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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



"Toward the Human, After Man": A Sylvia Wynter Schematic

RELS Colloquium
Nathan Snaza (Richmond)
Apr 10, 2025 at - | Cohen 204

This event provides a schematic introduction to the thought of Sylvia Wynter, a Jamaican theorist whose work has become enormously influential in contemporary theories of race,…



Coincidence, Contradiction, Affect: On Spirited Knowing

RELS Colloquium
Emily Ng (Penn Anthropology)
Apr 17, 2025 at - | Cohen 204

Emily Ng is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research centers on themes of madness, religiosity, and cosmopolitics, with…



Islam in the Tamil World

Co-sponsored by the South Asia Center, Department of South Asian Studies, and Department of Religious Studies at the University of Pennsylvania
Apr 18, 2025 - Apr 19, 2025 (All Day) | PCPSE Blank Forum, 133 South 36th Street
University of Pennsylvania

This two-day workshop explores the modern textual, visual, material, and somatic traditions of Muslim communities in the Tamil world, a linguistic sphere of shared social, cultural, and intellectual practices…