The Religious Studies Program is pleased to announce the appointment of Ann Waltner (History, Asian Languages & Literatures, and Institute for Advanced Study) as Director of Graduate Studies.
The Program heartily thanks Phil Sellew (Classical and Near Eastern Studies) for his many years of dedicated service in the position.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
New Core and Affiliated Faculty
The Religious Studies Program is pleased to announce the addition of four new faculty "core" members and two new faculty "affiliated" members to its ranks.
New members include:
* Bernard Bachrach, History
* Bali Sahota, Asian Languages & Literatures
* JB Shank, History
* Theofanis Stavrou, History
* Hernan Vidal, Emeritus, Spanish and Portuguese
* John Watkins, English
New members include:
* Bernard Bachrach, History
* Bali Sahota, Asian Languages & Literatures
* JB Shank, History
* Theofanis Stavrou, History
* Hernan Vidal, Emeritus, Spanish and Portuguese
* John Watkins, English
Friday, November 13, 2009
From the Director
By Jeanne H. Kilde
We've had a busy summer this year in Religious Studies.
This semester we continue to grow our course offerings in religious studies, adding several new cross-listed courses including,
These and many other courses, focusing on religion across traditions, time periods, and geographical regions, are available to students in the program.
The religious studies graduate minor is also up and running with new director of graduate studies Ann Waltner (Institute for Advanced Study, history, Asian languages and literatures). Designed to pair up with graduate study in a host of areas--including history, literature, American studies, Asian languages and literatures, journalism, anthropology, sociology, and many more--the graduate minor requires the Theory and Methods in the Study of Religion course, along with two more courses on the M.A. level and three on the Ph.D. level.
The success of this new graduate minor reflects the increasing importance of the study of religion within traditional disciplines, a growing trend in academia. The American Historical Society, for instance, recently announced that the specialty most frequently selected by their members (over 15,000) to describe their primary research interest is now history of religion. This category beat out the former favorite, cultural history, by just a hair, but its steep growth curve promises its continued dominance for some time. A link to more information on the AHA report is available on the Religious Studies Web site home page. From what I've seen, interest in religion is gaining ground in a number of other disciplines as well.
My best wishes for a great semester and lovely autumn season go out to everyone. If you happen to wander through this neck of the woods, do stop in and say hello!
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We've had a busy summer this year in Religious Studies.This semester we continue to grow our course offerings in religious studies, adding several new cross-listed courses including,
- Anthropologist John Soderberg's Religion and Archaeology course
- Historian Kirsten Fischer's courses, Sinners, Saints, and Savages: Religion in Early America and Religion and the Founding of the United States: Contests Then and Now
- Literary specialist Nabil Matar's Muslims and Jews in Early Modern English Literature
- Historian Daniel Schroeter's Muslims and Jews: Conflict and Coexistence in the Middle East and North Africa since 1700
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These and many other courses, focusing on religion across traditions, time periods, and geographical regions, are available to students in the program.
The religious studies graduate minor is also up and running with new director of graduate studies Ann Waltner (Institute for Advanced Study, history, Asian languages and literatures). Designed to pair up with graduate study in a host of areas--including history, literature, American studies, Asian languages and literatures, journalism, anthropology, sociology, and many more--the graduate minor requires the Theory and Methods in the Study of Religion course, along with two more courses on the M.A. level and three on the Ph.D. level.
The success of this new graduate minor reflects the increasing importance of the study of religion within traditional disciplines, a growing trend in academia. The American Historical Society, for instance, recently announced that the specialty most frequently selected by their members (over 15,000) to describe their primary research interest is now history of religion. This category beat out the former favorite, cultural history, by just a hair, but its steep growth curve promises its continued dominance for some time. A link to more information on the AHA report is available on the Religious Studies Web site home page. From what I've seen, interest in religion is gaining ground in a number of other disciplines as well.
My best wishes for a great semester and lovely autumn season go out to everyone. If you happen to wander through this neck of the woods, do stop in and say hello!
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Puzzles of Antiquity
By Kelly O'Brien
Dead Sea Scrolls, both mysterious and revealing, continue to fascinate Professor Alex Jassen. In an exhibition at the Science Museum of Minnesota, the public can learn more about these ancient documents that connected the dots between the Old Testament and early rabbinic Judaism and Christianity.
This March the Science Museum of Minnesota will open the traveling exhibition "The Dead Sea Scrolls: Words that Changed the World." Organized by the Israel Antiquities Authority, the exhibition will give visitors the rare opportunity to view a small selection of the more than 900 scrolls. Professor Alex P. Jassen of the Department of Classical and Near Eastern Studies has published widely on the Dead Sea Scrolls, including the 2007 book Mediating the Divine: Prophecy and Revelation in the Dead Sea Scrolls and Second Temple Judaism. He is serving as an academic adviser to the Science Museum. Here he shares some of his thoughts on the significance of the scrolls.
What are the Dead Sea Scrolls?
The Dead Sea Scrolls comprise a collection of about 930 texts discovered in 11 caves in the Judean Desert of Israel beginning in 1947. These Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek scrolls represent the library of a schismatic Jewish community that inhabited the nearby ancient settlement of Qumran from the end of the second century B.C.E. until 68 C.E.
The community's own writings are represented by sectarian rule books, works of biblical interpretation, and poetical and liturgical texts. In addition, nearly 200 manuscripts of books that comprise the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) are preserved, representing the oldest copies of the Hebrew Bible. The Dead Sea Scrolls contain an additional several hundred texts composed by other Jews of that era; many of these texts were previously unknown or only available in later translations. These documents have rightly been regarded as revolutionizing scholarly understanding of the composition and transmission of the Hebrew Bible, Jewish history and belief in the late Second Temple period (third century B.C.E.-first century C.E.), and the background of later rabbinic Judaism and Christianity.
How did you become so interested in the Dead Sea Scrolls?
While I was in graduate school at NYU, I was very interested in both the study of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament and rabbinic Judaism. For a long time researchers didn't have substantial amounts of data to chart the development of Judaism out of the Hebrew Bible and through rabbinic Judaism (as also for Christianity). In other words, we had two points on a chart and we had very few dots to connect them. In many ways, the Dead Sea Scrolls provide those dots. They provide a window to the transformation of Judaism from the world of the Bible and ancient Israel to the principle forms in which later Judaism develops, particularly rabbinic Judaism and Christianity. As such, the scrolls are such a fertile area for charting the changes and adaptations of the biblical world and understanding how these changes shape the developing forms of Judaism in the third century B.C.E. and onward. In many cases, I had never really even heard of these phases of Jewish history and I found it to be very eye-opening to see that there was a lot going on between the Bible and rabbinic Judaism. Not only was there this very vibrant world of Judaism, but it proved to be the key to understanding the bigger picture.
What else excites you about the scrolls?
The Dead Sea Scrolls are really a puzzle, both physically and conceptually. In reality, there are very few fully intact scrolls. Most of them are fragments, some as small as a fingernail. There were about 15,000 fragment pieces pulled out of the caves. These were not organized in any way. In many cases, these fragments were part of books from antiquity that modern scholars had never seen before. So, they essentially were trying to put together a bunch of jigsaw puzzles, for which they often did not have the cover picture and almost always were missing most of the pieces. In the end these 15,000 pieces were put together into about 930 distinct manuscripts (i.e., copies of books that were once fully intact in antiquity). Once you have pieced these things together, then you have to figure out what they even say--both reading the sometimes difficult script on poorly preserved leather or papyrus and understanding the ancient Hebrew or Aramaic (a few Greek texts also). Then comes thinking about when they may have been written and why they were written. After all that, we can start thinking big picture and how they function as the connecting dots. My own research on the scrolls has been involved with all these different stages.
After all that, I have to admit as well that there is a certain mystique to the scrolls that also attracted me. There is so much intrigue associated with the discovery, publication history, and more that it is hard not to want to learn more.
