Archived News

• Megan Bryson Published in The Conversation
• Shepardson on Turkey’s historic city of Antakya
• Spirit Guide: How the Arson of a Black Church in Knoxville has Affected More Than the Church Community
• Knoxville native on campus Thursday
• UG Ethan Peebles presents research at regional conference
• New Book by Sinnreich, The Atrocity of Hunger
• UT Maus event mentioned in The Atlantic
• Beacon article on antisemitism
• Japan’s Laughing Buddha Hotei is merging into Santa Claus – both are roly-poly sacred figures with a bag of gifts
• Climate change and Christianity: Some Chattanooga area believers find small acts of stewardship are a start
• David Kline's Key to Teaching Success
• Andrew Hoyal Receives 2022 Charles H. Reynolds Distinguished Alumnus/a Award
• In and Out of Classroom, Megan Bryson Recognized for Work on Asian Religion
• Erin Darby Wins L.R. Hesler Award
• Megan Bryson Gives Conversations & Cocktails Talk on Buddhist Art and Artefacts
• Religious Studies Majors Receive Volunteers of Distinction Awards
• Helene Sinnreich receives College Outreach Service Award
• David Kline Receives College Teaching Award
• Megan Bryson Publishes Article in Crossroads
• Megan Bryson Publishes Article in Buddhist Statecraft in East Asia
• Michael Naparstek Publishes Co-edited Book on Tang Dynasty
• Sinnreich and Magilow Story in Daily Beacon
• Shepardson Co-edits New Book, Invitation to Syriac Christianity
• David Kline Publishes in Critical Theory for Political Theology 2.0
• 'Maus' author Art Spiegelman to Speak Virtually at University of Tennessee Jewish Studies Program
• Shepardson Publishes Co-edited Book, Dealing with Difference
• Interview: Dr. Marla Frederick, a Preview of the Distinguished Lecture in Religious Studies
• Lisa Gasson-Gardner Published "Sara Ahmed"
• Erin Darby Published "Rachel’s Teraphim"
• Support Religious Studies!
• New York Review of Books mentions Professor Shepardon's upcoming co-edited book, Invitation to Syriac Christianity
• Books by Sinnreich and Levering celebrated
• Cabellos Receives Grant
• David Kline Leads "The Bottom," A New Reading Series
• Larry S. Perry, II Joins Department
• Welcome New Lecturers
• Bryson Receives Humanities Center Fellowship
• Helene Sinnreich and Erin Darby receive Gilya Schmidt Faculty Award
• Erin Darby named inaugural faculty director, Office of Undergraduate Research and Fellowships
• Religious Studies students Lauren Farkas and Lucas Fiet named Top Collegiate Scholars
• Religious Studies major Cody Hubbard presents research at NCUR
• Board member Yassin Terou honored with 2021 CCI Diversity Award
• Erin Darby wins Global Catalyst Teaching and Service Award
• WUOT Interview with Katherine Marshall on Religion in International Development
• WUOT Interview with Dr. Vasudha Narayanan, Mar 23 Anjali Lecture
• Religious Studies major Lucas Fiet presents research at regional SECSOR conference
• Religious Studies alumnus James Trimble "Volunteer 40 Under 40 Class of 2021"
• Board of Visitors member, Mayor Dan Brown, on urban removal
• Scott, Darby Recognized for Excellence in Teaching and Advising
• Megan Bryson cited as world expert by UK's Independent news
• 'Religious Studies: Sects Education' t-shirts available
• Erin Darby and Rachelle Scott win College Teaching and Advising Awards
• Larry Perry on Black Faith and National Healing
• Graduating Religious Studies minor Keely Williams, a first-gen success story
• Larry Perry on WUOT: Religion and the Black Lives Matter movement
• Rosalind Hackett Invited to become an Extraordinary Professor through the Desmond Tutu Centre for Religion and Social Justice at the University of the Western Cape, South Africa
• Congratulations to Mark Hulsether on becoming Professor Emeritus
• Perry, Shepardson, Sinnreich participate in Cost of Hate symposium
• David Kline reflection
• Drew Holcomb Surprises a Religious Studies Class
• Board member Yassin Terou shows how refugees help us through a pandemic
• Sinnreich offers insight into story about Oak Ridge man facing deportation for his role as a German concentration camp guard
• Joan Nicoll Riedl Religious Studies Endowment Surprises and Delights Its Namesake
• Board member Yassin Terou feeds Tornado Victims
• Mark Hulsether speaks at apocalypse symposium
• Seniors Ashley and Travis Cornell present research in Nashville for annual Tennessee Posters at the Capitol
• Helene Sinnreich on WUOT for Holocaust Remembrance Day
• Board member Dan Brown recognized by Knoxville's 2020 MLK Commission with Distinguished Service Award
• David Kline, MLK Day Daily Beacon essay
• From East TN to China in the 1930s: Dr. Bryson's students' film projects
• Bryson Receives Junior Faculty Teaching Award
• The 'Ayn Gharandal Archaeological Project in Jordan on WUOT
• Megan Bryson guest on "Religion in Life"
• Manuela Ceballos noted as an emerging researcher to watch
• Interview: Omid Safi on the Muslim Love Poet, Rumi
• Students Uncovering Ancient Artifacts in Jordan
• Lillian Mashburn wins Service Award
• Religious Studies faculty and students help host Arab Fest
• Hackett Receives Honorary Chieftaincy in Nigeria
• Ceballos wins Fellowship for 'Teaching Through Translation' Project
• In Daily Beacon article, David Kline urges students to rethink what it means to study.
