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
Emotions that Matter: Anguish, Anger, and Affect in Early Imperial Spanish Spirituality
RELS Distinguished Alum Colloquium
Jes Boon (UNC-Chapel Hill)
Sep 19, 2024 at - | Cohen 204
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"May Your Fasting Be Armor to Our Country": Soldiers, Paramilitary Action, and Religion in Late Antiquity
RELS Colloquium/PSCO
Reyhan Durmaz (Penn)
Naturalizing Religion: Burmese Buddhism and Resource Extraction
RELS Colloquium
Alexandra Kaloyanides (UNC-Charlotte)
Faculty Bookshelf
Jacob of Sarug’s Homilies on Women Whom Jesus Met
Bi-lingual in Syriac and English. Published by Gorgias Press.
Wild Experiment: Feeling Science and Secularism after Darwin
In Wild Experiment, Donovan O. Schaefer challenges the conventional wisdom that feeling and thinking are separate.
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.
Figures of Buddhist Modernity in Asia
This book introduces contemporary Buddhists from across Asia and from various walks of life.
Solomon: The Lure of Wisdom
Tradition has it that King Solomon knew everything there was to know—the mysteries of nature, of love, of God himself—but what do we know of him?
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?
Print and the Urdu Public: Muslims, Newspapers, and Urban Life in Colonial India
Published by Oxford University Press
Islam
Islam is a concise and readable survey of the history of Islam from the birth of Muhammad in seventh century Arabia to the differing situations of Muslims throughout today's world.
White Evangelical Racism
In this clear-eyed, hard-hitting chronicle of American religion and politics, Anthea Butler answers that racism is at the core of conservative evangelical activism and power.
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.
Wayward Distractions: Ornament, Emotion, Zombies and the Study of Buddhism in Thailand
When more than 93 per cent of the citizens of one country profess a single religion, as Thais do Buddhism, and when that religion is deeply integrated into national institutions and ideologies, it
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.