BCSR is delighted to announce David Marno’s appointment as new co-director. In his research Marno, an associate professor of English, explores the connections between early modern literature and religious practice, with particular focus on the nature and role of prayer in these contexts. His first book, Death Be Not Proud: The Art of Holy Attention (Chicago, 2016), analyzes John Donne’s …
Founded in 2012, BCSR began its first programming five years ago. To celebrate our achievements, and to learn more about the past, present, and future of the Center and the people that make it work, this semester we’ll be deploying this logo and a “5 Questions” series with BCSR community members (and perhaps a couple more “5“-themed initiatives as well …
…and are warmly welcomed 🙂 Please join us in welcoming three new affiliated faculty members to BCSR. Robert Braun (Sociology), Ethan Katz (History), and Ronit Y. Stahl (History) will join our interdisciplinary community this fall. Robert Braun, Assistant Professor of Sociology, arrives at Berkeley from Northwestern University, after completing his PhD at Cornell in 2017. He has recently completed a …
Dear Friends of BCSR, 2017-2018 has been an extraordinary year for the Berkeley Center for the Study of Religion. We’d like to give you a sense of our activities, current, and future, and thank you for helping to make this year such a success. Our biggest efforts and events continue to revolve around the three-year, $1 million grant from the …
BCSR faculty will offer an array of undergraduate and graduate courses on religion in fall 2018. Covering numerous faiths, regions, periods, and methods, the courses are a testament to the interdisciplinary breadth and historical depth of BCSR faculty. Highlights of such offerings are listed below, a sample of the more than 100 religion-related courses that will be offered at Berkeley …
BCSR funding will support four graduate students’ research travel this summer. Grants of $1500-$3500, provided with the support of the Frank and Leslie Yeary Endowment for Ethics in the Humanities, will help students from the departments of Anthropology, Near Eastern Studies, and History to conduct fieldwork and archival research in the Middle East, Europe, and the U.S. The grant winners’ …
BCSR faculty will mentor an intellectually diverse set of New Directions in Theology grant winners in 2018-2019. Representing eight disciplines, with interests ranging from antiquity to the present, the incoming New Directions students will regularly meet with BCSR faculty to discuss contemporary religious research and to refine their academic projects. The New Directions in Theology grants, part of the Berkeley …
A celebration of Professor Saba Mahmood’s life and work will take place on Monday, April 30 from 4:30PM – 7:00PM at the David Brower Center (2150 Allston Way, Berkeley, CA 94704). Please join friends and family in remembering Dr. Mahmood. Saba Mahmood, Professor of Anthropology at the University of California at Berkeley, passed away on March 10th, 2018. The cause …
March is a big month for BCSR, and a great example of what we offer the campus and the public: innovative work on religion in its various forms and contexts, across geographies and through time. The NCAA tournament doesn’t have anything on our own “March Madness:” We already started off with a bang with a great talk by Joseph Blankholm …
The Berkeley Center for the Study of Religion is accepting applications for two graduate grant programs. Summer Research Grants in Religion offer funding to advanced graduate students working on topics at the intersection of religion and ethics, broadly construed. These grants are supported by the Frank and Lesley Yeary Endowment for Ethics in Humanities, established to support research and scholarship …
BCSR is offering up to four grants in the amount of $5,000 each for graduate students in their second year of study in 2018-2019.* New Directions grants are provided by BCSR through the Public Theology Program, a critical three-year research initiative funded by the Henry Luce Foundation. Grantees participate in a cohort of early-career students from diverse disciplines to explore …
The Berkeley Center for the Study of Religion (BCSR) is offering summer research grants to advanced graduate students working on topics at the intersection of religion and ethics, broadly construed. The grant is supported by the Frank and Lesley Yeary Endowment for Ethics in Humanities, established to support research and scholarship in ethics. Grants range from $2,000 to $5,000, and …
As we wrap-up the semester, we want to take a moment to thank you for your support of BCSR. Whether you participated by attending a lecture, donating, or simply by reading our newsletters, we appreciate your connection to our program. This fall was a very productive semester, with important events dedicated to ritual, Protestantism in the U.S., the senses and …
