POSTPONED: Unfortunately, we have had to postpone our colloquium event with Paulina Kolata this week. Please watch this space for a revised date for this event when we have it.

Welcome back to campus to all of our students and faculty. Hope everyone enjoyed a good first day of classes and start of the spring semester! @upenn.edu @sas.upenn.edu

Our RELS colloquium series for spring semester begins next week with Prof. Paulina Kolata (Harvard) @paulakolata.bsky.social, who will be giving the E. Dale Saunders Buddhist Studies Lecture on "The Trouble with Buddhist Gifts: The Ethics of Ritual Care in Contemporary Japan"!

Happening tomorrow!

Our final colloquium of the calendar year, happening this Thursday! ------------------------------ The Sound of Mormonism Jared Farmer (University of Pennsylvania History Department) Dec 4, 2025 at 3:30pm - 5:00pm | Cohen 204

RELS PhD candidate Kirby Sokolow has been profiled in the latest issue of Penn’s Omnia magazine! You can read the full interview with her about her research into Buddhism and prisons here: omnia.sas.upenn.edu/story/prison... Congratulations, Kirby!

Happening tomorrow!

Our next Religious Studies colloquium event! -------------------- Moving Up the Cosmic Pole: Strategies for Legitimating Religious Authority in Buddhist Texts RELS Colloquium Ralph Craig (Whitman) Nov 13, 2025 at 3:30pm - 5:00pm | Cohen 204

A reminder that there is no RELS colloquium this week! Our next colloquium event will be held on Thursday, Nov. 13. We’ll be hosting Prof. Ralph Craig (Whitman) who will be giving a talk titled Moving Up the Cosmic Pole: Strategies for Legitimating Religious Authority in Buddhist Texts.

Prof. Justin McDaniel led a group of graduate and undergraduate students on a trip to Bryn Athyn Cathedral and Glencairn Mansion in the Philadelphia suburbs this past weekend! Students took a tour of the mansion and the cathedral and listened to a lecture on the history of the Swedenborgians.

A reminder that we have no colloquium event this week! However, our affiliated program, the Philadelphia Seminar on Christian Origins, is holding a book event on Zoom with Prof. Ellen Muehlberger (Michigan) from 6:30–8:00 pm on Thursday, Oct. 30. Details here: rels.sas.upenn.edu/events/2025/...

Did you miss our information session for prospective doctoral students with graduate chair Prof. Schaefer and graduate coordinator Katelyn Stoler on Oct. 13? Check out the recording here! www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4U6...

Happening today! Please consider attending if you're thinking about applying for our doctoral program.

We're holding an online information session for prospective doctoral applicants on Monday at 5:30 ET! Details at this link: rels.sas.upenn.edu/events/2025/...

In a joint Buddhist Studies/SNRL event today Prof Justin McDaniel @upennrels.bsky.social provided our audience with some fascinating (and very funny) insights into his classes that encourage switching off, reading deeply and even taking temporary monastic vows. #digitaldetox @uoedivinity.bsky.social

Exciting news from one of our alums! Dr. Abdul Manan Bhat, who completed his PhD earlier this year, has launched Preface, a new YouTube series dedicated to "thorny issues regarding literature, culture, and politics." The first episode has already racked up over 300,000 views! Check it out here!

PhD candidate Kirby Sokolow's latest article, "Buddhist Exceptionalism Behind Bars," has just been published in the journal Pacific World as part of a special section on American Buddhism, Race, and Power. Congratulations, Kirby! pwj.shin-ibs.edu/2025/7191

If you are thinking of applying to our program, DEFINITELY attend this session. It will help you determine if the PhD is right for you and will also include tips on how to craft a competitive application.

Religious Studies folks: If you know any students thinking about applying for the PhD program at Penn, please send them this invitation to our online information session on Oct. 13!

Interested in applying for the PHD program in Religious Studies at Penn? Join graduate chair Donovan Schaefer and graduate coordinator Katelyn Stoler for this online information session and Q&A on Oct. 13! No registration required. Details at this link! rels.sas.upenn.edu/events/2025/...

Our colloquium event this week! ------------------------- Domestic Nationalism: Muslim Women, Health and Modernity in Indonesia RELS Colloquium Chiara Formichi (Cornell) Oct 2, 2025 at 3:30pm - 5:00pm | Cohen 204

Happening tomorrow!

Our colloquium event this week! ------------------------- Domestic Nationalism: Muslim Women, Health and Modernity in Indonesia RELS Colloquium Chiara Formichi (Cornell) Oct 2, 2025 at 3:30pm - 5:00pm | Cohen 204

Come join us tomorrow for this exciting event!

