Past News

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.

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.

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.

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.

May 2005
INTERVIEW WITH PATTON DODD
Patton Dodd, a Ph.D. candidate in Religion and Literature at Boston University, recently saw into print his first book: My Faith So Far, a memoir (as the subtitle puts it) of his "conversion and confusion." The book has met with critical praise, with Publisher's Weekly calling it a "lively coming-of-age story" that "succeeds both as literary memoir and as an intimate look at a popular variety of American religious experience." Recently, Dodd took a few minutes to answer some questions about the book, his personal journey and the future.

Q: Patton, can you describe the moment when you decided you were going to leave your “wild child” days behind you?
A: It wasn’t so much a “moment” as it was a prolonged, druggy groping. Having been raised Southern Baptist, I had a pretty clear grasp of the moral territory, such as it was, so it wasn’t hard to know what needed fixing; it was just hard to actually want to fix it. But once I dove into the church, I dove in completely.

Q: Stories of crisis of faith aren’t uncommon. What makes yours different than others?
A: I don’t feel that my story is different so much as it is necessary at this particular moment. Pentecostal Christians have moved from the margins into the mainstream, but no one seems to understand who they are, so I wanted to offer an insider’s perspective. Check out the cover story of this month’s Harper’s magazine about the nation’s most powerful megachurch – that’s the church from my book. I feel like my story is extremely relevant to the current discussion happening about evangelicals in America. ... To put another way, what’s different about my story is that it’s my story, and it’s grounded in the particulars of my experience: at a charismatic megachurch, at Oral Roberts University, etc. The crisis of faith is similar to many crises of faith, but the atmosphere of the story is unique.

Q: Was it difficult to pitch/sell the idea of My Faith So Far to a publisher?
A: It was easier than these things usually are. I met an agent through a friend, pitched him some ideas, he liked the memoir idea, I wrote a couple chapter drafts, he showed those to a handful a publishers, and we started getting phone calls. It happened very quickly. I’m already finding that it won’t happen that way again.

Q: When you started writing, was your goal to save "lost souls" out there, teenage or otherwise?
A: You mean from eternal hellfire? I wouldn’t use that language, but look, I clearly have a desire to encourage some sympathy for religious perspectives, and I’m also interested in grabbing the attention of those who have rejected whatever religious beliefs they may have held in the past. I think it’s a shame when Christian culture is ruinous to Christian faith. I wrote with people like me in mind--that is, jaded evangelicals or ex-evangelicals (I’m somewhere in between). I wanted to encourage those people to do the work of negotiating a position where you can be intellectually honest, even riddled with doubt, and still have faith.

Q: Were you concerned about being too preachy in the book?
A: No, there’s not a preachy bone in my body. At least, not about stuff like religious options. In fact, I was concerned about not being preachy enough, about just wallowing in the mire of cynicism and confusion without suggesting a way out.

Q: Describe the best/worst experiences in your journey?
A: Frankly, the best experience was the first one: coming into faith. As the early chapters of MFSF describe, it was an exhilarating experience, really a classic “remaking the world” conversion. The worst was the shock of realizing I would never be at home in my faith culture (as it was at the time). It was devastating emotionally and intellectually, because I equated the particulars of conservative Christianity in Colorado Springs and Tulsa with Christianity proper – Christianity as it was in my experience was Christianity as it had to be. Since I grew to abhor that kind of Christianity, Christian faith was no longer an option. Cultural confusion inspired theological confusion. It took me nearly 10 years to learn that other expressions of Christianity offered viable alternatives.

Q: Do you have any other book projects in mind for the future?
A: Yes. A dissertation, for starters, but I’d like to do writing for broader markets as well. Actually, I’m hoping my dissertation will be a best seller, but I’ll probably have to go back in time to make that possible.

April 2005
COMMENCEMENT UPDATE
Students expecting to graduate in May can find all the information regarding Commencement weekend right here. The Department of Religion ceremony will be held Sunday, May 22, 2:30 p.m. at 635 Commonwealth Ave. (Sargent College), Room 101. A catered reception will follow the ceremony. Family and friends are invited to attend the ceremony and reception. Students need to complete a Commencement questionnaire, which can be obtained by clicking HERE. Please fill out the form and return it to the Department of Religion as soon as possible. For additional information, contact Administrative Coordinator Neil O'Callaghan at 617-353-2635 or via email at neilo@bu.edu.

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