PhD completion

Biblical Studies. The Department would like to congratulate Alexander Potts on the successful defence of his doctoral thesis 'Reading Nag Hammadi: Cognitive Narratology and Codex II '. His supervisors were Dr Todd Klutz and Dr Holly Morse, and the external examiner was Ward Blanton (Kent).

PhD completion

Biblical Studies. The Department would like to congratulate Sam Rogers on the successful defence of his doctoral thesis 'Hearing Luke’s Parables through the Socio-Economic Contexts of His Audience'. His supervisors were Prof. Peter Oakes and Dr Todd Klutz, and the external examiner was Sean Adams (Glasgow).

Conference, online

Christian Theology. Online half-day conference on 'Life on the Breadline: Christianity, Poverty, and Politics in the 21st Century City'. Peter Scott is a member of the Life on the Breadline research team. 9.30-12.40pm, 11 Sept 2020.  To register (for free) see further information.

From the Archive... Podcast, Bogdanow Lectures 2019

Holocaust Studies. The 2019 Bogdanow Lectures by Prof. Tony Kushner (University of Southampton) on 'Illegality: Jews and Other Humans' are now available to view online. The lectures are entitled: (1) The Concept of Illegality: Defining the ‘Other’, and (2) Illegality and the Migrant Experience: From Mandate Palestine to Lampedusa. Originally presented 23 and 24 Sept 2019. Further information.

New appointment

Happiness studies. The Department wishes to congratulate itself on yet another appointment, with the birth of Stefania Silvestri’s beautiful little girl, who joined the Department on Sat 20 June. The new project role, provisionally entitled Amanda, represents a new research direction for Dr Silvestri and Co-Investigator Gregory (pictured), but promises significant impact for her parental funding bodies over the coming years.

Open access publication

Japanese religion. Now available free to read via open access: Erica Baffelli and Ian Reader, Dynamism and the Ageing of a Japanese 'New' Religion: Transformations and the Founder (Bloomsbury, 2018). Further information.

New e-resource

Jewish Studies. An Academia page has been generated in honour of the late Professor Alexander Altmann, who established the Institute of Jewish Studies (IJS) in Manchester in the 1940s. It includes PDFs to his nearly 300 articles and reviews (including dozens of his newspaper articles from Berlin and Manchester), frontmatter to more than 55 books; as well as more than 80 items about Altmann. The IJS had its origins in 1941 when, as a communal rabbi in Manchester, Altmann opened up an independent academic Institution for Higher Jewish Education, which became the IJS in 1953. In 1959 he moved to Brandeis University in the US.  Further information.

New publication, online

Biblical Studies. Holly Morse, 'Eve's Punishment' in The Visual Commentary on Scripture (Kings College London, 2019). Further information.

New publication

Political theology. Michael Hoelzl, 'The New Visibility of Religion and Its Impact on Populist Politics', Religions, vol. 11, no. 6 (2020). This edition of the journal was guest-edited by Michael Hoelzl on the theme of the new visiblity of religion. Further information.

Scriptural encounters

Reading challenging sacred texts. Scriptural Encounters bring together different faiths to debate and discuss controversial topics. This is a new series on the position of women in the Abrahamic faiths. The second of three sessions will be by Zoom on Thursday 25 June 2020 from 4:00-5:30pm. Further information.

Lecture, Nazarene Theological College

Methodist Studies. At this year’s annual Nazarene Theological College One-Day Theology Conference the main paper will be given by MWRC guest, Revd Dr Sergei Nikolaev, President of the Moscow United Methodist Theological Seminary and E. Stanley Jones Professor of Evangelism. The lecture will be on Friday 12 June from 3:00 to 4:30pm UK time (10am Eastern start in North America) via ZOOM. The title of the lecture is: ‘Methodists in Northwestern Russia and Moscow, 1889-1937: A Study in Methodist Identity’. Live Online on Friday 12 June. Email mwrc@nazarene.ac.uk for further information.

Lecturer in South Asian Studies

South Asian Studies. Congratulations to Dr Ketan Alder, whose position within the Department of Religions & Theology has been extended for a further year. Ketan's teaching, which has resulted in a nomination for a Faculty-level award, includes course units on ‘Religion in Modern South Asian History’, 'Goddesses, Demons and Stories in South Asian History’, ‘Global South Asia and the Making of the Modern World’, and ‘What is Religion?' His research interests lie in ethnographic approaches to Hindu nationalism, and he is on the executive committee of the British Association for South Asian Studies. Further information.

New post in Islamic Thought

Islamic Studies. The Department warmly welcomes Dr Kamran Karimullah who this semester moves from a research fellowship in Islamic Philosophy & Medicine to a full-time permanent position within R&T as Lecturer in Islamic Thought. As a post-doctoral fellow on the project Genealogies of Knowledge, Kamran was responsible for constructing the pre-modern Greek, Arabic and Latin corpora. Among other things, he will teach a unit on 'Science and Islam' and convene a course on 'World Philosophies: Themes in the History of Ethical and Religious Thought'. Further information.

From the Archive... Podcast, Bogdanow Lectures 2018

Holocaust Studies. The 2018 Bogdanow Lectures by Prof. Jan Grabowski (Ottowa University) on 'Bystanders and the Holocaust in Poland' are now available to view online. The lectures are entitled: (1) Bystanders in Poland, and (2) The Polish Blue Police. Originally presented 29 and 30 January 2018. Further information.

University statement, Black Lives Matter

Equality and diversity. The University has released a statement in respect of the murder of George Floyd and Black Lives Matter, which includes some useful links for those seeking support. If you would like to get more actively involved, contact Ketan Alder who is the lead on the decolonization working group for the Dept of Religions and Theology. See the work of 'Decolonise UoM' begun by the Student's Union on twitter: https://twitter.com/DecoloniseUoM or email Kalifa Cuben who is developing an 'EDI Allies' scheme amongst students and who will be aware of other initiatives with which you might get involved. 

Reading group

Art and phenomenology. Alex Samely will convene the reading group on 'Phenomenological Engagements with Art', with works by Heidegger, Levinas, and Nancy. The next meetings will be 3 and 17 June at 5pm on Zoom. Further information.

Blog post, Centre for Biblical Studies

Dead Sea Scrolls. The CBS conducted an interview with George Brooke in light of the recent major research discovery. "We sat down with Prof. George Brooke, consultant on the recent project which revealed text on the Rylands Dead Sea Scroll fragments, to discuss how the fragments came to Manchester and more..." 2 June 2020. Further information.

Blog entry, 50 Jewish Objects

Jewish Studies. Stefania Silvestri has published blogposts by artist Kremena Dimitrova. Kremena is working on an art piece inspired by the manuscript Isaac ben Joseph of Corbeil’s Sefer Mitzvot Qatan (Semaq) which is part of the 50 Jewish Objects project. Further information.

New publication

Biblical Studies. Philip Alexander, 'The Aramaic Bible in the East' in Aramaic Studies 17 (2019): 39-66. Further information.

New publication

Religion in Chinese Studies. Gregory Scott, Building the Buddhist Revival: Reconstructing Monasteries in Modern China (Oxford University Press, 2020). Dr Scott is Lecturer in Chinese Culture and History for the subject area of Chinese Studies. Further information.