Call for papers, Symposium on Hexing the Patriarchy, Manchester

Religious studies and witchcraft. Dr Holly Morse is pleased to announce a call for short papers and presentations (max 25 mins) for a forthcoming symposium: "Hexing the Patriarchy, Spellcasting for Change and Demonic Democracies: Explorations of Magical Activism and Enchanted Politics." Please send abstracts (max 500 words) and a short description of your practice and/or research to: holly.morse@manchester.ac.uk by 25 Feb 2022. Further information. 

Call for papers, European Association for Biblical Studies

Biblical Studies. George Brooke is serving his first year as President of the European Association of Biblical Studies which will culminate in the Association's annual conference being held in Toulouse 4-7 July 2022. The Call for Papers for the meeting, much of which will also be available on-line, has recently been issued. Further information.

Presentation, Romania

Holocaust Studies. Ion Popa gave a presentation entitled "Dissidence and Zionism in Romania, 1945-1955" (25 Nov 2021) which has been reported on in the December edition of Realitatea Evreiască, the journal of the Jewish Community in Romania, and can be accessed pp.5 and 22. Further information.

New publication

New Testament Studies. Peter Oakes, ‘Popular Heroization in Philippian Funerary Epigraphy and Paul’s Letter to the Philippians’, Philippi, From Colonia Augusta to Communitas Christiana: Religion and Society in Transition, Steven J. Friesen, Michalis Lychounas, Daniel Schowalter, eds. (Supplements to Novum Testamentum; Leiden: E.J. Brill, 2022), 252-77. In this contribution to the published version of a major international conference held at Philippi in Greece in 2015, Peter Oakes looks at ideas about afterlife as represented on gravestones from Philippi, considering how they can inform debates about ideas of afterlife in Paul’s letter to the Philippians and in the New Testament more widely. Further information.

Ferguson Lecturer 2022, Catherine Keller

Christian theology and climate politics. Prof. Catherine Keller (Drew University) will give the 42nd Ferguson Lecture: "Apocalypse After All? Climate, Politics and Faith in the Possible". Thursday 3 March 2022, 4 p.m. (UK time). Free to attend, but you must register to receive the Zoom link; see further information.

Ehrhardt Seminar, Centre for Biblical Studies

Moses Gaster and biblical criticism. Maria Cioata, University of Manchester, 'Traditional Reactions to Modern Higher-Criticism: the Case of Dr. Moses Gaster' (Zoom only). 14:00 - 15:30 24 February 2022. The Centre for Biblical Studies weekly seminar series. Sessions will take place in a hybrid format - attendance is possible in person or online via Zoom. To register to attend online, please email siobhan.jolley@manchester.ac.uk.

Conference paper, German Historical Institute, Paris

Holocaust Studies. Ion Popa presented a paper "A Twisted Road: Post-communist Legal and Political Steps to Accessing the Archives of the Former Romanian Securitate (Secret Police)," at the conference "Strategies de blocages. L‘acces aux archives en France et en Allemagne dans une persepective internationale," organised by the German Historical Institute, Paris. Further information.

Religion in the media

Religion and belief stories. The Religion Media Centre's experienced journalists and affiliated academics provide insight and analysis on current religion and belief stories in the news. Further information.

Research Impact Advisory Group

Religious stakeholder network. In the Autumn of 2020, Alex Samely faciliated the establishment of an advisory group of civic and faith-based organisations to help develop ways in which the results of the Department’s academic research can be made more directly beneficial to contemporary society. Fifteen experienced stakeholders, representing a variety of organisations dedicated to improving aspects of civic and religious life, advise the Department as members of the Research Impact Advisory Group. We can draw upon the kind support of the following representatives of civic organisations, faith groups and inter-faith groups: Mohammed Amin, MBE, Co-Chair, Muslim-Jewish Forum of Greater Manchester; The Venerable Dr John Applegate, former Principal, Emmanuel Theological College; Rabbi Robyn Ashworth-Steen, Principal Rabbi, Manchester Reform Synagogue, trustee, Tzelem and co-chair, Greater Manchester Citizens; Natalie Collins, Women’s Liberation Collective; The Reverend Ben Edson, Director of St Peter’s House Chaplaincy, Manchester University; Peter Fahy, Chair of Trustees, We Stand Together and former Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police; Rosemary Hack, Director, Press Red; Canon Dr David Holgate, Canon for Theology and Mission at Manchester Cathedral; Jeremy Michelson, Jewish Representative Council of Greater Manchester and Region; Dr Peter Rae, Vice Principal and Academic Dean, Nazarene Theological College; Gareth Redston, interim CEO, Manchester Jewish Museum; The Reverend Graham Sparkes, Luther King Centre for Theology and Ministry; The Reverend Dr Andrew Stobart, Head of Academic Strategy and Innovation, Cliff College; Annalisa Toccara, Head of Campaigns, Policy and Communications, Press Red; The Right Reverend Dr David Walker, Bishop of Manchester. Further information.

