May 03 2025

Making America Inclusive Again: A “Catholic” Approach to Our Neighbors

April 18, 2018

by Miguel H. Díaz, Loyola University Chicago

an image of an American flag sumperimposed on top of crecked, dried bed of clay

Shortly after the election of Donald Trump, a number of religious scholars and activists put together some critical reflections on the Trump administration from a variety of faith perspectives and covering a wide range of issues. These reflections were published in Miguel A. De La Torre’s edited book, Faith and Resistance in the Age of Trump. In my contribution to this book, I offered some thoughts on Catholics and the Trump administration. Engaging Catholics in the United States with respect to support and his policies is important, especially in light of the Pew Research poll which noted the following:

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You Can’t Just Teach Your Way Out of Trumpism: A Systemic Analysis

April 18, 2018

by Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite, Chicago Theological Seminary

an image of an American flag sumperimposed on top of crecked, dried bed of clay

Structural injustice in our time can be called “Trumpism,” but it is a system that has been decades in the making. I do not believe you can confine your opposition to this system to the classroom. The very structure of our institutions and the broader social, political, and economic context all need to be actively addressed. If we limit our engagement of this system to the classroom, we end up teaching hypocrisy.

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Resources

April 18, 2018
an image of an American flag sumperimposed on top of crecked, dried bed of clay

Beckwith, Christopher I. Empires of the Silk Road a History of Central: Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the Present. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2011.

Boles, Kirsten. "Review of Faith and Resistance in the Age of Trump edited by Miguel A. De La Torre." Reading Religion, February 27, 2018. http://readingreligion.org/books/faith-and-resistance-age-trump.

Brodkin, Karen. How Jews Became White Folks and What that Says about Race in America. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1988. 

De La Torre, Miguel, ed. Faith and Resistance in the Age of Trump. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2017.

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Lena Salaymeh on Critiques and New Directions in Studying Islamic Legal Traditions

April 5, 2018
 
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2018 Humanities Advocacy Day: Building on Last Year’s Wins

February 27, 2018

by Beatrice Gurwitz, Deputy Director, National Humanities Alliance

Over the course of February and March, advocacy organizations of all stripes host “fly-in” days, where advocates from around the country come to Capitol Hill to make the case for federal funding priorities. These events are concentrated in February and March to align with the beginning of the congressional appropriations cycle. After the president submits a budget request in February, Congress begins its own budgeting and appropriations process: Members of Congress submit individual requests and sign on to collective letters that make the case for particular priorities. These letters and requests are then sent to the chairs of the Appropriations Committees, who take them under advisement when drafting their bills.

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Existentialism, Authenticity, and Asceticism with Noreen Khawaja

February 20, 2018

Noreen Khawaja talks to Religious Studies News about her book "The Religion of Existence: Asceticism in Philosophy from Kierkegaard to Sartre" (University of Chicago Press), which won the American Academy of Religion’s 2017 Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion in constructive-reflective studies.

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In Memoriam: Jonathan Z. Smith (1938–2017)

January 5, 2018

by Russell T. McCutcheon, University of Alabama

Jonathan Z Smith speaking at a podium with a blue curtain behind him

On the recent afternoon and early evening of New Year’s Eve many of us were shocked to learn the sad news that Jonathan Z. Smith, arguably the world’s most influential scholar of religion over the past fifty years, had died the previous day from complications due to lung cancer. He was 79 and had been undergoing treatments since his diagnosis last summer.

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Female Graduate Students, Power Dynamics, and Work-Life Balance

December 18, 2017

by Kristy Slominski, University of Mississippi

two women

To contribute to the ongoing discussions initiated by the Committee on the Status of Women in the Profession about power dynamics within academia and the elusive quest for work-life balance, I have been asked to address how these issues intersect with the experiences of female graduate students. Of course, I cannot speak for all of the amazing women and varied experiences within this group, but I did spend considerable time during graduate school looking into these issues and speaking with students as a member of the AAR’s Graduate Student Committee and later as the student director elected to the Board of Directors. I also served as a student representative within the Western Region of the AAR and helped to create their Graduate Student and Professional Development Unit.

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Interview with Lynn Neal, 2017 Excellence in Teaching Award Winner

November 19, 2017

 

When did you know you were gifted/called to the vocation of teaching?

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Winnifred Fallers Sullivan: 2017 Marty Award Winner

November 6, 2017

by Mara Willard, AAR Committee on the Public Understanding of Religion

headshot of Winnifred Sullivan with a case of books behind her

The AAR’s Committee on the Public Understanding of Religion is pleased to announce that Winnifred Fallers Sullivan, professor in the Department of Religious Studies at Indiana University Bloomington and affiliated professor at the Bloomington Maurer School of Law, is the 2017 recipient of the Martin E. Marty Award for the Public Understanding of Religion.

Now in its twenty-first year, the Marty Award recognizes extraordinary contributions to the public understanding of religion by individuals whose work has a relevance and eloquence that speaks not just to scholars, but to other “publics” as well.

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