religious studies

In a piece published by Common Reader, Deepak Sarma contemplated the meaning of hair among Hindus. Sarma, professor in the Department of Religious Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences, drew from passages that relate to the topic as well as his own personal experiences. Read the piece,…

Justine Howe, associate professor of religious studies, edited Routledge Handbook of Islam and Gender, which features 32 original essays focused on Islam and gender in global Muslim contexts. These essays highlight exciting developments in areas such as masculinity studies, pop and consumer…

Deepak Sarma, professor of religious studies at the College of Arts and Sciences and professor of bioethics at the School of Medicine, recently wrote an article titled "Volunteering for a Covid Vaccine Trial: Fulfilling Hindu Obligations or Fostering Pharmaceutical Company Profits?" Published by…

Timothy Beal, chair of the Department of Religious Studies and the Florence Harkness Professor of Religion, recently participated in an episode of the Unholier than Thou podcast, which is produced by Crooked Media. The episode is titled "Apocalypse Now?" and explores how speculations of an…

Alanna Cooper, the Abba Hillel Silver Chair of Jewish Studies, participated in a discussion on the podcast of the Association of Jewish Studies, "Adventures in Jewish Studies." Titled “The World of Jewish Languages,” the episode was the third in the series’ second season. While Hebrew and Yiddish…

Deepak Sarma, professor of religious studies and bioethics, will give a lecture titled “Gestational Surrogacy and Hindu Bioethics: The Karma of Genetics and the Genetics of Karma” Wednesday, Sept. 18, from noon to 1 p.m. in Biomedical Research Building, Room TA200. About the talk While a great…

As soon as Joy Bostic heard Kendrick Lamar’s Grammy award-winning album DAMN., she knew she had to develop a class around it. It became the basis for her well-received “Religion and Popular Culture” course. “He was speaking to so many feelings I was having, and I really understood he’s speaking to…

Timothy Beal, the Florence Harkness Professor of Religion and chair of the Department of Religious Studies, wrote about the connection between horror films and religion, showing how scary movies may actually support central ideas of religion. The piece, titled “The Horror: Religion and the…

Department of Religious Studies Chair Timothy Beal’s recent book, The Book of Revelation: A Biography, was recently reviewed by Inside Higher Ed. The review described how Beal’s book details the perception of The Book of Revelation and how he addressed the Revelation’s impact on art and…

While growing up in Alaska, Timothy Beal was steeped in a conservative evangelical community with a fondness and fear of Revelation, the last book of the Bible offering a potent brew of hellfire and redemption through a thick tangle of verses violent, bewildering and poetic. By adulthood,…