• Hackett named 2019 Chancellor's Professor
• Yassin Terou, News Sentinel Person of the Year, joins Board of Visitors
• Tina Shepardson's 2014 book Controlling Contested Places released in paperback
• Department donates academic books to Nigerian University
• Amanda Bryant honored at undergraduate research event
• Department's Arab Fest in the news
• Religious Studies Faculty and Students Receive Chancellor's Awards
• Helene Sinnreich, Washington Post OpEd, Anti-Vaxxers and Holocaust Narratives
• David Kline will give his talk, “Heretical Humanities: Thinking a New Human Future with Sylvia Wynter” at the Critical Race Symposium: New Perspectives on Research and Scholar Activism.
• Rosalind Hackett and Big Ears Festival
• Rosalind Hackett interviewed on German radio
• Arnold Cohen Named 2019 CCI Diversity Award Recipient
• Lecturer David Kline Presents at Forum Discussing Hope and Resiliency in a Nation Marked by Slavery
• Nasrallah's Dungan Lecture covered in Daily Beacon
• Amanda Bryant to Present Research to Legislators at Posters at the Capitol
• WUOT Interview with David L. Dungan Memorial Lecturer Laura Nasrallah
• Erin Darby and Manuela Ceballos honored at the college's 2018 awards banquet
• Rosalind Hackett awarded Gerardus van der Leeuw fellowship at University of Groningen for fall semester
• Shepardson Named Religious Studies Department Head
• Rosalind Hackett honored with Yoruba names by Oba (King) of Erinmo, Nigeria
• Randal Hepner promoted to Distinguished Lecturer
• Erin Darby receives faculty scholarship from UT Office of Community Engagement and Outreach to attend the Engagement Scholarship Consortium in MN in October 2018
• Minor Tiana Castillo receives prestigious Fulbright award to teach English in Vietnam
• Derek Galyon, Minor ’17, receives Fulbright to work on his master’s in international security and conflict studies at Dublin City University, Ireland
• Erin Darby named as Undergraduate Research Faculty Mentor of the Year Award for the College Arts & Sciences – Humanities Division
• New VOLstarter compaign for Undergraduate Research and Travel Fund launched to commemorate Rosalind Hackett’s stepping down as Head
• Helene Sinnreich receives GSS (Graduate Student Senate) Graduate Research Mentor of the Year Award
• Manuela Ceballos awarded place in 2018-19 Wabash Workshop for Early Career Religion Faculty at Colleges and Universities
• Department launches Statement of Principle in response to recent events
• David Kline presents at the Inaugural Political Theology Network conference at Emory University
• Erin and Robert Darby receive the 2017 American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR) Membership Service Award
• Manuela Ceballos has book proposal accepted by UT's Humanities Center for Manuscript Review Program
• Minor Derek Galyon publishes article on Nation of Islam in Pursuit
• Minor Sarah Smith receives Elaine Evans Middle East Scholarship
• Undergraduates and lecturers win awards at Annual Awards Ceremony
• Eric Bain-Selbo and Nancy Fraley receive inaugural Charles H. Reynolds Distinguished Alumnus/a Award
• Mark Hulsether to spend July 2017 in New York as a Coolidge Fellow at the Association for Religion and Intellectual Life
• Mark Hulsether awarded Fulbright and Research Chair in Arts and Humanities at University of Alberta, Canada (spring 2018)
• Manuela Ceballos awarded Newberry Short-Term Resident Fellowship for Individual Research
• Jenny Collins-Elliott invited to participate in NEH Summer Institute on "Diverse Philosophical Approaches to Sexual Violence" at Elon University
• Emily Johnson receives the inaugural Tennessee Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (TLSAMP) Outstanding Faculty Award
• Taylor Thomas ’16 receives offer to pursue PhD in Religious Studies at Indiana University in Russian identity, literature, and religion.
