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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



Colloquium: Making the Present with the More Than Human Gobi Desert

Matthew King (UC Riverside)
Apr 20, 2023 at - | Cohen 237

The Gobi is not a consensual idea. It is a contrarian stage of desire and repulsion, of mobility and
obstruction. Forged in the negative space of sea, sky, and land, the material Gobi has long been a membrane…



Colloquium: "Gods in the Making: Spirit Mediums and the Consecration of Deity Statues in Contemporary Taiwan"

Aaron K. Reich (St. Joseph's University)
Sep 14, 2023 at - | 204 Cohen Hall

In a temple in south Taiwan, a patron holds a newly carved statue of his tutelary deity as a ritual master performs the requisite rites to animate the statue. In the climactic moment when the statue becomes bound to…