I'm looking foward to talking about my work at Penn later this week.

Happening this week in the Department of Religious Studies! ------------------------------ Black Freedom and the Racialization of Religious Excitement RELS Colloquium Judith Weisenfeld @judithweisenfeld.com (Princeton) Sep 25, 2025 at 3:30pm - 5:00pm | Cohen 204

Happening today!

Prof. Schaefer, along with RELS alums Justin Seward and Olivia Haynie, has a new book project in the works!

Our Religious Studies colloquium this week! Islamic Law, History, and Class in Early Nineteenth Century India Muhammad Qasim Zaman (Princeton) Sep 18, 2025 at 3:30pm - 5:00pm | Cohen 204 Cosponsored by the Department of South Asia Studies

RELS alumna Olivia Haynie has written this column for The Forward about her time working with Prof. Schaefer's False Image of History Project.

Happening tomorrow! Our first RELS 2025–2026 colloquium featuring Elizabeth Ault @lizault.bsky.social (Senior Editor, Duke University Press @dukepress.bsky.social)! How (and Why) to Write an Academic Book in Impossible Times Thurs., Sept. 11, 3:30–5:00 pm Cohen 392

The Data Driven Discovery Initiative has a new Undergraduate Data Science Fellows Grant Program, which provides financial support, mentorship, & access to resources for students pursuing ambitious, data-driven research. Apply here by Oct 3: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F... @upenndddi.bsky.social

The first RELS 2025–2026 colloquium is a special event with Elizabeth Ault @lizault.bsky.social (Senior Editor, Duke University Press @dukepress.bsky.social)! How (and Why) to Write an Academic Book in Impossible Times Thurs., Sept. 11, 3:30–5:00 pm Cohen 392 rels.sas.upenn.edu/events/2025/...

Congratulations to recent Religious Studies BA graduate Gabriella Raffetto, who debuted her new play "Skeletons" at the New York Theater Festival this summer! Read more about the play here: newyorktheaterfestival.com/skeletons/

Here's Prof. Anthea Butler's latest for @msnbc.com, a commentary on the passing of James Dobson.

My latest on the death of James Dobson-

Take a look at what Prof. Schaefer has been up to with former RELS students Olivia Haynie and Justin Seward!

Calling Penn alums! Prof. Robb is teaching a Lifelong Learning Seminar on "Can Sports Be a Religion?" featuring a series of prerecorded lectures and live online discussions! Details and registration at this link.

Congratulations to doctoral candidate Claire Elliot, whose research on dreaming practices in Thailand will be supported by a Fulbright grant next year! penntoday.upenn.edu/news/penn-af...

the latest from RD: @feelingtheory.bsky.social reflects on the Scopes Trial centennial -- and what we still need to learn about "Science v. Religion" religiondispatches.org/of-monkeys-a...

Prof. Schaefer has a new article out today in @religiondispatches.org discussing the one hundredth anniversary of the beginning of the Scopes Trial on July 10, 1925. Check it out here! religiondispatches.org/of-monkeys-a... @sas.upenn.edu

Did you miss our 2025 Boardman Symposium "The Scopes Trial at 100: Secularism, Race, and Education" in spring? The @sas.upenn.edu alumni magazine has published a detailed review here! thepenngazette.com/the-scopes-t... CW: This article contains a cartoon image depicting racist violence.

The Graduate Group in Religious Studies is delighted to announce two successful doctoral defenses over the past week! Congratulations, Dr. Abdul Manan Bhat and Dr. Hallie Nell Swanson! Read more about their projects here: rels.sas.upenn.edu/news/2025/06...

Prof. McDaniel's class on "Existential Despair" is the subject of a cover story in the newest issue of the Penn Gazette! thepenngazette.com/welcome-to-d...

Congratulations to Dr. Jeremy Steinberg, who successfully defended his dissertation "How the Bible Became Literature: Jewish Assumptions about the Nature of Text in the Hellenistic Period" this week! rels.sas.upenn.edu/news/2025/04...

REMINDER: Happening tomorrow!

Our final colloquium event of the year takes place this Thursday! ---------------------------------- An Ethics of Completion: Russian Coloniality and Islamic Tradition in Kyrgyzstan RELS Colloquium Usmon Boron (@wolfhumanities.bsky.social) Apr 24, 2025 at 3:30pm - 5:00pm | Cohen 204

Happening tomorrow!

Coincidence, Contradiction, Affect: On Spirited Knowing RELS Colloquium Emily Ng (Penn Anthropology) Apr 17, 2025 at 3:30pm - 5:00pm | Cohen 204 A Zoom attendance option is available for this event. Please email Prof. Donovan Schaefer for the link.

Happening tomorrow!