The Berkeley Center for the Study of Religion (BCSR) is pleased to announce the New Directions in Theology Graduate Student Grants. Up to four awards in the amount of $5,000 are designated for incoming graduate students in their first year of study in 2018-2019. The New Directions in Theology award supports promising incoming graduate students with high potential for interdisciplinary …
Among the courses on offer next semester are three courses charting the rise and development of western Christianity and its expansion to the Western Hemisphere. These courses, taken together, explore how Christian history has come to shape modern society. History of Christianity to 1250 CE. HIST 185A. (200 Wheeler, TuTh 9:30-11). Taught by Susanna Elm (History) Description: The course deals …
Yunus DoÄźan Telliel is the Berkeley Postdoctoral Fellow in Public Theology for the 2017-18 academic year. He recently completed his Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology at the Graduate Center, City University of New York. He serves on the steering committees of the “Contemporary Islam” and “Science, Technology, and Religion” program units in the American Academy of Religion. At BCSR, Telliel will …
Keeping with BCSR’s interdisciplinary breadth and historical reach, this fall affiliated faculty will teach courses related to religion in fields from sociology to comparative literature, covering periods from ancient Egypt to the present. Several examples of such coursework: Francesco Spagnolo (Music) will guide students through Jewish rituals and nightlife in collaboration with Schusterman Visiting Artist Victoria Hanna as part of …
BCSR Co-Directors Jonathan Sheehan and Mark Csikszentmihalyi recently sat down with CBS San Francisco’s Mosaic program to discuss the role and importance of the study of religion in contemporary experience, particularly at public universities like Cal. In the wide-ranging interview, Sheehan and Csikszentmihalyi explain the genesis and evolution of religious studies at Berkeley, and the particular approaches and strengths that …
June 29, 2017 Dear Friends of BCSR, 2016-2017 was an extraordinary year for the Berkeley Center for the Study of Religion. We’d like to give you a sense of our activities, current, and future, and thank you for helping to make our year such a success. Our biggest news revolves around the first full year of funding from the three-year, …
Funding from the Berkeley Center for the Study of Religion (BCSR) will allow four graduate students to travel to China, Jordan, Germany, and Washington D.C. this summer to further their respective research projects. Support for these grants of $2,000 to $4,000 is provided by the Frank and Leslie Yeary Endowment for Ethics in the Humanities, established to support research and scholarship in ethics. …
The Berkeley Center for the Study of Religion (BCSR) has selected eight graduate students from six departments to participate in the 2017-2018 New Directions in Theology Program. The participants, listed below, will explore various theological topics and refine their research projects with the guidance of BCSR faculty. The cohort includes incoming first-year and continuing second-year students of UC Berkeley PhD …
The Berkeley Center for the Study of Religion (BCSR) is offering summer research grants to advanced graduate students working on topics at the intersection of religion and ethics, broadly construed. The grant is supported by the Frank and Lesley Yeary Endowment for Ethics in Humanities, established to support research and scholarship in ethics. Grants range from $2,000 to $5,000, and …
BCSR is offering up to four grants in the amount of $5,000 each for graduate students in their second year of study in 2017-18.* New Directions grants are provided by BCSR through the Public Theology Program, a critical three-year research initiative funded by the Henry Luce Foundation. Grantees participate in a cohort of early-career students from diverse disciplines to explore the …
The Berkeley Center for the Study of Religion (BCSR) opened recruitment for the Berkeley Postdoctoral Fellowship in Public Theology on December 1. Part of BCSR’s Public Theology Program, the fellowship is dedicated to the furtherance of the very best new scholarship in religious studies, and, in particular, the development of modes of inquiry that can pioneer new approaches to the study …
Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins is the Berkeley Postdoctoral Fellow in Public Theology for the 2016-17 academic year. He is the managing editor of Immanent Frame, the Social Science Research Council’s online religion forum, and recently received his Ph.D. in Modern European History from Columbia University. His work primarily focuses on twentieth-century Western European intellectual, religious, and political history with subsidiary interest in …
