Department News
Congratulations to Dr. Gabriel Raeburn!
Congratulations to Gabriel Raeburn, who successfully defended his dissertation "Preaching Prosperity: Pentecostals and the Transformation of American Evangelicalism, 1946–1988" on April 22, 2022!
Grad Student Awards and Fellowships
The Department is delighted to announce that several doctoral students in our program have recently received awards and fellowships!
Undergraduate Research Published in National Honor Society Journal
Emma Boockvar and Zoe Millstein, two students in Professor Robb's Religious Studies Course Gender, Sexuality, and Religion have had their research accepted for publication by The Journ
Max Dugan Named a 2021-2022 Dean's Scholar!
The Department of Religious Studies is delighted to announce that doctoral candidate Max Dugan has been appointed a 2021-2022 Dean's Scholar in the School of Arts and Sciences.
Prof. Elias Awarded Major Grant from Templeton Religion Trust
Congratulations to Prof.
Anthea Butler Named Geraldine R. Segal Professor in American Social Thought
Congratulations to Prof. Anthea Butler, chair of Religious Studies, who has been named Geraldine R. Segal Professor in American Social Thought!
Professor Robb's Archival Work with Students Featured in Penn Today
Professor Robb's project of creating a digital archive of the letters of an 18th century Mughal woman was featured in the latest issue of Penn Today.
Professor Thomas Publishes Chapter in New Book on Religious Freedom
Professor Thomas recently published a chapter titled "Microclimates of Religious Freedom" in a volume edited by Penn professors Heather J.
Prof. Butler, Department Chair, Promoted to Full Professor!
The Department of Religious Studies is thrilled to announce that Prof. Anthea Butler has been formally promoted to the rank of full professor. Prof.
GRE Requirement in the 2021-2022 Admissions Cycle Waived
In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of Religious Studies is waiving the GRE requirement for the 2021-2022 graduate admissions cycle.
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
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 FBI and Religion
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has had a long and tortuous relationship with religion over almost the entirety of its existence.
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
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?
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.
Jacob of Sarug’s Homilies on Women Whom Jesus Met
Bi-lingual in Syriac and English. Published by Gorgias Press.
Print and the Urdu Public: Muslims, Newspapers, and Urban Life in Colonial India
Published by Oxford University Press