• New online course available this summer
• Shepardson, Darby Honored at Annual Faculty Awards Banquet
• Undergraduate research and travel fund launched
• Megan Bryson presents research on Tantric Buddhism at conference in China
• Religious Studies faculty play key role in creation of new Middle East Studies program
• Students receive awards at 2016 Awards Ceremony
• Rosalind Hackett delivers Lerner Symposium at Appalachian Psychoanalytic Society
• Religious Studies majors receive top honors at Chancellor’s honors banquet
• Mark Hulsether reviewed a book about evangelical hippies of the 1970s known as the Jesus People
• RSA President Taylor Thomas visits Dr. Erin Darby in Jerusalem
• Tina Shepardson named Scholar of the Week
• RSA President Taylor Thomas wins Joseph A. Callaway student paper award from American Schools of Oriental Research at SECSOR meeting
• Megan Bryson receives prestigious ACLS (American Council of Learned Societies) fellowship for 2016-17
• Erin Darby leaves for NEH Fellowship in Jerusalem
• Tina Shepardson receives prestigious National Humanities Fellowship
• Megan Bryson receives book contract with Stanford UP for Goddess on the Frontier: Religion, Ethnicity, and Gender in SW China
• Rosalind Hackett delivers talk at the 2015 Parliament of the World's Religions in Salt Lake City
• Tina Shepardson publishes article on Jews of Fourth-Century Antioch
• Tina Shepardson's promotion to Full Professor honored at Faculty Bookplate Reception, October 12, 2015
• Emily Johnson receives OUP book contract for This Is Our Message: Women's Leadership in the New Christian Right
• Judaic Studies searches for new Director
• Destruction of temples in Syria hits home for UT faculty pair
• Robert Cremins, Kirby Trovillo, and Felipe Oliveira were the 2015 recipients of the Lusby and Hodges Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research
• Religious Studies minor Allison Gose wins Marco prize for essay
• Interview with Erin Darby about ancient Judean pillar figurines
• Rosalind Hackett's book New Media and Religious Transformations in Africa is published
• Rosalind Hackett and major Olivia Bradley participate in study and service abroad program in Uganda
• Through Study and Service Abroad (in Uganda) Keep Smiling!
• Faculty research seminars announced: Late Antiquity (Shepardson) and Centers and Peripheries in East Asia (Bryson)
• Rachelle Scott featured in PBS program
• Tina Shepardson elected to board of North American Patristics Society
• Erin Darby travels to Jordan, Switzerland, and Israel for Summer Research
• Majors receive awards at 2014 Annual Awards Ceremony
• Rosalind I. J. Hackett serves as Mellon Fellow at University of Cape Town, May 2014
• Tina Shepardson’s new book, Controlling Contested Places: Late Antique Antioch and the Spatial Politics of Religious Controversy, is published by University of California Press
• Erin Darby first recipient of the new F. Stanley Lusby and John O. Hodges Teaching Endowment
• Knoxville Symphony Orchestra Maestro Lucas Richman lectures on renowned composer Ernest Bloch
• Megan Bryson presents her research at Ghent Centre for Buddhist Studies, Belgium, December 2013
• Department of Religious Studies announces search for Assistant Professor of Islam
• Rosalind I. J. Hackett delivers keynote address at Elon University on religious terrorism in Africa
• Religious Studies Majors and Minors receive recognition at the 2013 Awards Ceremony and Graduation party
• Megan Bryson wins Alumni Outstanding Teaching Award at Chancellor’s Honors Banquet
• Alissa Reeves, major in English and Religious Studies, wins award for Extraordinary Professional Promise at Chancellor’s Honors Banquet
• The McClung Museum exhibition, Zen Buddhism and the Arts of Japan, curated by Dr. Megan Bryson last fall, won an excellence award from the TN state museum association
• Emeritus professor John Hodges featured in TN Today
• Emeritus professor John Hodges featured in Knoxville News Sentinel
• Paula Fredriksen’s lecture featured in Daily Beacon
• Mark Hulsether published “We Do Not Need to Live Like Rats Fighting for Scraps” in Dharma World
• Rachelle Scott delivers lecture at Boston University’s Institute on Culture, Religion, and World Affairs
• Tina Shepardson wins 2012 College of Arts and Sciences Faculty Award for Academic Outreach
• Professors Make Archaeological Finds in Jordan; Epigrapher to Speak Tuesday
• Professor Gilya Schmidt recently published an essay on prejudice and hate in the publication Dharma World
• Megan Bryson, co-curator, Zen Buddhism and the Arts of Japan at UT’s McClung Museum speaks on "From Zen Art to Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance"
• Rosalind Hackett and Randal Hepner publish article in Religious Dispatches about a controversial crusade in war-affected northern Uganda
• Gilya Schmidt publishes book on rural Judaism in Germany
• Lecturer Kelly Baker writes on the new Klan in the Atlantic magazine
• Lecturer Megan Bryson writes on “’Newddhists’ in the News”
• Kelly Baker named UT’s Scholar of the Week for her recent publications on the Klan
• Religious Studies students publish their undergraduate research in Pursuit.
