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Kristina García
News Officer
klg@upenn.edu
Religious Studies
Finding light in dark times
Finding light in dark times
Professors Deven Patel and Steven Weitzman in the School of Arts & Sciences discuss why Diwali and Hanukkah, both festivals of lights, can act as symbols of hope.
Locust walks: Making connections and bridging differences
Locust walks: Making connections and bridging differences
Harun Küçük, faculty director of the Middle East Center, and Joshua Teplitsky, director of the Jewish Studies Program, started walking and talking as an act of campus diplomacy in the wake of the violence in Israel and Gaza.
The search for meaning
The search for meaning
During the course Living Deliberately: Monks, Saints, and the Contemplative Life, taught by Justin McDaniel of the School of Arts & Sciences, students experiment with ascetic practices.
‘The Changing Terrain of Religious Freedom’
‘The Changing Terrain of Religious Freedom’
This timely volume of essays edited by professors Heather J. Sharkey and Jeffrey Green explores theoretical, historical, and legal perspectives on religious freedom, while examining its meaning as an experience, value, and right.
Faith in public life
Faith in public life
In a conversation sponsored by the School of Social Policy & Practice, Ben Jealous discussed religion’s potential to transform society with Charles ‘Chaz’ Howard and David Saperstein.
Poet Wes Matthews combines writing, music, research, and service
Poet Wes Matthews combines writing, music, research, and service
College fourth-year Wes Matthews is combining writing, music, research, and service during his Penn experience. A former Youth Poet Laureate of Philadelphia, the anthropology major and religious studies minor works at the Kelly Writers House and is a Wolf Humanities Center fellow.
Finding community in the Jewish High Holy Days
Finding community in the Jewish High Holy Days
Three cultural and academic leaders at Penn consider how a return to experiencing Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur in person offered physical and spiritual healing.
Who, What, Why: Max Johnson Dugan’s research on halal food
Who, What, Why: Max Johnson Dugan’s research on halal food
A doctoral candidate in religious studies, Dugan focuses on halal consumption: “What we make, what we wear, what sort of things that we eat, what we do with our bodies.”
Donovan Schaefer says there is no division between thinking and feeling
Donovan Schaefer says there is no division between thinking and feeling
In his new book, “Wild Experiment: Feeling Science and Secularism after Darwin”, the assistant professor of religious studies posits that thinking and feeling are intertwined.
Jolyon Baraka Thomas on curiosity and contentment
Jolyon Baraka Thomas on curiosity and contentment
For Jolyon Baraka Thomas of the School of Arts & Sciences, the route to religious studies was the same one that led him away from faith.
Media Contact
In the News
AP News
A court in China sentences a famed Uyghur scholar to life in prison, foundation says
A former Penn lecturer specializing in the study of her people’s folklore and traditions has been sentenced to life in prison.
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CNBC
I lived like a monk for 48 hours, and it helped me break three of my worst habits—here’s how
Justin McDaniel of the School of Arts & Sciences explains the benefits of his class “Living Deliberately,” which requires students to observe a code of silence and abstain from using electronic communications.
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The Nation
Gospel of a new Christian left
Anthea Butler of the School of Arts & Sciences says that slaveholder Christianity was central to the postbellum mythology of the South, with the Klan a symbol of white Christian nationalism.
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The New York Times
Religious freedom arguments underpin wave of challenges to abortion bans
Marci Hamilton of the School of Arts & Sciences says that the Satanic Temple’s abortion-related lawsuits are helpful for countering the religious right with a faith whose rights are being violated.
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Politico.com
The sleeper legal strategy that could topple abortion bans
Marci Hamilton of the School of Arts & Sciences says that there’s a strong argument for religious exemptions from abortion bans because those bills were initially passed for religious reasons.
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CNBC
Ivy League professor of ultra-popular ‘monk class’: These three changes can make you more resilient than most
Justin McDaniel of the School of Arts & Sciences offers three suggestions to build emotional resilience and mindfulness.
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