Past News

CONFERENCE ON RELIGION AND COMICS

The conference, "Graven Images: Religion in Comic Books and Graphic Novels," held from April 11 through April 13, 2008, was a three-day event that featured a keynote lecture by James Sturm, author of the graphic novel, The Golem's Mighty Swing and Director for the Center of Cartoon Studies; presentations by fifteen graduate students, professors, and independent scholars on subjects as wide-ranging as "Revelation and Revenge in the Comics," "American Catholic Citizenship," and "London as Sacred and Desecrated Space(s) in Alan Moore's From Hell;" and two panel discussions, one featuring five graphic novelists whose work explores religious ideas, from retellings of Hebrew and Christian scripture and Hindu sacred stories to wholly original tales that incorporate concepts from contemporary Islam or ancient paganism. This conference was conceived and organized by A. David Lewis, a PhD candidate in the Religion and Literature specialization and Christine Hoff Kraemer, who earned her PhD in Religion and Literature in January 2008.

Check out our website at: religionincomics

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NEW BOOK BY DONNA FREITAS

Congratulations to Professor Donna Freitas of our own Religion Faculty for her new book, Sex and the Soul: Juggling Sexuality, Spirituality, Romance, and Religion on America's College Campuses, just released by Oxford University Press. Professor Freitas and the Lilly Foundation-funded study on which "Sex and the Soul" is based are featured in "Better than Sex" in the new issue of Bostonia. Why do so many college students migrate from religion to spirituality during their college years? Might sexual experimentation have something to do with it? You can see what Professor Freitas has to say about all of this in her own op-eds in the Wall Street Journal and the Chronicle of Higher Education. Or you can see her in person on Wednesday, April 16, at the Boston University Barnes and Noble, where she will be discussing her provocative new book.

Read more in the Boston University Alumni magazine Bostonia, or The Wall Street Journal.

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DOCTORAL CANDIDATE SEMINAR SERIES: "PHILOSOPHY AND REVELATION IN AL-GHAZALI'S THE NICHE OF LIGHTS"

What can reason and philosphy contribute to our understanding of scripture and religion? This question was at the center of a dialogue between Avicenna, al-Ghazali, and Averroes that had a significant impact on medieval Muslims, Jews, and Christians. This talk will examine the commentaries of Avicenna and al-Ghazali on the "Light Verse" (Qur'an 24:35), exploring al-Ghazali's relationship with philosophy through a consideration of this work The Niche of Lights and its subsequent reception.

Scott M. Girdner is a graduate student in the Department of Religion at Boston University and a former Fellow of the Institute for the Study of Muslim Societies and Civilizations. his research is focused on Muslim traditions of philosphical and mystical interpretation of scripture and their reception in Christian and Jewish tradition.

February 28, 2007 - 745 Commonwealth Avenue - 4pm.
Click here for .PDF flier of the event.

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BU TODAY: COMICS CONSPIRACY - BU RELIGION GRAD STUDENT INVENTS LOCAL LORE IN NEW GRAPHIC NOVEL
When A. David Lewis, a Ph.D. candidate in religion and theological studies, isn’t studying biblical literature, he’s plotting action-packed tales for his comic books.

Last fall, Lewis (GRS’10) teamed up with illustrator Jason Copland to publish Empty Chamber, a “rock ’em, sock ’em, two-part miniseries” whose conspiracy theory plot takes place in Boston.

Click here for full article.

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DEPARTMENT OF RELIGION ANNOUNCES NEW FELLOWSHIP

Ancient Christianity Fellowship Now Available The Department of Religion at Boston University announces a new doctoral fellowship to support students working in Ancient Christianity, Origins to Late Empire. The fellowship provides full tuition plus a stipend of $16,500.00/year for five years. The student will be eligible to assist in teaching only in the third year, after her or his completion of qualifying exams. For a description of this concentration in Boston University¹s Division of Religion and Theological Studies see www.bu.edu/religion and direct inquiries to Professor Paula Fredriksen, augfred@bu.edu.

