Department of Religion

Three recent graduates in the ARH track have been honored by the American Academy of Religion (AAR) for their new books. Sincerely Held: American Secularism and Its Believers (University of Chicago Press, 2022) by Charles McCrary (Ph.D., 2018) has been recognized with a book award, the 2023 AAR Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion Descriptive Analytical Studies. Errand into the Wilderness of Mirrors: Religion and the History of the CIA (University of Chicago Press, 2021) by Michael Graziano (Ph.D., 2016) was designated a 2022 finalist for the Best First Book in the History of Religions. Spiritual Entrepreneurs: Florida's Faith-Based Prisons and the American Carceral State (University of North Carolina Press, 2021) by Brad Stoddard (Ph.D., 2015) was recognized as a 2022 finalist for the AAR Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion Descriptive Analytical Studies.

Current ARH student Jesse Lee (Ph.D. expected 2024) has been awarded a Postdoctoral Fellowship for 2024-26 at the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics at Washington University.

Graduate Student News

The Department of Religion will hold its 21st Annual Graduate Student Symposium February 9-10, 2024, in Tallahassee, Florida. The symposium will center on the theme “Crisis and Calamity: The Aesthetics of Apocalypse, Immorality, and Conspiracy.” 

Prof. Christine Hayes, Sterling Professor Emerita of Religious Studies in Classical Judaica at Yale University, will deliver the 2024 the John F. Priest Lecture on Thursday, January 18, 2024 at 5:00 PM in the Alumi Center Ballroom. The title of the lecture is "Humor and Play in Rabbinic Literature: Laughing at God." A reception will immediately follow the lecture. 

The Department of Religion congratulates Profs. Sonia Hazard and Elizabeth Cecil on their Collaborative International Research Grant from the American Academy of Religion. This grant supports their project "Material Ecologies: Indigeneity, Objects, and Environments in the Study of Religion."

Faculty News

Scott Bursey (PhD, HER) has been awarded the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Doctoral Fellowship, which supports high-caliber students engaged in doctoral programs in the humanities and social sciences. This is the largest and most competitive PhD fellowship award offered by the Canadian government.

Graduate Student News