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Dead Sea Scrolls, both mysterious and revealing, continue to fascinate Professor Alex Jassen. In an exhibition at the Science Museum of Minnesota, the public can learn more about these ancient documents that connected the dots between the Old Testament and early rabbinic Judaism and Christianity.This March the Science Museum of Minnesota will open the traveling exhibition "The Dead Sea Scrolls: Words that Changed the World." Organized by the Israel Antiquities Authority, the exhibition will give visitors the rare opportunity to view a small selection of the more than 900 scrolls. Professor Alex P. Jassen of the Department of Classical and Near Eastern Studies has published widely on the Dead Sea Scrolls, including the 2007 book Mediating the Divine: Prophecy and Revelation in the Dead Sea Scrolls and Second Temple Judaism. He is serving as an academic adviser to the Science Museum. Here he shares some of his thoughts on the significance of the scrolls.
What are the Dead Sea Scrolls?
The Dead Sea Scrolls comprise a collection of about 930 texts discovered in 11 caves in the Judean Desert of Israel beginning in 1947. These Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek scrolls represent the library of a schismatic Jewish community that inhabited the nearby ancient settlement of Qumran from the end of the second century B.C.E. until 68 C.E.
The community's own writings are represented by sectarian rule books, works of biblical interpretation, and poetical and liturgical texts. In addition, nearly 200 manuscripts of books that comprise the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) are preserved, representing the oldest copies of the Hebrew Bible. The Dead Sea Scrolls contain an additional several hundred texts composed by other Jews of that era; many of these texts were previously unknown or only available in later translations. These documents have rightly been regarded as revolutionizing scholarly understanding of the composition and transmission of the Hebrew Bible, Jewish history and belief in the late Second Temple period (third century B.C.E.-first century C.E.), and the background of later rabbinic Judaism and Christianity.
How did you become so interested in the Dead Sea Scrolls?
While I was in graduate school at NYU, I was very interested in both the study of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament and rabbinic Judaism. For a long time researchers didn't have substantial amounts of data to chart the development of Judaism out of the Hebrew Bible and through rabbinic Judaism (as also for Christianity). In other words, we had two points on a chart and we had very few dots to connect them. In many ways, the Dead Sea Scrolls provide those dots. They provide a window to the transformation of Judaism from the world of the Bible and ancient Israel to the principle forms in which later Judaism develops, particularly rabbinic Judaism and Christianity. As such, the scrolls are such a fertile area for charting the changes and adaptations of the biblical world and understanding how these changes shape the developing forms of Judaism in the third century B.C.E. and onward. In many cases, I had never really even heard of these phases of Jewish history and I found it to be very eye-opening to see that there was a lot going on between the Bible and rabbinic Judaism. Not only was there this very vibrant world of Judaism, but it proved to be the key to understanding the bigger picture.
What else excites you about the scrolls?
The Dead Sea Scrolls are really a puzzle, both physically and conceptually. In reality, there are very few fully intact scrolls. Most of them are fragments, some as small as a fingernail. There were about 15,000 fragment pieces pulled out of the caves. These were not organized in any way. In many cases, these fragments were part of books from antiquity that modern scholars had never seen before. So, they essentially were trying to put together a bunch of jigsaw puzzles, for which they often did not have the cover picture and almost always were missing most of the pieces. In the end these 15,000 pieces were put together into about 930 distinct manuscripts (i.e., copies of books that were once fully intact in antiquity). Once you have pieced these things together, then you have to figure out what they even say--both reading the sometimes difficult script on poorly preserved leather or papyrus and understanding the ancient Hebrew or Aramaic (a few Greek texts also). Then comes thinking about when they may have been written and why they were written. After all that, we can start thinking big picture and how they function as the connecting dots. My own research on the scrolls has been involved with all these different stages.
After all that, I have to admit as well that there is a certain mystique to the scrolls that also attracted me. There is so much intrigue associated with the discovery, publication history, and more that it is hard not to want to learn more.
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Student Spotlight: Nate Ramsayer
This edition of the Student Spotlight features Nate Ramsayer. Nate is a senior enrolled in the religious studies major in Track II, Texts and Traditions. The tradition he is most interested in is early Christianity, but more recently he has become completely fascinated by the Hebrew Bible. Nate plans on graduating this spring (2010) and then going immediately to graduate school. He hopes to one day teach at the university level. Eager to start his teaching career, he recently signed up to teach a class at the Experimental College of the Twin Cities, titled Introduction to the Bible: Historical Context of Ancient Israelite Scripture. Nate was also one of the winners of the Harold Anderson Scholarship last year.When did you decide to enroll in the religious studies major?
"I first decided to enroll in the religious studies program during my last year at North Dakota State University. I took a class at NDSU on the history of Christianity and really became hooked. Unfortunately, NDSU did not offer a religious studies major, only a minor, so I looked into some other options. I already knew the University of Minnesota was a great school, but once I found out more about the religious studies major and the Classical and Near Eastern studies department, I was completely convinced that I wanted to come here.
Why become a religious studies major?
Once I started getting into this stuff, I wanted to spread the knowledge contained within academia about biblical texts and ancient traditions to the general public. I think it's important to break down the barriers between academic religious studies and the general public. There are hundreds of years of great scholarship on the Bible and the ancient Near East that I believe would easily capture the attention of people from all walks of life.
I feel that in contemporary America, a large number of people are basing their lives around a belief system that has been taken out of context and molded to fit modern-day concerns, thus making it inconsistent with its original intention and tradition, and I really feel that these changes are worth bringing to light.
So much of our modern world is both directly and indirectly influenced by religion and it seems that it is only fitting that we take the time to investigate such a powerful phenomenon.
What has been the most challenging part about studying religion?
The intensive language study. I have taken two languages every semester since starting at the U. I am currently on my second year of ancient Greek, have completed two years of German, a year of Latin, and a semester of Italian. Next year I am starting Biblical Hebrew.
What has been the most exciting thing about studying religion?
The most exciting part has been engaging with primary texts and other sources. Reading documents using the historical-critical method (placing them in their own context and not viewing them through a religious viewpoint) brings to light exciting ideas about their nature and use--things you wouldn't be taught in church.
You were recently awarded the Harold Anderson Scholarship; how will this award help you in your studies at the University?
I am so grateful for this opportunity. First and foremost, it will allow me to complete college. I was in dire need of financial aid. It gave me the best peace of mind because I was awarded the scholarship shortly after I found out that I wasn't going to be receiving the aid I was expecting. I really want to thank the religious studies program for such an awesome opportunity.
In a few days you will begin teaching your own class at the experimental college. Tell us a little about this class.
The class is only four weeks long, and I am expecting about 20 students from all different walks of life; some are students, some are members of a church, some are parents.
How has your experience at the U helped you prepare for teaching this class?
I've learned many things from every religious studies faculty member I've had. Each individual contains a wealth of knowledge, and each has their own personal teaching style. It's been great to observe their differences; it's helped me to develop my own classroom demeanor. Many are top scholars in the field, and they lead by incredible example. Professors I have had have pushed me to expand beyond what I thought possible as a student. And the U of M has provided me with great resources.
I followed up with Nate shortly after he finished teaching his class at the Experimental College of the Twin Cities. Here's what he had to say about his experience:
Now that the course is over, tell me about your experience teaching a course on the Hebrew Bible at the Experimental College.
If I had to choose one word to describe my experience it would be validating. I've had the best time helping students and community members begin to understand the unique aspects of biblical texts within their original culture and conventions. I remember coming home one night after class and thinking, "Holy cow . . . someday a university's gonna pay me to do this!" It was quite a moment, realizing that something I've been working so hard on has produced such amazing results. Everyone was completely engaged in the material, and it was neat to see the faces of those who have begun the journey of discovery; it very much reminded me of myself and the joy that I got when I first began exploring this material. The class was quite rewarding.
What has this experience taught you about the study of religion?
As the topic of the class deals with such an intensely personal subject, i.e. interpretation of the Bible, it's not uncommon to have people show up to a class and, rather than engage in what the class is about, seek to advance their own theological agendas. I encountered one such individual at the Experimental College fair several weeks before the class started. It was a fortunate event for me, as it made it clear how important it would be to lay ground rules for my class that would foster critical thinking. Luckily, I encountered no problems in the class, but the experience taught me how important it was to be ready to handle such an event in a professional manner.
This teaching experience also validated my beliefs that there are a number of people in the world who are genuinely curious about religious studies but lack the venue with which to engage in the discipline. I hope to help others bridge the gap and encourage them to take the path toward discovery.
