Department News
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.
Professor Butler Interviewed at Religion Dispatches and Keeping it 101 about White Evangelical Racism
Professor Butler's new book drops soon, and the interviews are coming in fast and furious.
Professor Thomas Selected for Sacred Writes 2021 Cohort
Professor Thomas has been selected as one of 24 fellows for trainings conducted by Sacred Writes, a project supporting public scholarship on religi
Professor Thomas Curates "American Religion, Inside Out"
Professor Thomas has curated a collection of essays as an online journal supplement for American Religion.
Professor Robb Awarded Fulbright Research Chair in South Asian Islam
The U.S. Department of State and the J.
Professor Robb Speaks at the Society for the Promotion of Urdu (India)
Professor Robb will speak for the Anjuman Taraqqi Urdu (Hind) or the Society for the Promotion of Urdu (India) on Friday, January 29th at 11:30 PM Eastern Standard Time.
Professor Schaefer at the Classical Ideas Podcast
Professor Schaefer was recently interviewed about his book Religious Affects at the Classical Ideas Podcast.
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
From Mulberry Leaves to Silk Scrolls: New Approaches to the Study of Asian Manuscript Traditions
From Mulberry Leaves to Silk Scrolls is a multidisciplinary consideration of Asian manuscripts.
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.
Print and the Urdu Public: Muslims, Newspapers, and Urban Life in Colonial India
Published by Oxford University Press
The Lovelorn Ghost and the Magical Monk: Practicing Buddhism in Modern Thailand
Stories centering on the lovelorn ghost (Mae Nak) and the magical monk (Somdet To) are central to Thai Buddhism.
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
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.
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
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.