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Kristina García
News Officer
klg@upenn.edu
Religious Studies
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.
Justin McDaniel on life, death, religion, and his latest book
Justin McDaniel on life, death, religion, and his latest book
In his new book, “Wayward Distractions,” the School of Arts & Sciences’ Justin McDaniel compiles articles on art and material culture spanning his 20-plus years of scholarship.
In These Times: Fear and loathing and science
In These Times: Fear and loathing and science
Season three of the School of Arts & Sciences podcast explores scientific ideas that get big reactions.
Media Contact
In the News
The New York Times
What college students need is a taste of the monk’s life
Justin McDaniel of the School of Arts & Sciences is challenging his students to adopt monastic traditions in order to rethink the purpose of education.
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NPR
The ReAwaken America tours unites conservative Christians and conspiracy theorists
Anthea Butler of the School of Arts & Sciences says that the ReAwaken movement represents a potent mix of religion, election denial, and anti-government conspiracy theory that the Republican party has largely embraced.
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Philadelphia Inquirer
Can learning about ghosts help us cope with pandemic losses? This Penn professor says yes
In a Q&A, Justin McDaniel of the School of Arts & Sciences discusses how the pandemic has changed the way people think about ghost stories and the afterlife.
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The Washington Post
Michael Flynn’s ReAwaken roadshow recruits ‘Army of God’
Anthea Butler of the School of Arts & Sciences says that Michael Flynn’s “spiritual warfare” rhetoric in support of Christian nationalism is dangerous.
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USA Today
How protests in Iran over Mahsa Amini’s death ‘forever moved the debate’ over women’s rights
Firoozeh Kashani-Sabet of the School of Arts & Sciences discusses Iran’s long history of mandating what women can wear and the power employed by its “morality police.”
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U.S. News & World Report
Iranian woman push back against compulsory hijab
Firoozeh Kashani-Sabet of the School of Arts & Sciences says that Iranian society still struggles with how much of a role religion has played in its pre- and post-revolutionary eras.
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