Public Forum on Religion and Pandemic Online Reflections

As part of the Berkeley Democracy and Public Theology Program, BCSR’s Public Forum on Religion and Pandemic brings together scholars and the public to address the current pandemic and its commensurate crises.

Asking what it means to live, write, and think in the present moment, these conversations explore the intersection between religion and timely topics such as the environment, public health, elections and democracy, religious freedom, and nationalism in order to foster public dialogue and reflection.

The Berkeley Public Forum on Religion and Pandemic is generously sponsored by the Henry Luce Foundation

split zoom screen with Thomas Laqueur and John Handel

From Providentialism to Epidemiology: Understanding Pandemics through History


Thomas W. Laqueur, Helen Fawcett Distinguished Professor Emeritus, UC Berkeley, and John Handel, PhD candidate, History, UC Berkeley

split zoom screen with Arlie Hochschild and Rachel Min Park

Crossing Divides in a Precarious Future: The White Working Class and the Upcoming General Election


Arlie Russell Hochschild, Sociology, UC Berkeley and Rachel Min Park, Berkeley Center for the Study of Religion

split zoom screen with Niklaus Largier and Nir Feinberg

The Textures of the Soul: Isolation Throughout History and Religion


Niklaus Largier, German, Comparative Literature, UC Berkeley, and Nir Feinberg, PhD candidate, Group in Buddhist Studies, UC Berkeley

split zoom screen with Carolyn Chen and Rachel Min Park

The Work of Salvation, the Salvation of Work: Searching for Belonging in an Age of Global Precarity

Carolyn Chen, Ethnic Studies, UC Berkeley, and Rachel Min Park, Berkeley Center for the Study of Religion

split zoom screen with Poulomi Saha and Grace Goudiss

Enthralled Subjects: Cults, Conversion, and Quarantine Fixations 

Poulomi Saha, UC Berkeley Department of English, and Grace Goudiss, PhD Candidate, History