Faculty updates for the Spring 2023 semester
Religious Studies News
This November, Religious Studies hosted a viewing of Ngawang Choephel’s 2019 film Ganden: A Joyful Land, and a subsequent Q&A with the director.
On Monday, November 7th, Dr. Michael Berkowitz gave a lecture in the Great Hall of the Wren Building on “New Approaches to American Jews and Moviemaking during WWII”. Dr. Berkowitz particularly discussed the role of Leo Rosten and his position as head of the motion picture division of the U.S. Office of Facts and Figures.
Daniel Vaca (William & Mary '02) gave a lecture Thursday, October 27, on the ways in which capitalism and religion intertwine and have intertwined in America, particularly regarding the rise of evangelicalism and the role that market segmentation played in this.
The English-language term emotions, as it is used today, is only about one hundred and fifty years old. Before it came into use, English speakers used words like passions, humors, affections, or sentiments, none of which exactly capture the meaning of emotions as we conceive of the word today.
Religious Studies Faculty Updates Fall 2022
Announcement! Religious Studies alumni and students are invited to a reception in the Wren for Homecoming Weekend.
The Department of Religious Studies is excited to welcome Visiting Assistant Professor Akshay Gupta.
Dr. Joshua Fishbein showcased his five movement cantata recounting his maternal grandmother’s survival story as a seven-year-old Greek Jew living during the Holocaust, and the family who saved her.
Rabbi Esther Lederman, the Union for Reform Judaism's Director of congregational innovation, discussed her work with the Central Conference of American Rabbis' task force on the experience of women in the rabbinate.
On Wednesday, April 13th, Professor Ben Williams of Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado, delivered a speech on Naropa's unique history and the role of contemplative practice in the future of higher education.
Professor Annette Yoshiko Reed visited from the Skirball Department of Hebrew & Jewish Studies and the Department of Religious Studies at New York University.
Professor Sarah Cramsey of Leiden University in the Netherlands and a W&M alumna visited campus.
Professors Cavan Concannon and Jill Hicks-Keeton sat down with students to discuss their upcoming book: "Does Scripture Speak for Itself? The Museum of the Bible and the Politics of Interpretation" (Cambridge University Press, Oct 2022).
Dr. Azzan Yadin-Israel from the Department of Jewish Studies at Rutgers University delivered a lecture on how Rabbis, a staple in modern Judaism, were far from expected in the direct aftermath of the Second Temple.
On Friday, April 1st at 4pm in Blow Memorial Hall, Professor Geoffrey Goble delivered a lecture about his book on Chinese Esoteric Buddhism.
Professor Leora Batnitzky of Princeton University discussed Judaism's shift towards a more modern notion of "religion."
Professor Rashkover joined the Religious Studies faculty in the fall of 2020. She is the Director of Judaic Studies and the Sophia and Nathan S. Gumenick Associate Professor of Judaic Studies. She specializes in Jewish philosophy, Jewish-Christian comparative theology, and Jewish political thought.
Religious Studies Faculty Updates January 2022
Professor McLaughlin teaches an exciting course this spring that centers on the agency of female goddesses, poets, and gurus from the Early Vedic period, all the way to the post-colonial era.
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.
Barbette Spaeth, professor of classical studies at William & Mary, teaches and researches in the areas of ancient religion and magic. Her classes are quite popular and draw a cross-section of students across all disciplines and systems of values and beliefs.
The Omohundro Institute of Early American History & Culture (OI) will be doing its part to support humanities posts for underemployed scholars through a new fellowship program aimed at non-tenure-eligible scholars who have been adversely affected by the COVID-19 global pandemic.