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Faculty Spotlight: Penny Edgell
By Sara-Jo Kriedeman
In this issue, the faculty spotlight shines on Penny Edgell, professor of sociology, and a member of the Religious Studies steering committee. Edgell received her Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1995, and came to the University of Minnesota in 2002. As a sociologist, Edgell's research focuses on American religion and she is particularly interested in related topics such as gender roles, family, social change, and moral culture. Her publications on these issues are numerous, including a recent chapter for The Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of Religion and the books Religion and Family in a Changing Society and Congregations in Conflict: Cultural Models of Local Religious Life.
The American Mosaic Project
Professor Edgell is currently wrapping up an exciting, three-year project that examined the views of race and religious diversity in America. Edgell and her team designed the American Mosaic Project hoping to discover more about the things that bring Americans together and what divides them, asking questions such as, Do Americans believe religious diversity is important for a "good" society? What do Americans believe are the consequences of religious and racial diversity? Edgell and her colleagues polled people across the nation to find out their attitudes about these issues. Some of the results were quite surprising. Edgell found that a substantial portion of Americans maintain that in order to be a good citizen you must share in a Christian cultural heritage. "National identity is still culturally understood in the U.S. as being Christian in deeply rooted ways, and I think a lot of our scholarly talk about religious diversity and tolerance misses this," she explains. "Much of that scholarship tends to dismiss Christian nation rhetoric and say, 'Well that doesn't really mean anything. Everyone knows we're not really a Christian nation.' I think what we have shown in our work is that it means a lot." Edgell and her team also discovered that Americans seem to have more concerns about religion as a potential source of division than previous scholarship has emphasized. "We've tended as a discipline to emphasize those pro-social implications of religious involvement," says Edgell. "But I think what we found is that there are widespread concerns in the U.S. about the potential for religion to become a divisive or discriminatory thing in our society."
Looking Forward
Professor Edgell hopes to begin a new project this year working with sociology colleague Kathleen Hull. Still in proposal stage, the project would explore the relationship between religious belief and the formation of scientific and legal consciousness. "We are picking issues that are controversial, and those which experts have made claims about the way forward," Edgell explains, regarding issues such as a parent's right to refuse medical treatment for their child. "We want to present these issues to ordinary people and see how they evaluate these expert claims. This is a way to see how religion influences the legitimacy of legal experts, scientific experts, and religious leaders." She continues, "There are authorities out there who make these decisions which affect us all. Is that legitimate with people? But the other part of it, to me the more interesting part, is do people, everyday people, even understand the issues that are going on in the same way that these experts do? We want to see how religious beliefs influence this."
On the Study of Religion
As a scholar of sociology and religion, Professor Edgell stresses the importance of the study of religion. "I think it is important to have an academic voice describing religious practice and religious communities," Edgell explains. "I think so much of the popular discourse today is either from an insider perspective, or it is hostile. Religion is very politicized, and to have a voice out there describing religion that is not politicized and is more neutral than objective is useful in terms of producing public knowledge about what religious people and communities are like." Furthermore, Edgell adds, "Religion is a powerful institution. It affects people's behavior in their public life, but it also affects social capital in local communities, civic orientation, and it shapes our understanding of nationalism and American identity. I think it's an institution that we all as citizens need to understand and I think that good academic research can help us understand that in a way that is different then, say, if Rick Warren or Richard Dawkins speak out on it. I have no committed position, which is useful." For more information on the American Mosaic Project visit www.soc.umn.edu/research/amp.html.
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In this issue, the faculty spotlight shines on Penny Edgell, professor of sociology, and a member of the Religious Studies steering committee. Edgell received her Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1995, and came to the University of Minnesota in 2002. As a sociologist, Edgell's research focuses on American religion and she is particularly interested in related topics such as gender roles, family, social change, and moral culture. Her publications on these issues are numerous, including a recent chapter for The Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of Religion and the books Religion and Family in a Changing Society and Congregations in Conflict: Cultural Models of Local Religious Life.The American Mosaic Project
Professor Edgell is currently wrapping up an exciting, three-year project that examined the views of race and religious diversity in America. Edgell and her team designed the American Mosaic Project hoping to discover more about the things that bring Americans together and what divides them, asking questions such as, Do Americans believe religious diversity is important for a "good" society? What do Americans believe are the consequences of religious and racial diversity? Edgell and her colleagues polled people across the nation to find out their attitudes about these issues. Some of the results were quite surprising. Edgell found that a substantial portion of Americans maintain that in order to be a good citizen you must share in a Christian cultural heritage. "National identity is still culturally understood in the U.S. as being Christian in deeply rooted ways, and I think a lot of our scholarly talk about religious diversity and tolerance misses this," she explains. "Much of that scholarship tends to dismiss Christian nation rhetoric and say, 'Well that doesn't really mean anything. Everyone knows we're not really a Christian nation.' I think what we have shown in our work is that it means a lot." Edgell and her team also discovered that Americans seem to have more concerns about religion as a potential source of division than previous scholarship has emphasized. "We've tended as a discipline to emphasize those pro-social implications of religious involvement," says Edgell. "But I think what we found is that there are widespread concerns in the U.S. about the potential for religion to become a divisive or discriminatory thing in our society."
Looking Forward
Professor Edgell hopes to begin a new project this year working with sociology colleague Kathleen Hull. Still in proposal stage, the project would explore the relationship between religious belief and the formation of scientific and legal consciousness. "We are picking issues that are controversial, and those which experts have made claims about the way forward," Edgell explains, regarding issues such as a parent's right to refuse medical treatment for their child. "We want to present these issues to ordinary people and see how they evaluate these expert claims. This is a way to see how religion influences the legitimacy of legal experts, scientific experts, and religious leaders." She continues, "There are authorities out there who make these decisions which affect us all. Is that legitimate with people? But the other part of it, to me the more interesting part, is do people, everyday people, even understand the issues that are going on in the same way that these experts do? We want to see how religious beliefs influence this."
On the Study of Religion
As a scholar of sociology and religion, Professor Edgell stresses the importance of the study of religion. "I think it is important to have an academic voice describing religious practice and religious communities," Edgell explains. "I think so much of the popular discourse today is either from an insider perspective, or it is hostile. Religion is very politicized, and to have a voice out there describing religion that is not politicized and is more neutral than objective is useful in terms of producing public knowledge about what religious people and communities are like." Furthermore, Edgell adds, "Religion is a powerful institution. It affects people's behavior in their public life, but it also affects social capital in local communities, civic orientation, and it shapes our understanding of nationalism and American identity. I think it's an institution that we all as citizens need to understand and I think that good academic research can help us understand that in a way that is different then, say, if Rick Warren or Richard Dawkins speak out on it. I have no committed position, which is useful." For more information on the American Mosaic Project visit www.soc.umn.edu/research/amp.html.
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Summer Workshop with Robert Orsi: Ethical, Methodological, and Pedagogical Challenges
By Daniel Winchester
The day began with sunshine and ended with rain and thunder from the heavens, perhaps an all-too-fitting close to a workshop devoted to the study of religious experience and peoples' relationships with sacred beings.
Sponsored by the religious studies program and the Institute for Advanced Study, a one-day workshop entitled Ethical, Methodological, and Pedagogical Challenges in the
Empirical Study of Religion was held on Wednesday, July 22, 2009 at the Nolte Center. Dr. Robert A. Orsi, Grace Craddock Nagle Chair in Catholic Studies at Northwestern University, conducted the workshop. Thirty religion scholars from a variety of disciplines and several local institutions discussed issues central to Dr. Orsi's work, including religious experience, empathy, ethics, and writing in religious studies.
That people have religious experiences is of little doubt, but the study of these experiences has generally been considered off-limits to academic scholars. The conversation centered on why this was the case, and what role empathy might play in understanding how people come to experience sacred figures like saints, spirits, and gods as significant forces in their lives. Participants also considered how peoples' experiences of the holy might help us rethink key historical events such as the civil rights movement or, more recently, the religious-like devotion many Michael Jackson fans expressed after his death.
Conversation then turned to critical judgment in the study of religion. Asking tough questions about when it is acceptable to pass moral judgment on the religious individuals and groups we study, many in the group were critical of the tendency to make sharp contrasts between "good" and "bad" religion but also recognized the necessity of making ethical decisions in our studies. Scholars told personal stories about their own ethical quandaries, such as having to testify as an expert witness in a court case where an individual's religious beliefs threatened to land him in prison or of being challenged by groups who were offended by a scholar's interpretation of their religious practices.