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UNDERGRADUATE RELIGION ASSOCIATION IN THE NEWS!
Congratulations to the Undergraduate Religion Association on holding their most successful event to date! "Tea and Tie-Dye," (Tuesday, December 5th) drew about 25 students to the Religion Department basement, and merited a write-up in the December 6th issue of the Daily Free Press. Click here for full coverage of the event. Thanks to Professor Gina Cogan for lecturing, and to the URA executive board (Jen Burda, Tali Stern, Nafeesa Achmed, and Patrick Cox) for pulling it all off!

URA President Jen Burda gets things started.

Students listen with rapt attention as Prof. Cogan talks tea.

Prof. Cogan displays some Japanese tea utensils, while Jen looks on.

(counterclockwise from right) Tali Stern, Jen Burda, and Nafeesa Achmed, with two attendees.

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DEPARTMENT OF RELIGION TAKES AAR BY STORM

American Academy of Religion, 2006 Annual Meeting The Department of Religion is excited to boast a dominant presence at this year's meeting of the American Academy of Religion, to be held November 18-21 in Washington, DC. The three-day extravaganza will feature no less than twenty of our graduate students and faculty, speaking across a wide range of topics and disciplines. See below for a complete list of Religion Dept. presenters; visit the American Academy of Religion's website (www.aarweb.org) for presentation dates and times.

Boston University Department of Religion Faculty and Students participating in the American Academy of Religion &
the Society of Biblical Literature’s
2006 Annual Meetings (November 18-21, 2006)
click here for .PDF version

Kecia Ali, Assistant Professor of Religion. Women and Religion Section and Study of Islam Section (A20-109), “I Wanted One Thing and God Wanted Another:” Al-Shafi`i’s Attempt to Reconcile Qur’an and Sunnah on Subject of Striking Wives. Panelist: Sexual Ethics/Sexual Justice: Feminist/Womanist Perspectives in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (A21-6).

Linda L. Barnes, Associate Professor of Pediatrics, BUSM. Religions, Medicines, and Healing Group, Presiding over Business Meeting (A18-26) and Teaching Religion and Healing (A19-96). Responding: Religion, Health, and Social Justice: African Perspectives on a Global Issue (A20-52).

Gina Cogan, Visiting Assistant Professor of Religion. Buddhism Section (A20-104), Serving the Buddha through Serving the Emperor: Imperial Buddhist Monks and Nuns as Abbots, Abbesses, and Adoptees in Edo Japan.

Jonathan Cooney, PMPhD-History of Christianity. Christian Spirituality Group and Wesleyan Studies Group (A20-16), The Shout Heard ‘Round the World: Similarities and Differences between American and English Camp Meetings.

Katheryn Darr, Professor of Theology, STH. Panelist: Formation of the Book of Isaiah Group (S18-114). Theological Perspectives on the Book of Ezekiel Section (S19-35), Are Sayings Didactic?: Ezekiel and the Pedagogy of Proverbs.

Garth W. Green, Assistant Professor of Religion. Platonism and Neoplatonism Group (A20-73), Christian Neo-Platonism, Medieval and Modern.

Jonathan Klawans, Associate Professor of Religion. Responding: Hermeneutics of Jesus and the Prohibition of Oaths (S20-19).

Rodney Knowles, PBPhD-Religion and Society. History of Christianity Section and Death, Dying, and Beyond Consultation (A18-106), Nefarious Necromancy: Christian Critiques of Nineteenth-Century American Spiritualism.

Christine Kraemer, PBPhD-Religion and Literature. Religion, Film, and Visual Culture Group (A19-30), The Spectator, Gender Performance, and Gnosis in Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Presiding: Arts Series/Films: Hedwig and the Angry Inch (A20-132).

Christopher Lehrich, Visiting Assistant Professor of Religion. Critical Theory and Discourses on Religion Group and Western Esotericism Group (A20-117), Discipline and Interdiscipline: On Magical Comparisons.

A. David Lewis, PmPhD-Religion and Literature, will be sitting on the SBL panel: "Comic Books, Graphic Novels, and the Bible"

Emily Merriman, PMPhD-Religion and Literature. Religion, Film, and Visual Culture Group (A18-122), Channeling, Trance, and Religion in What the Bleep Do We Know!?. Arts, Literature, and Religion Section (A19-9), “I Mean Great Poets”: William Blake and Geoffrey Hill.

