Department News
Professor McDaniel to Serve as 2021 Baccalaureate Speaker
Professor McDaniel will serve as the baccalaureate speaker for the Class of 2021, which will air on May 16 at noon. Details at the link below.
Professor McDaniel Talks about Listening at the Park
Professor McDaniel appeared on The Park podcast to discuss listening recently. Here's a description, link follows below:
Angela Xia Named CTL Graduate Fellow for Teaching Excellence
PhD student Angela Xia has been named one of 14 Graduate Fellows for Teaching Excellence by the Center for Teaching and Learning. In the 2021–22 academic year, Ms.
Abdul Manan Bhat Receives Presidential PhD Fellowship
PhD student Abdul Manan Bhat has been named a recipient of the Presidential PhD Fellowship. Mr.
Professor Weitzman Publishes on "Strategic Spirituality" in the Journal of the American Academy of Religion
Professor Weitzman has published a new article titled "Strategic Spirituality: Positive Psychology, the Army, and the Ambiguities of 'Spirituali
PhD Student Angela Xia Receives Two Fellowships
PhD Student Angela Xia has received a Foreign Language and Area Studies Summer Fellowship to study Chinese and the Alice Fisher History of Nursing Fellowship.
Max Dugan Earns Multiple Awards
PhD Candidate Max Dugan has received several fellowships and awards in the spring 2021 term. He received a resear
Professor Thomas at Michigan Talks Japan Podcast
Professor Thomas was interviewed about his book Faking Liberties: Religious Freedom in American-Occupied Japan for the Michigan Talks Japan podcast.
Prof Robb interviewed for New Books in Islam Podcast
Listen to the Podcast interview with Prof. Robb here.
Professor Butler's Virtual Book Tour Dates
Professor Butler has a busy spring as she promotes her new book, White Evangelical Racism, at several virtual events.
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.
Faculty Bookshelf
Print and the Urdu Public: Muslims, Newspapers, and Urban Life in Colonial India
Published by Oxford University Press
Wisdom as a Way of Life: Theravada Buddhism Reimagined
This wide-ranging and powerful book argues that Theravāda Buddhism provides ways of thinking about the self that can reinvigorate the humanities and offer broader insights into how to learn and how
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.
The Jews: A History
The Jews: A History is a comprehensive and accessible text that explores the religious, cultural, social, and economic diversity of the Jewish people and their faith.
Feeling Modern: The History of the Emotions in South Asia
A special issue of the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, co-edited by Megan Robb with Elizabeth Chatterjee (Queen Mary, London) and Sneha Krishnan (Oxford).
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.
The Origin of the Jews
The Jews have one of the longest continuously recorded histories of any people in the world, but what do we actually know about their origins?
Faking Liberties: Religious Freedom in American-Occupied Japan
Religious freedom is a founding tenet of the United States, and it has frequently been used to justify policies towards other nations.