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
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.
Drawing on Tradition: Manga, Anime, and Religion in Contemporary Japan
Manga and anime (illustrated serial novels and animated films) are highly influential Japanese entertainment media that boast tremendous domestic consumption as well as worldwide distribution and a
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
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.
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?
Song and Story in Biblical Narrative: The History of a Literary Convention in Ancient Israel
This book examines a literary form within the Bible that has slipped through the cracks of modern scholarship: the mixing of song and story in biblical narrative.
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
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.
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.
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.
Gathering Leaves and Lifting Words: Histories of Buddhist Monastic Education in Laos and Thailand
Gathering Leaves and Lifting Words examines modern and premodern Buddhist monastic education traditions in Laos and Thailand.