David Montgomery, PBPhD-Religion and Society. Religion and the Social Sciences Section (A18-108), The Transmission of Religious Knowledge in Kyrgyzstan: How Learning Influences Practice, or Accounting for the Difference between Hizb ut-Tahrir and Ancestral Worshipers.

Robert C. Neville, Professor of Philosophy, Religion, and Theology and Executive Director of the Danielsen Institute. Responding: The Comparative Religious Ideas Project: A Critical Retrospective Five Years Later (A20-116).

Martyn Oliver, PBPhD-Religion and Literature. Religion in Europe Consultation (A18-130), What to Be or Not to Be: Islam, Satire, and Identity in the European Union.

Steve Prothero, Chairman. Panelist: Library of Congress Forum: Writing the Story of America's Religious Origins.

Josh Reeves, PMPhD-Science, Philosophy, and Religion. Evangelical Theology Group (A19-64), Evangelicals, Theological Method, and God’s Two Books.

Robert Smid, PMPhD-Philosophy of Religion. Panelist: The Comparative Religious Ideas Project: A Critical Retrospective Five Years Later (A20-116).

Sean Smith, PMPhD-New Testament and Christian Origins. Book of Acts Section (S20-57), Can We Learn about Community Rituals from Narratives?: Acts 2-5 as a Test Case (co-presenter, 2005 DRTS alum Jonathan Schwiebert, Washington University). Presiding: Organizing Session for New Program Unit: Ritual Studies Working Group (S20-134).

Bradford Verter, Visiting Assistant Professor of Religion. Responding: Wrestling with Method: Case Studies in Religion, Media, and Culture (A18-31); Presiding: Freedom of Expression and Religious Sensibilities: The Danish Cartoon Controversy in a Global Media Environment.

Wesley Wildman, Associate Professor of Theology and Ethics, STH. Panelist: Human Uniqueness: Dialogue on Evolution and Human Dignity (A20-28).

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SWINGERS WIN CHAMPIONSHIP

The Department of Religion intramural softball team, The Almighty Swingers, captured the summer AA League championship, completing a 10-1 campaign. Pictured above are: (back row, l to r) Sarah Whitman, Pagiel Czoka, Stephen Prothero, Christian Estrella, Janette Countryman, Per Smith, (front row, l to r) captain Eric Baldwin, Karen Nardella, and Jane Bennett. Not pictured are Josh Reeves, Courtney Reeves and Neil O'Callaghan._________________________________________________

KOROM GRABS GUGGENHEIM
Professor Frank Korom received a 2006 Guggenheim fellowship that will help him complete Singing Modernity, a book about how performers of the Indian state of West Bengal have adapted the application of the ancient art form of singing a narrative ballad while a painted version of the story is unrolled frame by frame to modern audiences, themes, and economics. Korom, a former curator for the museum and a current Professor of Religion and Anthropology, is creating a catalogue for the exhibition. He has written several books, including South Asian Folklore, due out in April, and hopes to complete his book on the scroll painters by next year. Click Here to read the complete story on BUToday.com. For additional coverage on IndiaNewEngland.com, Click Here.

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HONORS FOR ZANK
The Boston University Honors Program recently awarded professor Michael Zank with one of its 2005-06 Awards for Excellence in Teaching. The Honors Program awards for excellence in teaching are given each year, to faculty who are nominated by honors students. According to Honors Program Director Bonnie Costello, "We select the faculty who have been consistently nominated, have been teaching for the Honors Program over a considerable period of time, and/or who have been especially innovative in designing and teaching Honors courses. Only faculty enthusiastically nominated by Honors Program students are considered for the award." Zank's efforts in his CAS RN 389 Moses and Monotheism class yielded such nominations as: "This was an incredibly enjoyable class! I think anyone would benefit from it and would recommend it to people who I believe would be honestly interested in learning from it!" and "One of my teachers this semester is Michael Zank, of Moses and the Origins of Monotheism, and he is AMAZING!!!"

