Department News
Emeritus Professor Robert Kraft (1934–2023)
We are sad to report that the Berg Professor of Religious Studies, Emeritus
Professor Schaefer's Book Wins Prize from International Society for Science and Religion
Professor Schaefer's Wild Experiment has received a book prize from the
Prof. Schaefer Receives 2023 Ludwik Fleck Prize from Society for Social Studies of Science
Associate Professor Donovan Schaefer was just announced as the winner of the 2023 Fleck Prize for his book Wild Experiment: Feeling Sci
PhD Candidate Angela Xia Receives Two Grants for Archival Research
PhD Candidate Angela Xia has received two grant
Congratulations to ASSOCIATE Professors Megan Eaton Robb and Donovan Schaefer!
The Department of Religious Studies is thrilled to announce the recent promotions of two of our colleagues.
Claire Elliot wins the annual Khyentse Foundation Award for Excellence in Buddhist Studies
Claire Elliot graduated with her Masters in Asian studies from Cornell University in 2020, where she studied Thai, Pali, and Sinhala.
RELS Students Receive Prizes and Awards
RELS celebrated the accomplishments of many students and faculty at an end-of-year celebration held on Thursday, April 27th.
PhD Candidate Kirby Sokolow Selected as 2023–24 Wolf Humanities Center Graduate Fellow
PhD Candidate Kirby Sokolow has been selecte
PhD Candidate Jeremy Steinberg Named 2023–24 Graduate Fellow for Teaching Excellence
PhD Candidate Jeremy Steinberg has been s
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
PSCO Opening Lecture by Yael Fisch, Title TBA
PSCO Lecture
Yael Fisch (Hebrew University of Jerusalem)
Candace Lukasik, "Martyrs and Migrants: Coptic Christians and the Transnational Politics of Persecution"
Religious Studies – SNF Paideia Special Lecture
Candace Lukasik (Mississippi State University)
Seema Golestaneh, "Unknowing of Place: Wandering, Listening and Sufi Epistemologies in Iran"
RELS Colloquium
Seema Golestaneh (Cornell University)
Faculty Bookshelf
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.
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.
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.
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.
Surviving Sacrilege: Cultural Persistence in Jewish Antiquity
In a world of relentless and often violent change, what does it take for a culture to survive?
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
Figures of Buddhist Modernity in Asia
This book introduces contemporary Buddhists from across Asia and from various walks of life.
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.
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.
The Throne Carrier of God: The Life and Thought of ‘Ala’ ad-dawla as-Simnani
This book constitutes a comprehensive investigation of the life and teachings of one of the most famous Sufis of the Iranian world.
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.
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