In the third and final session of the day (and just before the storm rolled in), participants posed questions about writing in religious studies: how we can best represent peoples' religious worlds? And how might the ways we write help evoke the experiential, lived, and often messy quality of religion as it is practiced by real people in specific times and places?
The thought-provoking workshop with Dr. Orsi was a great success. Covering topics central to the religious studies program's mission to study religion creatively, critically, and
ethically, participants came away with a new appreciation of the possibilities religious studies has to offer--for students, for the public, and for themselves.
Daniel Winchester is a Ph.D. student in the sociology department at the University of Minnesota. He studies culture and religion.
Generous support for this workshop came from the following sponsors: the Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion, The Office of the Vice-President for Research (RCR Continuing Education Grant), the Institute for Advanced Study, the Religious Studies Program, and the Sundet Chair in New Testament and Christian Studies.
The day began with sunshine and ended with rain and thunder from the heavens, perhaps an all-too-fitting close to a workshop devoted to the study of religious experience and peoples' relationships with sacred beings.
Sponsored by the religious studies program and the Institute for Advanced Study, a one-day workshop entitled Ethical, Methodological, and Pedagogical Challenges in the
Empirical Study of Religion was held on Wednesday, July 22, 2009 at the Nolte Center. Dr. Robert A. Orsi, Grace Craddock Nagle Chair in Catholic Studies at Northwestern University, conducted the workshop. Thirty religion scholars from a variety of disciplines and several local institutions discussed issues central to Dr. Orsi's work, including religious experience, empathy, ethics, and writing in religious studies.
That people have religious experiences is of little doubt, but the study of these experiences has generally been considered off-limits to academic scholars. The conversation centered on why this was the case, and what role empathy might play in understanding how people come to experience sacred figures like saints, spirits, and gods as significant forces in their lives. Participants also considered how peoples' experiences of the holy might help us rethink key historical events such as the civil rights movement or, more recently, the religious-like devotion many Michael Jackson fans expressed after his death.
Conversation then turned to critical judgment in the study of religion. Asking tough questions about when it is acceptable to pass moral judgment on the religious individuals and groups we study, many in the group were critical of the tendency to make sharp contrasts between "good" and "bad" religion but also recognized the necessity of making ethical decisions in our studies. Scholars told personal stories about their own ethical quandaries, such as having to testify as an expert witness in a court case where an individual's religious beliefs threatened to land him in prison or of being challenged by groups who were offended by a scholar's interpretation of their religious practices.
In the third and final session of the day (and just before the storm rolled in), participants posed questions about writing in religious studies: how we can best represent peoples' religious worlds? And how might the ways we write help evoke the experiential, lived, and often messy quality of religion as it is practiced by real people in specific times and places?
The thought-provoking workshop with Dr. Orsi was a great success. Covering topics central to the religious studies program's mission to study religion creatively, critically, and
ethically, participants came away with a new appreciation of the possibilities religious studies has to offer--for students, for the public, and for themselves.
Daniel Winchester is a Ph.D. student in the sociology department at the University of Minnesota. He studies culture and religion.
Generous support for this workshop came from the following sponsors: the Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion, The Office of the Vice-President for Research (RCR Continuing Education Grant), the Institute for Advanced Study, the Religious Studies Program, and the Sundet Chair in New Testament and Christian Studies.
On the Cutting Edge: Rethinking an Ancient Text
By Sara-Jo Kriedeman
In today's world, the Bible is commonly looked at from two different perspectives. One is that it is a set of religious texts, or sacred scripture, providing a foundation for widespread religious beliefs. The other, from a more secular perspective, is that it is simply an ancient document filled with mythology--leaving us little or nothing to analyze. Both of these views bring challenges to the academic study of the Bible. University of Minnesota professor Bernard M. Levinson takes these challenges head on, showing his students and readers the power and importance of biblical studies.
Levinson, who conducts research in biblical and Near Eastern studies and law, admits that even he wasn't always interested in the Bible. "I actually got pulled into it kicking and screaming," he notes. But as an undergraduate at York University in Toronto, he found himself in a class called Classical and Biblical Backgrounds to Later Western Literature. He became fascinated with the impact of the Bible on literary works and Western intellectual history. Today, with groundbreaking publications focusing on biblical and cuneiform law and inner-biblical exegesis, Levinson has become one of the leading scholars of the Hebrew Bible.
Aware that many of his students have formed opinions of the Bible before they even enter his classroom, Levinson admits he has to get creative to inspire his students: "I have to try to make the Bible, in some ways, strange." One of his larger lecture classes, Bible: Context and Interpretation, for example, was designed so that students not only learn a certain amount of essential content about the Bible, but that they also reflect upon their assumptions of it. "It's only when students see what they are projecting onto the Bible, and how there is a gap between what a text actually says and what they take for granted from the beginning, that they can learn to think," says Levinson. To promote this, he helps students paint a picture of the cultural world from which the Bible comes, emphasizing the fact that the Bible didn't just fall out of the sky. "The major paradigm that I try to get across is that the Bible is a literary canon, that it is the product of authors, of thought, and of labor."
In fact, Levinson's latest acclaimed research concentrates on the intellectual creativity of those responsible for the Bible. In his book Legal Revision and Religious Renewal in Ancient Israel (Cambridge University Press, 2008), Levinson focuses on transgenerational punishment (the idea that God punishes later generations for the sins of prior generations) from Exodus 20:5-6. He uses it as a case study, tracing the way the authors of the Bible interpreted, challenged, and then reworked previous texts and traditions within the Bible.
Levinson's careful research in Legal Revision and Religious Renewal in Ancient Israel challenges modern perspectives on the Bible. It argues that the editors and redactors of the Bible were not trying to promote a single, univocal "truth" or ideology when conducting their work, but instead created a remarkable text that was unusually inclusive. "I think potentially, the editors of the Pentateuch consciously sought to create a text to serve as a compromise document to include different sociological groups within Israel without privileging one voice or one group or one ideology over another." He believes the editors of the Bible chose to weave these texts together into something that valued inclusiveness and debate over one single set of interests. In this way, the limited set of Biblical texts--the canon--allows for critical reflection upon the textual tradition and "invites constant, continuing renewal."
Still, some current religious traditions are opposed to the idea of there being critique and debate within the Bible. Levinson sees the irony in this. "Both the ancient synagogue and the ancient church were much more intellectually open than we now give them credit for.
Certain positions within the past 100 or 150 years present themselves as the traditional religious point of view where, in fact, the early synagogue would have very open debates about these texts," he explains. "From my perspective, some of the contemporary arguments are out of touch with the actual history of the traditions within both the church and the synagogue. The creative nature of the canon is proof of this," he says. "The canon encourages critique and authorizes dissent, authorizes the inclusion of a range of opposing voices."
Levinson has some concerns when it comes to academic study of the Bible. He believes there is as much lack of knowledge about the ancient Near East and about biblical scholarship as there is illiteracy about contemporary developments in science. "I think today people have a tendency within civil society to reject the Bible because of the way certain groups represent religion and associate it with particular political agendas. The public voice of religion in American society is usually not one informed by academic religious studies." Levinson finds this unsatisfactory. He believes that studying the Bible can teach us not only about its authors' values, but also about their creativity when it comes to a stronger model of social inclusion and respect for difference.
Levinson also thinks we can learn something from studying the biblical texts that matter in the American legal context. "I see an analogy with contemporary debates about the role of the Supreme Court relative to the constitution." According to Levinson, issues such as how to understand the role of the Supreme Court in interpreting the American constitution are similar to, and can be illuminated by, the way authors in ancient Israel and early Judaism handled authoritative texts.
Levinson's work is wide-ranging, with topics from neo-Assyrian vassal treaties to the Dead Sea Scrolls. His interests extend into the modern period. He is about to publish the first full English translation of an essay by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) on the Ten Commandments, placing that essay in its cultural context as it constructs a myth of German identity. Another project investigates the transformation of the discipline of theology in Germany under National Socialism during the period 1934-1945. A book on divine revelation examining the role of authors and of editors is underway. No matter what the topic, Levinson's work demonstrates the complex and intellectual nature of the Bible. In the face of popular opinions, Bernard Levinson continues to challenge back, proving that the Bible is more than just an ancient text. In his opinion, if we would only look deeper, the Bible can be quite cutting edge.