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September 2005
AN AFTERNOON WITH LIVIA KOHN
Still Mountain T'ai Chi Center presents an afternoon with Livia Kohn on Saturday, October 8, from 2-4 p.m. Few have done as much as Livia Kohn to make Daoism accessible to the public and to the academy alike. Livia will give an introduction to this fascinating Chinese religion by speaking on women in Daoism. Livia lived in Japan for many years to study Daoism with famous scholars. She frequently returns to the Far East. Her books will be available for sale at the lecture. The Still Mountain T'ai Chi Center is located at the Third Life Studio 33 Union Square, Somerville, MA. Cost: $15; $5 for students with ID. For more information, contact Bede Bidlack at 617-776-0725. This lecture is a fund raiser for the non-profit school, Still Mountain T'ai Chi Center.

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FACULTY PUBLISHED
Boston University released its list of recent publications, acknowledging the hard work of Department of Religion Director of Undergraduate Study, Jonathan Klawans. Ancient Jewish sacrifice has long been misunderstood. Some find in sacrifice the key to the mysterious and violent origins of human culture. Others see these cultic rituals as merely the fossilized vestiges of primitive superstition. Some believe that ancient Jewish sacrifice was doomed from
the start, destined to be replaced by the Christian eucharist. Others think that the temple was fated to be superseded by the synagogue. In Purity, Sacrifice, and the Temple: Symbolism and Supersessionism in the Study of Ancient Judaism (Oxford University Press), Klawans demonstrates that these supersessionist ideologies have prevented scholars from recognizing the Jerusalem temple as a powerful source of meaning and symbolism to the ancient Jews who worshiped there.

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Also making his mark was Core Curriculum instructor Bradley L. Herling, who achieved his PhD from the Division of Religion and Theological Studies in 2004. Herling published The German Gita: Hermeneutics and Discipline in the German Reception of Indian Thought, 1778–1831 for Routledge. ... Jennifer Knust, a School of Theology assistant professor of New Testament and Christian origins, penned Abandoned to Lust: Sexual Slander and Ancient Christianity for Columbia University Press. Knust taught Ancient Varieties of Christian Origins for the Department of Religion in Spring 2006.

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GRADUATE STUDENTS MAKING THE MARK
Thomas Nesbit, who achieved his PhD in Religion and Lit in 2005, has a contract to publish his dissertation with Routledge ... Christine Hoff Kraemer received a $12,000 Religion, Media, and Culture dissertation fellowship from the Journalism department at the University of Colorado at Boulder ... Shawn Arthur, who will finish his dissertation within the next year, landed a job at Appalachian State University in North Carolina ... David Montgomery, who is currently working on his dissertation, has a fellowship at the Kroc Institute for Peace Studies at Notre Dame for the coming academic year.

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MANSEAU READS FROM LATEST WORK
Former Department of Religion Administrator Peter Manseau will read from his new book, Vows: The Story of a Priest, a Nun, and their Son, at the BU Barnes & Noble on Wednesday, October 19, at 7 PM. Vows tells the true story of Peter's parents -- his father a censured priest of the Archdiocese of Boston; his mother a former teaching sister in Roxbury. Along the way, from the immigrant ghettos of the 1950s, through the turbulent post-Vatican II '60s, up to and including the recent clergy sexual abuse scandal, Vows also recounts the history of the Catholic Church in America, as lived by a single family. According to Kirkus Reviews, Vows is "an elegant, sonorous story of how faith can turn and bite you clean through, from a son of the bitten." Publishers Weekly called it: "... Seductively well written, occasionally polemical, Manseau chronicles a son's attempt to make peace with the mysteries of faith and family." Click HERE to order from Amazon.com.

