News & Events

Guest speaker, March, 22, 7:30 p.m. - Professor AbdolKarim Soroush (Berkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs Georgetown University)

The Department of Religious Studies will be offering six exciting courses this Spring and Summer. If you have any questions, please contact our office!

Religious Studies alumnus begins new career at Grant MacEwan University.

Congratulations to Jonathan Bernier (Ph.D., Biblical, 2012), who has been named Executive Director of the Lonergan Research Institute (LRI)—Toronto and Assistant Professor at Regis College, starting July 1, 2018.

The $247,125 grant will help advance scholarship of Tibetan Dunhuang manuscripts preserved in the Stein and Pelliot collections.

Dr. James Benn, in the Department of Religious Studies, has been awarded a 5-year SSHRC insight grant

Like religion, major sports break down natural social barriers and help people forge intense bonds. That's why strangers watching the Super Bowl at the bar hug when their team scores. It's why a whole nation turns into sports fans and cheers for its team in the Olympics.

The Department of Religious Studies is pleased to host Dr. Madison Pierce (Tyndale University College). Dr. Pierce will speak on the use of Greek Isaiah in Hebrews and the Catholic Epistles. Feb. 14, 1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m.

NEW BOOK: Congratulations to Dr. Matthew Thiessen of the Religious Studies Department on the publication of his co-edited book: Perceiving the Other in Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity

Congratulations to Rob Jones this year's recipient of the prestigious, Dirk Smilde Scholarship! Jones will spend three months studying at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands.

Tianzhu Global Network marks an unprecedented international collaboration of top-tier research institutions.

NEW BOOK: Congratulations to Dr. Travis Kroeker of the Department of Religious Studies, on the publication of his most recent book: Messianic Political Theology and Diaspora Ethics: Essays in Exile.

McMaster Religious Studies student Rebecca Sampson will be spending the Winter 2018 term in Jerusalem, thanks to the Freeman Family Bursary.

The Department of Religious Studies is holding a writing retreat on Friday, December 8. All members of the department are encouraged to attend.

Tuesday, November 14, at 1:30 p.m. Dr. Elisa Uusimäki presents “Wisdom Embodied: Ancient Greek and Jewish Conceptions of the Sage” in University Hall 122. Afterwards, anyone who feels inclined can adjourn to the Phoenix!

The Conversation and the National Post recently published an opinion piece by Religious Studies PhD student Maxwell Kennel that challenges that notion that religion spurs violence.

Myra Sivaloganathan graduated with an MA in Religious Studies in 2017. We are grateful to her for taking the time to answer some of our questions about what she is currently doing and what she learned in her time at McMaster!

Religious Studies grad reflects on her time at McMaster and the skills she will take with her to Osgoode Hall Law School.

The Department of Religious Studies is pleased to present Dr. Faydra Shapiro, the Executive Director of the Israel Center for Jewish-Christian Relations in the Galilee and Associate Fellow at The Philos Project as the speaker at this year's 2017 Lilian and Marvin Goldblatt Lecture in Jewish Studies. Thursday, October 26, 2017 at 7-9 p.m.