Bernard M. Levinson holds the Berman Family Chair in Jewish Studies and Hebrew Bible at the University of Minnesota. His home department is Classical and Near Eastern Studies and he is also appointed to the Law School as an affiliate faculty member. He serves on the steering committee for religious studies and previously directed Jewish Studies. For a complete list of publications visit: http://www.tc.umn.edu/~levinson/.
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In today's world, the Bible is commonly looked at from two different perspectives. One is that it is a set of religious texts, or sacred scripture, providing a foundation for widespread religious beliefs. The other, from a more secular perspective, is that it is simply an ancient document filled with mythology--leaving us little or nothing to analyze. Both of these views bring challenges to the academic study of the Bible. University of Minnesota professor Bernard M. Levinson takes these challenges head on, showing his students and readers the power and importance of biblical studies.
Levinson, who conducts research in biblical and Near Eastern studies and law, admits that even he wasn't always interested in the Bible. "I actually got pulled into it kicking and screaming," he notes. But as an undergraduate at York University in Toronto, he found himself in a class called Classical and Biblical Backgrounds to Later Western Literature. He became fascinated with the impact of the Bible on literary works and Western intellectual history. Today, with groundbreaking publications focusing on biblical and cuneiform law and inner-biblical exegesis, Levinson has become one of the leading scholars of the Hebrew Bible.
Aware that many of his students have formed opinions of the Bible before they even enter his classroom, Levinson admits he has to get creative to inspire his students: "I have to try to make the Bible, in some ways, strange." One of his larger lecture classes, Bible: Context and Interpretation, for example, was designed so that students not only learn a certain amount of essential content about the Bible, but that they also reflect upon their assumptions of it. "It's only when students see what they are projecting onto the Bible, and how there is a gap between what a text actually says and what they take for granted from the beginning, that they can learn to think," says Levinson. To promote this, he helps students paint a picture of the cultural world from which the Bible comes, emphasizing the fact that the Bible didn't just fall out of the sky. "The major paradigm that I try to get across is that the Bible is a literary canon, that it is the product of authors, of thought, and of labor."
In fact, Levinson's latest acclaimed research concentrates on the intellectual creativity of those responsible for the Bible. In his book Legal Revision and Religious Renewal in Ancient Israel (Cambridge University Press, 2008), Levinson focuses on transgenerational punishment (the idea that God punishes later generations for the sins of prior generations) from Exodus 20:5-6. He uses it as a case study, tracing the way the authors of the Bible interpreted, challenged, and then reworked previous texts and traditions within the Bible.
Levinson's careful research in Legal Revision and Religious Renewal in Ancient Israel challenges modern perspectives on the Bible. It argues that the editors and redactors of the Bible were not trying to promote a single, univocal "truth" or ideology when conducting their work, but instead created a remarkable text that was unusually inclusive. "I think potentially, the editors of the Pentateuch consciously sought to create a text to serve as a compromise document to include different sociological groups within Israel without privileging one voice or one group or one ideology over another." He believes the editors of the Bible chose to weave these texts together into something that valued inclusiveness and debate over one single set of interests. In this way, the limited set of Biblical texts--the canon--allows for critical reflection upon the textual tradition and "invites constant, continuing renewal."
Still, some current religious traditions are opposed to the idea of there being critique and debate within the Bible. Levinson sees the irony in this. "Both the ancient synagogue and the ancient church were much more intellectually open than we now give them credit for.
Certain positions within the past 100 or 150 years present themselves as the traditional religious point of view where, in fact, the early synagogue would have very open debates about these texts," he explains. "From my perspective, some of the contemporary arguments are out of touch with the actual history of the traditions within both the church and the synagogue. The creative nature of the canon is proof of this," he says. "The canon encourages critique and authorizes dissent, authorizes the inclusion of a range of opposing voices."
Levinson has some concerns when it comes to academic study of the Bible. He believes there is as much lack of knowledge about the ancient Near East and about biblical scholarship as there is illiteracy about contemporary developments in science. "I think today people have a tendency within civil society to reject the Bible because of the way certain groups represent religion and associate it with particular political agendas. The public voice of religion in American society is usually not one informed by academic religious studies." Levinson finds this unsatisfactory. He believes that studying the Bible can teach us not only about its authors' values, but also about their creativity when it comes to a stronger model of social inclusion and respect for difference.
Levinson also thinks we can learn something from studying the biblical texts that matter in the American legal context. "I see an analogy with contemporary debates about the role of the Supreme Court relative to the constitution." According to Levinson, issues such as how to understand the role of the Supreme Court in interpreting the American constitution are similar to, and can be illuminated by, the way authors in ancient Israel and early Judaism handled authoritative texts.
Levinson's work is wide-ranging, with topics from neo-Assyrian vassal treaties to the Dead Sea Scrolls. His interests extend into the modern period. He is about to publish the first full English translation of an essay by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) on the Ten Commandments, placing that essay in its cultural context as it constructs a myth of German identity. Another project investigates the transformation of the discipline of theology in Germany under National Socialism during the period 1934-1945. A book on divine revelation examining the role of authors and of editors is underway. No matter what the topic, Levinson's work demonstrates the complex and intellectual nature of the Bible. In the face of popular opinions, Bernard Levinson continues to challenge back, proving that the Bible is more than just an ancient text. In his opinion, if we would only look deeper, the Bible can be quite cutting edge.
Bernard M. Levinson holds the Berman Family Chair in Jewish Studies and Hebrew Bible at the University of Minnesota. His home department is Classical and Near Eastern Studies and he is also appointed to the Law School as an affiliate faculty member. He serves on the steering committee for religious studies and previously directed Jewish Studies. For a complete list of publications visit: http://www.tc.umn.edu/~levinson/.
Post A Comment
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Religious Studies Roundup
Date: Thursday, September 24th 2009
Time: 1:00 PM
Location: Nicholson #135
Current religious studies majors and minors, as well as students interested in the study of religion, are invited to attend. The event is an opportunity to learn about the religious studies program, get to know other RELS students, meet faculty, and much more! Lunch is on us!
Time: 1:00 PM
Location: Nicholson #135
Current religious studies majors and minors, as well as students interested in the study of religion, are invited to attend. The event is an opportunity to learn about the religious studies program, get to know other RELS students, meet faculty, and much more! Lunch is on us!
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
History of religion tops historians' research interests
According to the American Historical Association, the most frequently selected field of interest among their members in 2009 was "history of religion," which was selected by 7.7% of the 15,055 members. Religion nudged out Cultural History for the top spot by a mere .2% More information can be found here.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
The Immortal Woman: A New Article From CLA Discoveries
History professor and Religious Studies Steering Committee member, Ann Waltner uncovers the story of Ming-era Tanyangzi: visionary, mystic, immortal.
Learn more
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Ethical, Methodological, and Pedagogical Challenges in the Empirical Study of Religion: A Workshop with Robert A. Orsi
Wednesday, July 22nd
Location: Nolte 125
Faculty, graduate students, and staff who are engaged in the scholarly study of religion are warmly invited to attend this free, one-day workshop!
Workshop Schedule.doc
*Registration Closed
Location: Nolte 125
Faculty, graduate students, and staff who are engaged in the scholarly study of religion are warmly invited to attend this free, one-day workshop!
Workshop Schedule.doc
*Registration Closed
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
From the Director
It is a real pleasure to send out greetings from the new Religious Studies Program! As many of you know, the College of Liberal Arts and the Classical and Near Eastern Studies Department completed a major revision of the Religious Studies major last spring.As many of you know, the College of Liberal Arts and the Classical and Near Eastern Studies Department completed a major revision of the Religious Studies major last spring. This past fall, it was my privilege to be hired to launch and administer the new program. Now, with one semester under our belts, we're delighted to report the addition of 34 new students to our ranks of majors and minors. I'd like to extend a hearty welcome to these students and express my profound thanks to the many faculty, staff, and students who have assisting in getting this program up and running. In particular, we all owe an enormous thanks to Sara-Jo Kriedeman, a senior RS major, who has done extraordinary work as the student assistant to the program this year.Many of you will recall that the previous RS major focused on antique religions of the Mediterranean. The new major, which is still housed administratively in CNES but functions autonomously, builds upon our strength in that area and expands the scope of the program to provide comprehensive study across many religious traditions, geographical locations, and time periods. The new program is interdepartmental, drawing from courses offered in many departments across CLA. In particular, we have developed close ties with the departments of History, Asian Languages and Literatures, Sociology, Anthropology, and Art History, along with our continuing relationship with CNES.