• Distinguished American religion scholar Professor Laurie Maffly-Kipp, Dept. of Religious Studies, UNC Chapel Hill, lectures on "Saints of Darkness: Mormons, Race, and the Issue of an African American Priesthood"
• Workshop on Islam for teachers
• Tina Shepardson's research on Controlling Contested Places: Fourth Century Antioch and the Spatial Politics of Religious Controversy supported and featured by the American Academy of Religion
• Noted author on religion in the U.S. Jeff Sharlet delivers Second Annual Memorial Lecture, February 28, 2012
• Rachelle Scott appointed North American editor of journal, Fieldwork in Religion.
• Professor Rosalind Hackett co-editor of new book on religion and conflict in Africa
• Rachelle Scott wins College Advising Award, November 29, 2011
• Professor Rosalind Hackett leads UT study and service abroad program to Uganda in July/August 2011
• Majors attend Southeastern Commission for the Study of Religion conference in Louisville, KY, March 2011
• Rachelle Scott speaks on Buddhism, gender, and the environment at Baker Center Centripetal Luncheon on Wednesday April 20, 2011
• Research project and achievements of major Jenny Bledsoe featured in Torchbearer
• First David L. Dungan Memorial Lecture delivered by Professor Bart Ehrman (Jan. 27) now available for viewing online.
• Only Jewish Professor in China to extend US speaking tour.
• Rosalind I. J. Hackett appointed to the Academic Council of the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University
• Religious Studies Association screens film on religion and social activism.
• Sarah Pike gives lecture on "Tree-Huggers to Eco-Terrorists: Childhood Religious Experience and Radical Environmentalism"
• Mark Hulsether responds to Newsweek article on growing popularity of Religious Studies
• Position announcement for Assistant Professor in Islam at UTK
• Tina Shepardson delivers pre-game Faculty Showcase Lecture on ""The Bible Tells Me So: The Politics of Biblical Interpretation"
• Professor Rosalind Hackett was interviewed on Al-Jazeera television on Pentecostalism in Africa in July 2010
• Professor Rosalind Hackett was elected as President of the International Association for the History of Religions for 2010-15 at the XXth World Congress in Toronto, Canada on August 21, 2010
• Kelly Baker delivers paper at the Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism
• UT Knoxville Selected to Host Visiting Professor from Israel
• Dr. Rosalind Hackett, Professor of Religious Studies visits the Royal Kingdom of Bhutan for pre-conference site visit in June-July 2010
• NEW COURSE OFFERED - Religion & Society in North America
• Tina Shepardson organizes an American Academy of Religion Regional Workshop on “Religion and Culture in Late Antiquity” at UT from April 30-May 1
• Professor John Hodges Lectures at Chinese Universities Over Spring Break
• Professor Miriam Levering publishes chapter in important Zen Buddhism series
• Tibetan monk/author to speak in Knoxville
• Religious Studies Scholar Shepardson on the Fast Track for Success
• Professor Mark Hulsether writes on Tiger Woods' public apology and rituals of confession
• Emeritus Professor Lee Humphreys speaks out on the name of Jesus and the formation of early Christianity
• Dr. Marco DiGiulio Receives Prestigious Fellowship for Summer 2010
• The Department of Religious Studies and the Fern and Manfred Steinfeld Program in Judaic Studies Presents Alexander Mishory, 2009-2010 Schusterman Visiting Israel Professor
• Rosalind Hackett to give Centripetal lecture on sound and religion on March 24, 2010
• Hulsether's piece in Religion Dispatches on "Top Five (Less Sensational But More Dangerous) Things to Remember About Pat Robertson" circulates widely and is featured in the Utne Reader