On Monday night in the Tucker Theater, Dr. Nicole C. Kirk gave a talk about American religion and the circus in the early twentieth century. While Protestant churches opposed the “questionable moral activities” associated with the circus, performers and workers cultivated a rich spiritual life all their own.
Dr. Joseph Blankholm of UC-Riverside spoke at W&M Feb 26th. Being secular does not always mean being nonreligious. Deconverting from Judaism, for instance, does not simply unmark a person as Jewish, which remains a cultural or ethnic identity even after rejecting religion. Like secular Jews, ex-Muslims face unique challenges, and being betwixt and between is awkward. These secular misfits are creating new and important ways of being secular and religious that are not properly either. Bursting the seams of these categories, they help us see clearly their construction.
Professor Jenkins spoke at the Religious Studies brown bag lecture series about her ethnographic research, exploring the experiences of parents and young adult children who walk the Camino de Santiago in northwest Spain. She shared stories of families who invest in the Camino as a practice for building intimacy.
David Gushee, Distinguished University Professor of Christian Ethics and Director of the Center for Theology and Public Life at Mercer University, gave a lecture drawing from material in his recent book, Moral Leadership for a Divided Age.