The centerpiece of students' major programs is a four-course area concentration, which can focus on a particular tradition, theme, geographical location, methodology, or time period. Even a brief sampling of current students' concentrations is illuminating:
Social Justice in the Christian Tradition
Religion in the Medieval Period
Religion in the Contemporary Middle East
Mysticism across Religious Traditions
Religion, Public Life and Politics
Early Christian Interpretation of Judaism
Many students pair their work with the study of a language associated with the religious tradition or location under examination, and many students have incorporated a study abroad experience into their programs.
Our near-term goals include providing a variety of opportunities for our new RS community to come together, including lectures, informational lunches, and end-of-the-semester parties. Keep an eye out for communications from the RELS listserv. And enjoy the rest of the semester!
Jeanne H. Kilde
Monks with prayer flags, Bhutan
On the Cutting Edge: Ann Waltner and Tanyangzi
By Anthony Meyer
Ann Waltner is a Religious Studies Steering Committee member, Professor of History and of Asian Languages and Literatures, and the Director of the Institute for Advanced Study.
Ann Waltner is a Religious Studies Steering Committee member, Professor of History and of Asian Languages and Literatures, and the Director of the Institute for Advanced Study. Her focus and field of work deals mainly with eastern religions, specifically pertaining to China. At the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), Ann's goal is to create environments that facilitate faculty research. Often times, this means reaching outside of the box and expanding the usual boundaries of scholarship. This entails the inclusion of undergraduate students, graduate students, and faculty alike. Like the Religious Studies Program as a whole, the Institute for Advanced Study works closely with many fields and disciplines. Ann Waltner and her staff at IAS work hard to foster revolutionary ideas while articulating them in ways that can be readily understood by the educated public.
One such idea is Professor Waltner's personal project dealing with an incredible, albeit little-known, event in Chinese history. During the 16th century in China, a young, charismatic individual rose up to become a religious inspiration to many Chinese people. This person's achievement was complicated by many situations including the preeminence of Confucianism in China during this period and the overall skepticism of the Buddhist and Daoist gods. Not least of this individual's stumbling blocks was the fact that she was a woman.
What could a woman have done to have transcended a patriarchal, Confucianist existence in 16th century China? At the end of her life, this woman, named Tanyangzi, ascended to heaven and achieved immortality. Before dismissing this story as merely another legend, one must note that historical records attest that some 100,000 people were witnesses to this event. In fact, as reported by her disciples - which included her own father and his closest friends - and critics of her "cult" alike, the event's occurrence was not under dispute. What the event meant, however, very much was.
Four men from the prestigious Wong family later attempted to author a biography of Tanyangzi, but this effort was stopped short by the bureaucrats in China who said that it would "seduce men's minds away from Confucianism." This ideological resistance coupled with a later impostor claiming to be Tanyangzi transformed her very public event into a mere urban legend. Ann Waltner has been working diligently to unearth the story of Tanyangzi and to understand her impact on China today. Electrifying the research even further is Professor Waltner's recent discovery of several letters written by Tanyangzi herself. What this new development will mean for the ultimate conclusion of Waltner's piece is yet to be seen. Yet, what is certain is that, whatever the conclusion, the tale of Tanyangzi and her movement that has existed in China as a legend will soon be transformed into history once again. And for this, we have Ann Waltner to thank.
Ann Waltner is a Religious Studies Steering Committee member, Professor of History and of Asian Languages and Literatures, and the Director of the Institute for Advanced Study.
Ann Waltner is a Religious Studies Steering Committee member, Professor of History and of Asian Languages and Literatures, and the Director of the Institute for Advanced Study. Her focus and field of work deals mainly with eastern religions, specifically pertaining to China. At the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), Ann's goal is to create environments that facilitate faculty research. Often times, this means reaching outside of the box and expanding the usual boundaries of scholarship. This entails the inclusion of undergraduate students, graduate students, and faculty alike. Like the Religious Studies Program as a whole, the Institute for Advanced Study works closely with many fields and disciplines. Ann Waltner and her staff at IAS work hard to foster revolutionary ideas while articulating them in ways that can be readily understood by the educated public.
One such idea is Professor Waltner's personal project dealing with an incredible, albeit little-known, event in Chinese history. During the 16th century in China, a young, charismatic individual rose up to become a religious inspiration to many Chinese people. This person's achievement was complicated by many situations including the preeminence of Confucianism in China during this period and the overall skepticism of the Buddhist and Daoist gods. Not least of this individual's stumbling blocks was the fact that she was a woman.
What could a woman have done to have transcended a patriarchal, Confucianist existence in 16th century China? At the end of her life, this woman, named Tanyangzi, ascended to heaven and achieved immortality. Before dismissing this story as merely another legend, one must note that historical records attest that some 100,000 people were witnesses to this event. In fact, as reported by her disciples - which included her own father and his closest friends - and critics of her "cult" alike, the event's occurrence was not under dispute. What the event meant, however, very much was.
Four men from the prestigious Wong family later attempted to author a biography of Tanyangzi, but this effort was stopped short by the bureaucrats in China who said that it would "seduce men's minds away from Confucianism." This ideological resistance coupled with a later impostor claiming to be Tanyangzi transformed her very public event into a mere urban legend. Ann Waltner has been working diligently to unearth the story of Tanyangzi and to understand her impact on China today. Electrifying the research even further is Professor Waltner's recent discovery of several letters written by Tanyangzi herself. What this new development will mean for the ultimate conclusion of Waltner's piece is yet to be seen. Yet, what is certain is that, whatever the conclusion, the tale of Tanyangzi and her movement that has existed in China as a legend will soon be transformed into history once again. And for this, we have Ann Waltner to thank.
Student Spotlight: Featuring Andy Gerstenberger
Andy is a third year student double majoring in Asian Languages and Religious Studies (Track II: Texts and Traditions) and minoring in History. He plans on graduating at the end of next year and then moving on to graduate school.
When did you decide to enroll in the religious studies major?
"Pretty much as soon as I found out the new religious studies major existed."
Why did you decide to become an RELS major?
"The new major gives me the opportunity to study all of the things that interest me most, religion, history, literature, and theory, without all of the restrictions and less-than-appealing requirements that some majors have."
What has been your favorite RELS class?
"Definitely Calvin Roetzel's Theory and Methods of Religious Studies. The course opened my eyes to a whole new way of looking at not only religion, but also societal trends and constructs in general."
What are you focusing on in your major?
"I've been all over the board, but right now I'm primarily studying South Asian religious history and, more specifically, the effects that modern capitalism has had on the development of Indian religion and society."
What do you plan to do after graduation?
"I'm hoping to go to graduate school to study religious theory, most likely within the context of South Asian intellectual history."
Why do you think the study of religion is important?
"Religion and thinking about religion have and continue to be two of the major factors in the evolution of intellectual consciousness on the individual level, the cultural level, and on the level of society in general. As we begin to interact more and more with our foreign neighbors in this ever globalizing world, it is becoming ever more crucial that we understand the factors that lay at the root of our ideological and philosophical differences. Before we can hope to understand another culture's actions, we must first understand the ideological forces that are guiding those actions, and religion has historically proven itself to be one of the more immediate and overarching of these forces."
Faculty Spotlight: Featuring Professor Calvin J. Roetzel
Professor Roetzel is an internationally recognized scholar of the Apostle Paul. He has written countless books, articles, and essays on the subject. His book Paul: The Man and the Myth being selected as "Best Popular Book Relating to the New Testament, 1997-98" by the Biblical Archaeology Society.
Another of his books, The Letter of Paul: Conversations in Context, is a key resource for students studying the New Testament.
After receiving his B.D. from Perkins School of Theology, and his PhD from Duke University, Professor Roetzel went on to teach in the Religious Studies department at Macalester College. Then in 2005 he became the Sundet Professor of New Testament Studies in the CNES Department here at the U of M. In the fall of 2007 he organized an international conference on the topic of Sanctified Violence.
