New publication

Jewish Studies. PhD student Lawrence Rabone, 'Menasseh ben Israel' in Critical Dictionary of Apocalyptic and Millenarian Movements (Panacea, 2021). Further information.

Teaching excellence, student satisfaction scores

Religions and Theology. The amalgamated student satisfaction survey scores for semester one show that across all three metrics used (Overall excellence, Feedback, and Organisation), the Departmental averages were higher than either the School or the Faculty averages. We thank our students for making the teaching experience during that experimental semester such a rewarding one.

Conference report, Jewish Dissidents

Jewish Studies. Ion Popa has published a report on the conference "Jewish Dissidents in the Eastern Bloc" on 25 May 2021 in H-Soz-Kult, a platform for humanities in the German language. Further information.

Funding, Gerda Henkel Scholarship

Holocaust Studies and Jewish-Christian Relations. Congratulations to Ion Popa for the award of a Gerda Henkel Scholarship (1-2 years) on the topic 'The Holy War: Churches' Counter-Secularism and the Destruction of European Jewry'. Ion is currently conducting research as part of the AHRC project 'Stefan Heym: A 20th Century German Life project’, led by Cathy Gelbin, and his new project will also be based in Manchester, starting Feb 2022.

Conference participation, International Enoch Seminar

Biblical studies. Honorary research fellows for CJS, Maria Cioată and for CBS, Helen Jacobus, participated in the 11th Enoch Seminar / LMU Munich Congress on Apocalypticism in Antiquity. 23-27 May 2021. Further information.

Twitter thread, chatbots

Religion and technology. Scott Midson's interest in chatbots and communication has been twitterized. 'Chatbots are computer based forms of communication - you’ll most likely know them as Siri or Alexa. The first chatbot, designed in 1966 was called ELIZA...' Further information.

Event Programme, Luther King House

Christian theology. Luther King House is one of our partner institutions and is located in nearby Fallowfield. It represents Baptist, Methodist, United Reformed and Unitarian traditions. See their programme of activities, including Dr Meg Warner on 'Telling the Stories: Old Testament as resilience playbook' at the mini-conference 'Congregational Lament and Growth', 25 June 2021. Further information.

Event programme, Nazarene Theological College

Christian theology. The Nazarene Theological College is one of our partner institutions and is located in nearby Didsbury. Associated with the Church of the Nazarene, which emerged in the nineteenth-century, NTC belongs to the World Methodist Council. See their programme of activities, including the videoconference 'Using Music and Theology as Interpretation', 7 June 2021. Further information.

Reading group, Hannah Arendt

Hannah Arendt's The Life of the Mind. All meetings will take place on Wednesdays, at 5pm via zoom. Please contact Professor Alex Samely (alex.samely@manchester.ac.uk) for a zoom invite. Next meetings: 2 and 16 June 2021. Further information.

Postgraduate tutor opportunity

OxNet widening participation. The OxNet programme, which partners the Dept of Religions & Theology with Oxford University, is designed to attract A-level students located in the North of the UK, selected by Pembroke College, Oxford, with the aim of encouraging the study of religions and theology at university, among other areas in the humanities. Pembroke College is recruiting graduate students to act as tutors on the annual OxNet/Pembroke Access Week Summer School. Due to the uncertain landscape over the summer, Pembroke will be running this event online this year, between Monday 2nd August and Friday 6th August. The Summer School is designed to give Year 12 pupils from link state schools in Northern England and London the experience of university study and life. Deadline 7 June 2021. Further information.

Sustainability at the University of Manchester

Religions & Theology and sustainability. The University of Manchester has recently been named the world’s best university for action on sustainable development. The Department of Religions and Theology is proud to have contributed to the University’s successful pursuit of the United Nations sustainability objectives.

• We host a think-tank and research network called The Lincoln Theological Institute that pioneers an initiative to encourage religious engagement with climate change. Partners include representatives from Bahai, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism; there is also representation from science, RNGOs and the academy. 
• Our students lead the way with social responsibility. In 2020, one of our students won the Religion and Social Responsibility Dissertation Prize for the best undergraduate dissertation in Religion & Theology. Entitled “Sacred or Safe? A thematic analysis of the #MosqueMeToo Movement” the dissertation explores ethical challenges at the intersection of religion and social responsibility. 
• We conduct research that focuses on gender equality. We are conducting the Arts and Humanities Research Councils funded research with the “British Ritual Innovation under COVID-19” project, focusing on gender equality. 
• We promote social cohesion, community partnership and interfaith dialogue. Our Centre for Jewish Studies, overseen from within the department and one of only four centres of excellence for Jewish Studies research in Europe, sponsors the ‘Scriptural Encounter’ project. The project aims to achieve mutual understanding over potentially contentious texts on particular topics. It’s hosted in partnership with members of the Jewish, Christian and Muslim communities in Greater Manchester. 
• We actively support the Church of England’s Anti-Racism Initiative. One of our academics has advised Anglican clergy and pre-ordinands from across the country on racial harmony and justice. The research was conducted under the auspices of the Archdeaconate of the Diocese of Manchester. 
• We investigate austerity and its impact on religious engagement. One of our colleagues is co-investigator on the “Life on the Breadline: Christianity, Poverty and Politics in the 21st Century City” project, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council. The project aims to develop a greater understanding of the impact that the 'age of austerity' has had on Christian engagement with poverty. 
• The Department has contributed to the curation of a new degree at the University of Manchester in ‘Race and Decolonial Studies’
• We’re committed to going green and encouraging engagement with climate change. We are representatives for sustainability across the university and oversee the ongoing work to ‘greening’ the university. 
  

Annual Lecture, Manchester Welsey Research Centre

Christian Studies. The 2021 lecture will be given by Thomas A. Noble, Professor of Theology (Nazarene Theological Seminary) and is entitled ‘Theology and the Wesleyan Tradition’. Tuesday 22 June 2021 at 5pm UK time, via Zoom. To resister, see 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 interpersonal relationships in the Abrahamic Faiths. This session will be led by Dr Shuruq Naguib, lecturer in Islamic Studies (Lancaster University) on Gender Diversity from an Islamic perspective. 'The Woman Disputant: Gender and Hermeneutics in Praxis'. Zoom at 2- 3pm, Thu 27 May 2021. Further information.