External examining, SOAS, GTU Berkeley, and St Andrews

Zoroastrianism and Islam. Alan Williams recently examined a PhD thesis for SOAS University of London on ‘The training of Zoroastrian priests in contemporary Mumbai’, and a PhD thesis for the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, USA, on "Polyphony and Divine Perplexity: Rumi’s Pedagogy of Storytelling in the Mathnawi", which developed literary theoretical ideas published in his own works. Alan is currently also an external examiner at St Andrews.

Project award, AHRC network grant

Biblical Studies. Congratulations to Holly Morse who has been awarded an AHRC network grant of £22,950 for a project entitled 'Abusing God: Reading the Bible in #MeToo Age'. The co-investigator is Kirsi Cobb of Cliff College.

Project Award, Faculty of Humanities Research Fund

  Jewish and New Testament Studies. Daniel Langton has been awarded £9800 to fund a project entitled "What would Jesus (the Jew) do? Engagement with US Churches.” The aim is to develop resources that relate to an area of internationally-recognised research expertise in the subject area of Religions & Theology (R&T) and the associated Centre for Jewish Studies (CJS), namely, the Jewish background to the New Testament and the associated history of Christian anti-Judaism.

Religions & Theology Research Seminar

Manchester Cathedral. Dominic Budhi (University of Manchester) “'So That We May be Children of God Together': Manchester Cathedral's Public Theology of Racial Justice”. 16:00 - 17:30 17 February 2022 The Religions & Theology research seminar takes place on alternate Thursdays. This is a hybrid session and can be attended in person or online. Please register to receive the Zoom link by emailing andrew.boakye@manchester.ac.uk. Seminars last 90 minutes including a 30 minute Q&A session.

Ehrhardt Seminar, Centre for Biblical Studies

Bereavement. David Bell, University of Manchester ‘Mortality Patterns and Bereavement Language in 1 Thessalonians: The Impact of Children in the Community of the Text.' 14:00 - 15:30 17 February 2022 The Centre for Biblical Studies weekly seminar series. Sessions will take place in a hybrid format - attendance is possible in person or online via Zoom. To register to attend online, please email siobhan.jolley@manchester.ac.uk.

BBC Radio 3

Sufism. Alan Williams appeared in 'Between the Ears: Sound in the Blood', on the beatbox artist sound architect Jason Singh, for BBC Radio 3 on 16 Jan 2022, where he talked with Jason Singh about influences on him from Sufi literature, primarily the Conference of the Birds by Fariduddin Attar. Listen again.

PhD completion

History of Jewish-Christian relations. Congratulations to Lawrence Rabone on the successful defence of his doctoral thesis 'Eschatology and the Readmission of the Jews to England, 1655-56'. His supervisors were Profs. Philip Alexander, FBA, and Daniel Langton, and the external examiner was Prof. Crawford Gribben (Queen's University Belfast). See the list of current PhD students in the area of Jewish Studies at Manchester.

Conference, Manchester

Christian theology. 4th and 5th February 2022 ‘Christian Hope, Science and a Warming World' is a two-day online conference organized by Nazarene Theological College, Cliff College, Luther King Centre for Theology and Ministry, and the Department of Religions and Theology. This two-day conference is online, affordable and ideal for those ready to think more about theology and science in the context of global heating. Speakers include Hannah Malcolm, Celia Deane-Drummond, Jeremey Kidwell and Grace Thomas. Workshops too. Booking is required. Further information.

Project Award, SALC Research Development Fund

Jewish Studies. Daniel Langton and Lindsey Taylor-Guthartz have been awarded £6800 to fund an impact-related project entitled "Learning from Limmud’s Relationship with the Third Sector”, which will be conducted by Dr Taylor-Guthartz. It will focus on the relationship between Limmud, a major Jewish educational charity with branches in 47 countries with wider sectarian Jewish society and organisations.

Project Award, SALC Research Development Fund

Islamic Studies and Public Health. Kamran Karimullah has been awarded £4,687 to fund a project entitled “Islam and Public Health in the Early Modern Middle East, 1798-1882”. It will lay the foundations for a digital corpus of early modern medical Arabic to facilitate research on the link between Islam and public health in Egypt in the nineteenth century. This corpus, comprising some 20 titles exceeding 2.5 million words, will be assembled from a collection of medical texts translated from European languages and published in Arabic in Bulaq, Egypt between 1820 and 1880.

