The person who holds the Duffy chair should share Steve Duffy’s vision of Religious Studies. Steve Duffy’s vision was that the theological endeavor should be scholarly, critical, ecumenical, and look with openness toward the future. It should rise above the traditional theology of the past with a broader and fuller vision of the theological task. It should embrace not only Christianity but the religions of our seamless world. He or she should share in this vision, which is also held by other significant theological scholars nationwide and worldwide.
Dr. Catherine Wessinger, Rev. H. James Yamauchi, S.J. Professor of the History of Religions, has published a new book Theory of Women in Religions. It was published by NYU Press, and is regarded as a major achievement in the field.
Tim Cahill, Associate Professor of Religious Studies, has been awarded a prestigious fellowship funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. The award of $35,000 is administered by the American Institute of Indian Studies and allows him to pursue his research on 17th-century Sanskrit poetry in India for seven months. The research proposal has been approved by the Government of India, allowing Cahill to receive a research visa and an affiliation with Banaras Hindu University during his time in India.
Adil H. Khan, Ph.D., assistant professor of religious studies, was recently interviewed by BBC Radio’s “Religion and Ethics Programme” about the origins of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, a sect of Islam. Khan spoke in the interview about why minority movements, such as the Ahmadiyya, are the target of hate crimes in Britain. The interview followed the religiously-motivated murder of an Ahmadi shopkeeper in Glasgow by Muslim extremists. The interview is available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0770qhh
Kenneth Keulman, Provost Distinguished Professor, was an invited speaker and roundtable participant on European Identity Politics, at the 1989 Generation Initiative Conference on the Redefinition of the European Mission, at the London School of Economics and Political Science, on June 26.
Dr. Judith Gruber will deliver the opening keynote lecture at the Convention of the European Society for Intercultural Theology and Interreligious Studies. The Convention takes place at Lublin, Poland from April 15-18, 2015. The title of her paper is "Methods in Intercultural Theology after the Cultural Turn".
The January 26, 2015 issue of the American Academy of Religion's Spotlight on Teaching, devoted to teaching about new religious movements, includes Professor Catherine Wessinger's essay "Integrating New Religions Scholarship into Religious Studies Courses." It is available at: http://rsn.aarweb.org/node/148
Dr. Catherine Wessinger was featured in the American Academy of Religion's special January 2015 "Spotlight on Teaching" which focused on "Teaching New and Alternative Religious Movements".
Alex Fournet ’11 (international business and religious studies) left the World Trade Center in New Orleans to join TDG Financial as a lending officer. He also began teaching scripture at Our Lady of Notre Dame Seminary and Our Lady of Holy Cross College, both in New Orleans.
Dr. Terri Bednarz, RSM, was awarded funding to jump-start a textbook on humor in the Bible, which will be co-authored by students in the Honors program.