A driving force behind the new Religious Studies major, Professor Roetzel is a valuable asset to its continuing growth and success. He is known on campus for his sense of humor, kind heart, and tireless care for his students.
You are known for your work on the Apostle Paul. What first sparked your interest?
"When I was in graduate school, I was married and we had two children. I had to have a topic I could finish within a year, and I knew [Paul's] letters were full of problems. So it was easy to find a problem to work on. Once I got into him, I was hooked. I was fascinated by his fertile mind, the kinds of issue he was dealing with, his impact on this new religious movement [Christianity], and the ongoing sense of damage that can be done by interpreting [Paul] wrong."
What are you currently working on?
"I just finished the 5th edition of The Letters of Paul: Conversations in Context. It was first published in '75 for undergraduates who had not a clue how to read letters that are 2000 years old, and it still has a life.
Lately, my interests have been turning towards how power is understood in the ancient world, how it's dealt with, and devices for survival in situations where people are oppressed. A conference we held in the fall of '07 dealt entirely with this question.
For almost a generation, I've been working on the process of law - such a critical issue for today's world. Next year I'll be on leave working on a project that deals with law, something that has interested me for 20 years."
Why do you think the study of religion is important in today's world?
"The world today has been shrunk by travel and technology. It seems to me that in order to be a good citizen of that world, one needs to know something about religion. So many fields are touched or informed by some sort of religious assumptions. Think about law, environmental science, and language used in medicine. They all have strong religious overtones."
What advice can you offer to those who decide to pursue a career in Religious Studies?
"The same advice I would give to a student of English, History, Art, or any other. An undergraduate degree is not designed to be the culminating degree of one's career. Many of my students have gone into law, medicine, nursing, carpentry, and even nuclear science. An undergraduate degree is something that will help you evolve, involve, and understand a wider world. "
What's been most rewarding about teaching Religious Studies at the University of Minnesota?
"Seeing what happens to your students is the most rewarding part of not just teaching Religious Studies, but of teaching, period. Watching people make enormous progress intellectually, seeing them do great things, and staying in touch over the years - if you had some little part in that, it makes you very happy. And it's not only the best students, but also those who have overcome incredible difficulties to achieve great things. To see human growth is most rewarding.
With the economy struggling, people talk about money invested in the stock market and retirement, but it's infinitely more important to invest in human life. Those assets never go down. And I feel so fortunate to have had some role to play in that."
Harold C. Anderson Scholarship
Sophomores and juniors majoring in Religious Studies are invited to apply for a scholarship honoring the memory of Dr. Harold C. Anderson.
Sophomores and juniors majoring in Religious Studies are invited to apply for a scholarship honoring the memory of Dr. Harold C. Anderson. The Harold C. Anderson scholarship is funded by friends who wish to commemorate Dr. Anderson's generosity and support of students of the University of Minnesota as well as his interest in Religious Studies.
Each spring the Religious Studies Program will grant one or more awards to eligible students pursuing study in Religious Studies at the University of Minnesota.
Next Application Deadline: April 2010
Students who wish to apply should submit (1) a two page statement of personal and academic goals in Religious Studies, (2) a one page statement of education-related financial need, (3) a transcript (which may be unofficial), and (4) the names of two faculty members who are willing to provide a reference (a letter is not necessary). Questions can be directed to Professor Jeanne Kilde, the Director the Religious Studies Program.
Submit applications to:
Professor Jeanne Kilde
Religious Studies Program
245 Nicholson Hall 216 Pillsbury Drive SE
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455
jkilde@umn.edu
Phone: 613-625-6393
Sophomores and juniors majoring in Religious Studies are invited to apply for a scholarship honoring the memory of Dr. Harold C. Anderson. The Harold C. Anderson scholarship is funded by friends who wish to commemorate Dr. Anderson's generosity and support of students of the University of Minnesota as well as his interest in Religious Studies.
Each spring the Religious Studies Program will grant one or more awards to eligible students pursuing study in Religious Studies at the University of Minnesota.
Next Application Deadline: April 2010
Students who wish to apply should submit (1) a two page statement of personal and academic goals in Religious Studies, (2) a one page statement of education-related financial need, (3) a transcript (which may be unofficial), and (4) the names of two faculty members who are willing to provide a reference (a letter is not necessary). Questions can be directed to Professor Jeanne Kilde, the Director the Religious Studies Program.
Submit applications to:
Professor Jeanne Kilde
Religious Studies Program
245 Nicholson Hall 216 Pillsbury Drive SE
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455
jkilde@umn.edu
Phone: 613-625-6393
Studying Religion Abroad
By Korla Masters
This past fall, I spent four months in Central America with Augsburg College's Center for Global Education. During October, we (myself and the seventeen other students I studied with) lived in El Salvador and studied liberation theology.
Korla Masters (right), with two children and Rebekah Ludolph (left) in the community of El Sontule, Nicaragua
This past fall, I spent four months in Central America with Augsburg College's Center for Global Education. During October, we (myself and the seventeen other students I studied with) lived in El Salvador and studied liberation theology. We learned about the importance of context in both the study and practice of liberation theology. As a result we spent much of our time meeting with people who have formed the academic basis of this theology - Jon Sobrino, Dean Brackley, and Padre Fernando Cardinal (in Nicaragua) - as well as those whose daily lives are given to its practice in Base Christian Communities. Often our host families for short-term stays were survivors of massacres brought upon them by the national military, whose main slogans ran along the lines of "be a patriot, kill a priest." (And the armies did - by the dozens.)
While liberation theology was our specific focus in El Salvador, we were able to observe throughout the semester the degree to which religion has impacted people's lives through decades of civil war, poverty, and oppression at the hands of US-supported dictatorships. We also saw the continued interplay between church bodies and officials and government structures in the post-war years. For example, Padre Cardinal served as the Minister of Education in the Nicaraguan government during the 1980s and oversaw a national literacy project that reduced illiteracy by 41% (from 52 to 11%) over the course of a year. Similarly, we learned about Bishop Juan Gerardi, a Guatemalan human rights advocate killed after presenting a study on war crimes two years after Guatemala's civil war ended in 1996.
Studying abroad strikes me as particularly important for students of religion because of exposure. When in a new context, one cannot help but be challenged and stretched. When talking about re-entry (to the US), we often used the metaphor of puzzle pieces, as in "I feel like I'm shaped differently now than when I left - I'm not sure exactly how I might fit into the space I left behind." This sort of growth seems similar to that which we seek as students and especially as religious studies students.
Interdisciplinary Cooperation & Indispensable Skills
From politics to medicine to linguistics, religion is a topic, often controversial, that is raised time and time again.
From politics to medicine to linguistics, religion is a topic, often controversial, that is raised time and time again. To understand the policies of much of the Middle East, it is essential to understand religious beliefs and the place those beliefs have in governments. Much of the same can be said of policies in the United States and the rest of the world. Yet, of even deeper importance than influence on the political front is how religions pervade our everyday lives. Indeed, religion is all around us all the time. It is an essential part of how we function and also how we dysfunction.
As such, the Religious Studies Program draws upon authorities, professors, and courses from many different disciplines, departments, and majors. The perspectives and expertise that they provide advance the work that is done within the program. In turn, the valuable work of Religious Studies contributes to other fields as well. This mutual cooperation among fields makes our work not merely relevant but also incredibly interesting.
Because the Religious Studies Program values its interdisciplinary resources, the skills that one learns in Religious Studies are broadly versatile. Understanding social interaction and the historical development of religio-political outlooks, tracing the geographical migration and reach of groups over time, reading texts in ways that emphasize social contexts and intended audiences are only a few of the skills that are developed in the Religious Studies major.
Majors and minors in the program benefit greatly from the flexibility, skills, and solid education that this interdisciplinary approach provides. Upon graduation, they are well-prepared to move into focused training in a host of fields.
From politics to medicine to linguistics, religion is a topic, often controversial, that is raised time and time again. To understand the policies of much of the Middle East, it is essential to understand religious beliefs and the place those beliefs have in governments. Much of the same can be said of policies in the United States and the rest of the world. Yet, of even deeper importance than influence on the political front is how religions pervade our everyday lives. Indeed, religion is all around us all the time. It is an essential part of how we function and also how we dysfunction.