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HOW DID THE U.S. BECOME A NATION OF RELIGIOUS ILLITERATES?
Department of Religion chairman Stephen Prothero will be delivering a lecture titled, "Religious Literacy: An American History" for the Lowell Lecture Series on Wednesday, November 2, at 7:30 p.m. The United States is by all accounts one of the most religious countries on Earth. Yet poll after poll demonstrates that its citizens know shockingly little about Christianity and other religions. As a result, when religion emerges as a factor in public policy debates such as the war on Iraq or the recent Ten Commandments controversies, citizens all too frequently must rely on TV "talking heads" rather than drawing on their own knowledge. How did this happen? How did the United States become a nation of religious illiterates? And what can be done about it? Professor Prothero analyzes and dissects this phenomenon. This lecture will be held at BU's School of Management, Main Auditorium - 1st Floor, 595 Commonwealth Ave., Boston.

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August 2005
CONGRATULATIONS, SWINGERS!
The Department of Religion intramural softball team, the Almighty Swingers, finished the regular season at 8-1, good for first place in the Tuesday night co-ed AA-level league. It was the best finish in the team's four-year history. The Swingers bowed out of the playoffs on Wednesday, Aug. 3, in the semifinals after a 10-1 loss to SOMF. The Swingers kept their playoff run alive the day before with a stunning, 9-8 come-from-behind victory over Red Reign.

Despite the semifinal loss, the team finished with its best overall record (9-2) in team history. "This team far and away bested any of my expectations," said captain Neil O'Callaghan. "We played solid, fundamental softball, and we were the epitome of good sportsmanship. There was a ton of chemistry and we certainly look forward to 2006."

The 2005 Almighty Swingers. Pictured above are: (back, l to r) Karen Nardella, Carolyn Veilleux, Kristen Baumann, Josh Reeves, Eric Baldwin and Sarah Whitman; (front row, l to r) Chris Hutchison-Jones, Neil O'Callaghan, Stephen Prothero, Christian Estrella and Courtney Reeves.

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December 2004
The Department of Religion would like to congratulate Class of 2004 graduate Anastasia Piliavsky for being named a 2004 Rhodes Scholar. Piliavsky, a native of Odessa, Ukraine, graduated Summa Cum Laude with a B.A. in Religion and Anthropology last year. Department of Religion faculty David Eckel and Frank Korom served as her academic advisors during her course of study.

The Rhodes Scholarships provide two or three years of study at Oxford University in England. Scholars are selected on the basis of academic achievement, personal integrity, and leadership potential, among other criteria.

Pilavsky is the second major concentrator in religion from Boston University to receive this prestigious award. Asher Lopatin, now a rabbi at Anshe Shalom B'nai Israel Congregation in Chicago, won a Rhodes Scholarship in 1986.

Click below for media coverage of Piliavsky’s award:

Boston Globe
Daily News Tribune
Daily Free Press
CNN.com
BU.edu

May 2004

Recent Addresses and Speeches

Commencement Student Address
Delivered on May 16, 2004

Student Commencement Remarks
Elizabeth Quinn Churchill
BA Religion, Cum Laude
Class of 2004

Click to read

Class Day Speech
Delivered on May 15, 2004

Lauren Hansen-Flaschen
BA Religion, Magna Cum Laude
Class of 2004

Click to read

January 2004

Thursday, January 29th, 5:00pm

Professor Nancy Ammerman
From A.M.E to Zen:
Tending to America's Diverse Communities of Faith
RM 1270
Boston University School of Law
The lecture will be followed by a light reception.
This event is free and open to the public.
Click for more info

November 2003

Tuesday, November 4, 2003, 6:00pm

John J. Clayton
" The Contract": Torah and Fiction
4th Floor, Boston University School of Management
595 Commonwealth Avenue
The lecture will be followed by a light reception.
This event is free and open to the public.
Click for more info

Saturday, November 15, 2003, 10:00am- 4:30pm

Luce Program Colloquium on Religion and Film
"From Jesus to Donnie Darko:
Six Perspectives on Religion and Cinema "
CAS 211
This event is free and open to the public. 
Click for more info

Recent Addresses and Speeches

March 25, 1998

Inaugural Department of Religion Annual Lecture

Religious Diversity and Public Reason
Professor John Clayton
Chairman of the Department of Religion and
Director of the Graduate Division of Religious and Theological Studies

Click to read