descriptive, historical, and theoretical approaches to the study of religion.
Upcoming Events
Naturalizing Religion: Burmese Buddhism and Resource Extraction
RELS Colloquium
Alexandra Kaloyanides (UNC-Charlotte)
Interview Skills Workshop
RELS Colloquium
Megan Eaton Robb (RELS) & Donovan Schaefer (RELS)
Building a "Great Wall of Esoteric Buddhism" on the Sino-Russian Borderlands: Buddhist Pan-Asianism and (Re)Education in the Japanese Empire
RELS Colloquium
Daigengna Duoer (Boston)
Faculty Bookshelf
Key Themes for the Study of Islam
Key Themes for the Study of Islam examines the central themes and concepts indispensable to an informed understanding of Islamic religion and society.
Death before Dying: The Sufi Poems of Sultan Bahu
These 115 poems introduce readers in English to Sultan Bahu (d. 1691), a Sufi mystical poet who continues to be one of the most beloved writers in Punjabi.
Buddhist Narrative in Asia and Beyond
Publication of the proceedings of the conference "Buddhist Narrative in Asia and Beyond" at Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, August 2010, edited by Peter Skilling & Justin McDaniel.
Alef is for Allah: Childhood Emotion and Visual Culture in Islamic Societies
Alef Is for Allah is the first groundbreaking study of the emotional space occupied by children in modern Islamic societies.
Religious Affects: Animality, Evolution, and Power
In Religious Affects, Donovan Schaefer challenges the notion that religion is inextricably linked to language and belief, proposing instead that it is primarily driven by affects.
Architects of Buddhist Leisure: Socially Disengaged Buddhism in Asia’s Museum, Monuments, and Amusement Parks
Buddhism, often described as an austere religion that condemns desire, promotes denial, and idealizes the contemplative life, actually has a thriving leisure culture in Asia.
Aisha’s Cushion: Religious Art, Perception, and Practice in Islam
Media coverage of the Danish cartoon crisis and the destruction of the Buddhas of Bamiyan left Westerners with a strong impression that Islam does not countenance depiction of religious imagery.
Light Upon Light
Light upon Light: Essays in Islamic Thought and History in Honor of Gerhard Bowering brings together studies that explore the richness of Islamic intellectual life in the pre-modern period
From Mulberry Leaves to Silk Scrolls: New Approaches to the Study of Asian Manuscript Traditions
From Mulberry Leaves to Silk Scrolls is a multidisciplinary consideration of Asian manuscripts.
Muslims Against the Muslim League: Critiques of the Idea of Pakistan
An anthology of essays, edited by Ali Usman Qasmi and Megan Eaton Robb, exploring Muslim criticism of the founding of Pakistan.
Religion and the Self in Antiquity
Many recent studies have argued that the self is a modern invention, a concept developed in the last three centuries.
Women in the Church of God in Christ: Making a Sanctified World
The Church of God in Christ (COGIC), an African American Pentecostal denomination founded in 1896, has become the largest Pentecostal denomination in the United States today.