As such, the Religious Studies Program draws upon authorities, professors, and courses from many different disciplines, departments, and majors. The perspectives and expertise that they provide advance the work that is done within the program. In turn, the valuable work of Religious Studies contributes to other fields as well. This mutual cooperation among fields makes our work not merely relevant but also incredibly interesting.
Because the Religious Studies Program values its interdisciplinary resources, the skills that one learns in Religious Studies are broadly versatile. Understanding social interaction and the historical development of religio-political outlooks, tracing the geographical migration and reach of groups over time, reading texts in ways that emphasize social contexts and intended audiences are only a few of the skills that are developed in the Religious Studies major.
Majors and minors in the program benefit greatly from the flexibility, skills, and solid education that this interdisciplinary approach provides. Upon graduation, they are well-prepared to move into focused training in a host of fields.
The RELS Major
The field of religious studies draws from a number of academic disciplines. CLA's religious studies major was designed as an interdepartmental major to reflect this characteristic of the field.
Dome and minaret at sunset
The field of religious studies draws from a number of academic disciplines. CLA's religious studies major was designed as an interdepartmental major to reflect this characteristic of the field.
The religious studies major offers two tracks. Track I (Religion, Culture, and Society) offers opportunities to focus thematically on the social or cultural contexts and ramifications of religion. Track II (Text and Traditions) allows in-depth, text-based focus on a specific religious tradition.
For more information, please visit our website: http://religiousstudies.umn.edu/
Dome and minaret at sunset
The field of religious studies draws from a number of academic disciplines. CLA's religious studies major was designed as an interdepartmental major to reflect this characteristic of the field.
The religious studies major offers two tracks. Track I (Religion, Culture, and Society) offers opportunities to focus thematically on the social or cultural contexts and ramifications of religion. Track II (Text and Traditions) allows in-depth, text-based focus on a specific religious tradition.
For more information, please visit our website: http://religiousstudies.umn.edu/
How to Study Religion--And Why
By Anthony Meyer
The study of religion at the university level is frequently not what people expect it to be. All too often, the assumption is that we study the meanings of texts as they would be studied in places of worship.
The study of religion at the university level is frequently not what people expect it to be. All too often, the assumption is that we study the meanings of texts as they would be studied in places of worship. While this approach is appropriate for believing groups, it does not accurately characterize the approach to religion taken at the university level. Religious Studies here is not a quest for deeper faith, but the study of how religions are constructed, their function and their role in society and culture, and their influence on humanity. Religious Studies is the academic study of religion.
The new Religious Studies major offers two basic, though overlapping, approaches to the study of religion, which are built into its two-"track" system. Track I--Religion, Culture, and Society--accommodates students who wish to study a variety of religions and themes relating to religion. It emphasizes methodologies across the liberal arts, from the humanities and fine arts to the social sciences.
Track II--Texts and Traditions--on the other hand, focuses on in-depth knowledge of a particular religious tradition, such as Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, or American Indian. Essential to this track is the completion of four semesters (or the equivalent) of a language appropriate to the chosen religious tradition and its sources. This track allows students to pursue in-depth study of a single tradition, while also requiring two courses on other traditions to provide breadth.
In both tracks, students study traditions from across the globe. The program retains its original strength in ancient Judaism and early Christianity, and is building new strengths in other areas: religions of China and South Asia (Buddhism, Hinduism, Daoism, Confucianism), religions of the Mediterranean and Middle East (including Islam), and religion in America, Native American philosophies, and theory of religion. For instance, students can now study religions in the contemporary Middle East in concert with language study in Arabic, Turkish, or Persian. Students design their specific programs individually, with the help of the Director of Undergraduate Studies, to ensure that they get exactly what they are looking for in their academic study of religion.
The Religious Studies major has significant potential for the job market, providing skills and knowledge vital for work in many fields. Religious Studies majors not only develop skills in textual analysis, direct observation, critical thinking, and written and oral communication that are the hallmarks of a liberal education, but they also develop specialized knowledge of religious groups, deep cross-cultural understandings, and skills in fostering cross-cultural communication. Such knowledge and skills contribute significantly to fields ranging from public policy, government, education, and the non-profit sector, to business, medicine, the law, and religious leadership.
As our world becomes increasingly global, knowledge of religions--of diverse foundational practices and beliefs, of how various religions function socially, culturally, and politically--constitutes a solid foundation for almost any career.
The study of religion at the university level is frequently not what people expect it to be. All too often, the assumption is that we study the meanings of texts as they would be studied in places of worship.
The study of religion at the university level is frequently not what people expect it to be. All too often, the assumption is that we study the meanings of texts as they would be studied in places of worship. While this approach is appropriate for believing groups, it does not accurately characterize the approach to religion taken at the university level. Religious Studies here is not a quest for deeper faith, but the study of how religions are constructed, their function and their role in society and culture, and their influence on humanity. Religious Studies is the academic study of religion.The new Religious Studies major offers two basic, though overlapping, approaches to the study of religion, which are built into its two-"track" system. Track I--Religion, Culture, and Society--accommodates students who wish to study a variety of religions and themes relating to religion. It emphasizes methodologies across the liberal arts, from the humanities and fine arts to the social sciences.
Track II--Texts and Traditions--on the other hand, focuses on in-depth knowledge of a particular religious tradition, such as Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, or American Indian. Essential to this track is the completion of four semesters (or the equivalent) of a language appropriate to the chosen religious tradition and its sources. This track allows students to pursue in-depth study of a single tradition, while also requiring two courses on other traditions to provide breadth.
In both tracks, students study traditions from across the globe. The program retains its original strength in ancient Judaism and early Christianity, and is building new strengths in other areas: religions of China and South Asia (Buddhism, Hinduism, Daoism, Confucianism), religions of the Mediterranean and Middle East (including Islam), and religion in America, Native American philosophies, and theory of religion. For instance, students can now study religions in the contemporary Middle East in concert with language study in Arabic, Turkish, or Persian. Students design their specific programs individually, with the help of the Director of Undergraduate Studies, to ensure that they get exactly what they are looking for in their academic study of religion.
The Religious Studies major has significant potential for the job market, providing skills and knowledge vital for work in many fields. Religious Studies majors not only develop skills in textual analysis, direct observation, critical thinking, and written and oral communication that are the hallmarks of a liberal education, but they also develop specialized knowledge of religious groups, deep cross-cultural understandings, and skills in fostering cross-cultural communication. Such knowledge and skills contribute significantly to fields ranging from public policy, government, education, and the non-profit sector, to business, medicine, the law, and religious leadership.
As our world becomes increasingly global, knowledge of religions--of diverse foundational practices and beliefs, of how various religions function socially, culturally, and politically--constitutes a solid foundation for almost any career.
The "Look" of Freedom: Embodiment and the Nature and Meaning of Black Religion
A Recent Lecture by Dr. Anthony Pinn
In February the Religious Studies Program was proud to sponsor a lecture this by Dr. Anthony Pinn, Arnold Professor of Humanities and Professor of Religious Studies at Rice University.
In February the Religious Studies Program was proud to sponsor a lecture this by Dr. Anthony Pinn, Arnold Professor of Humanities and Professor of Religious Studies at Rice University.
His lecture dealt primarily with the nature and meaning of black religion, which he explained, has little do with doctrines and creeds and more to do with the nature and meaning of black bodies. By using Civil Rights Movement activities and strategies as a case study, his lecture argued for the importance of the aesthetics of black bodies as a primary arena in which religious issues are defined and worked out.
Pinn holds a M.Div. from Harvard Divinity School and a Ph.D. in Religion from Harvard University. His professional commitments also involve work as the Executive Director of the Society for the Study of Black Religion and co-chair of the American Academy of Religion's Black Theology Group. Pinn is the author/editor of seventeen books, including Why, Lord?: Suffering and Evil in Black Theology (1995); By These Hands: A Documentary History of African American Humanism (2001); and African American Humanist Principles: Living and Thinking Like the Children of Nimrod (2004).
The Department of African American & African Studies and The Institute for Advanced Study co-sponsored the event.
Monday, May 4, 2009
Monday, March 2, 2009
Online Encyclopedia of Jewish Women
The Jewish Women's Archive is proud to announce the launch of the online version of Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia, originally produced by Alice and Moshe Shalvi of Shalvi Publishing Ltd. This new resource will be available for free at jwa.org/encyclopedia beginning March 1, 2009.
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