Religion and Public Affairs Workshop
Welcome! The Religion and Public Affairs Workshop provides a platform for creative discussion between students and scholars interested in topics at the intersection of religion and politics. At each meeting, we read and discuss foundational and recent works in this emergent, interdisciplinary field including scholarship from Religion and Theological Studies, International Relations, Anthropology, Political Science, History, and Sociology. Through this forum, we hope to raise awareness of IR and Religion scholarship at BU.
Stay tuned to this site for updates on our schedule of meetings, potential topics for discussion, and relevant articles to download.
Workshop Organizers
Nickholas Rodriguez, CURA Graduate Assistant
Tim Longman, Director of CURA
Teena Purohit, Assistant Professor of Religion
Past Events
October 28
“The Religious Left: A Conversation with Jack Jenkins”
Jack Jenkins is a national reporter for the Religion News Service and an award-winning journalist. He recently published a book, American Prophets: The Religious Roots of Progressive Politics and the Ongoing Fight for the Soul of the Country
Watch a recording of this session.
May 1st
Adam Seligman, Professor of Religion
In this session Professor Seligman talked about his work and experience as director of CEDAR – Communities Engaging with Difference and Religion (www.CEDARnetwork.org) which leads seminars every year on contested aspects of religion and the public square in different parts of the world.
February 13th
Professor Nancy Ammerman, Sociology
Professor Ammerman discussed a draft of a paper that attempts to develop a typology for analyzing the relationship between religions and societies in different cultural and governmental situations. Grad students had the opportunity to read the draft beforehand and discuss it with Professor Ammerman and hear from her.
December 5th
Pence and the Politics of Persecution
Chad Moore, PhD Student, Graduate Division of Religious Studies
Chad’s work focuses on the history of evangelical Christian politics in America. Chad’s research takes an interdisciplinary approach to 20th century American religious history with a particular focus on how religious social movements identify, select, create, and utilize “enemies” through rhetorical, discursive, economic, and social practices, most often for their own purposes. Seeking to understand these dynamics, Chad often finds himself juggling insights from social theory, psychology, theology, law, political science, and history.