Project Award, SALC Research Development Fund

Religious Studies and magic. Holly Morse has been awarded £4,150 to run a symposium entitiled 'Hexing the Patriarchy, Spellcasting for Change, and Demonic Democracies: Explorations of Magical Activism and Enchanted Politics.' that will bring together activists and academics whose practice and research relates to the growth of magical knowledge and magical activism in the UK. The aim of the event is to explore interdisciplinary issues relating to increased acceptance of magical practices and the rising popularity of enchanted politics in contemporary social media and protest cultures. Some of the key research questions the symposium aims to address are: To what extent is magic seen as a legitimate form of knowledge in contemporary culture in the UK?; What modes of magic are most popular and contributing to the growing numbers of individuals identifying as witches, Wiccans, Neo Pagans, occultists or other categories of magical practitioners?; What social, cultural, and political contexts have contributed to the rise in magical activism?; To what extent is magical activism a marker of the re-enchantment of the contemporary political landscape?; How can reflection on magical activism encourage new definitions of magic today and how does this relate to historical discourse about magic and transgressive knowledge?

Project Award, SALC Research Development Fund

Reading Texts for Business and Faith Meetings. Alex Samely has been awarded £5,624 to fund a project entitled "Supporting the efficiency of meetings with preparatory reading”. All over the world organisations devoted to commerce, administration, education or faith routinely use meetings with “pre-reads” to conduct their business. In such meetings people will often understand what they say to each other by recalling meanings from the document, or the document may become quoted and discussed. The project will explore how the results of recent research, which Alex Samely conducted for a forthcoming book on Reading and Experience, may support training to make such meetings more productive and beneficial.

Ehrhardt Seminar, Centre for Biblical Studies

Biblical criticism. Walter Houston, University of Manchester, 'Prophecy and Religion Revisited: John Skinner and Evangelical Biblical Criticism.' 14:00 - 15:30 10 February 2022. The Centre for Biblical Studies weekly seminar series. Sessions will take place in a hybrid format - attendance is possible in person or online via Zoom. To register to attend online, please email siobhan.jolley@manchester.ac.uk.

Bogdanow Lectures 2022

Holocaust Studies. We are delighted to announce that the Bogdanow Lectures in Holocaust Studies 2022 will be given by Prof Marion Kaplan, Skirball Professor of Modern Jewish History at NYU on the topic 'Refugees and gender studies: new perspectives in Holocaust studies'. These will be free online lectures 6pm (GMT) on Tue 8 and Wed 9 February 2022. Further information.

Public lectures online

Jewish and Muslim Studies. CJS Hon. Research Fellow Michael Hilton announces the coming programme for the course 'Judaism and Islam: A shared history' that he is leading with Dr Harith Ramli. 25 January: 'Is every Torah scroll/Quran mushaf the same?' This will focus on the drive to establish definitive texts in each faith. We'll compare the evolution of the vowel systems in Hebrew and Arabic in the early centuries of Islam, and their implications for meaning and interpretation. 1 March: 'The duties and nourishment of the heart.' We will explore texts from the 10th to 11th centuries which developed notions of spiritual medicine and which influence our thinking about tikkun/islah (repairing the world) today. 10 May: 'Why we love Jerusalem.' Jewish and Muslim traditions and teachings about the holy city. 14 June: 'The Jewish Orientalists.' The little-known story of the leading Western scholars of, and enthusiasts for Islam, who came from Jewish backgrounds. This lecture, the culmination of the course, is the Rabbi Dr David J. Goldberg Memorial Lecture. On Zoom and in-person. Liberal Jewish Synagogue. Booking and further details from Debi Penhey.

New publication

Jewish Studies. CJS Hon. Research Fellow Michael Hilton, "Rabbi Tevye: A Jewish Reflection", Interreligious Insight, 19:2, Dec 2021, 61-63. Further information.

New publication

Jewish Studies. CJS Hon. Research Fellow Michael Hilton, "How We Treat the Homeless and the Sick", in What Makes Me Angry: Howls of Rabbinic Rage... And Solutions, edited by Jonathan Romain, Reform Judaism, London 2021, 81-91.

New publication

Jewish Studies. CJS Hon. Research Fellow Michael Hilton, "4th July 2020: Parashat Chukkat" in Confronting Covid-19: Liberal and Reform Rabbis in the United Kingdom Respond to the Global Pandemic, edited by Charles Middleburgh, 2021, 124-128.