Congratulations to Dr. Michael Johnson (McMaster PhD 2019) on being awarded a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowships (MSCA) at the University of Agder! This is a prestigious grant from the EU’s research and innovation framework programme, Horizon Europe.
www.uia.no/english/abou...
Today, Dr. Fumi Yao, a former postdoc in our department, will give a colloquium paper entitled “On a Manuscript of the Vinayoddānagāthā: What It Brings to Our Knowledge of the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya,” at 2pm in LRW 3001. All welcome!
In March, Alexia Rolle joined our department as Program Coordinator. She has a diploma in Office Administration from Mohawk College and has worked at McMaster since 2022. In her free time, her favourite hobby is playing tabletop roleplaying games. She is also known for her love of narwhals.
Congratulations to Dr. Michael Johnson (McMaster PhD 2019) on the publication of his coedited volume, Performance, Space, and Time in the Dead Sea Scrolls: Papers from the Eleventh Meeting of the International Organization for Qumran Studies, Zürich 2022, with Brill:
brill.com/edcollbook/t...
Dr. Fumi Yao, a former postdoc in our department, will give a colloquium paper entitled “On a Manuscript of the Vinayoddānagāthā: What It Brings to Our Knowledge of the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya,” on Monday April 20, 2pm in LRW 3001. All welcome.
Keep an eye out for Dr. Hanna Tervanotko’s new book, Signs and Meanings: Divination and the Production of Knowledge in Jewish Antiquity, which comes out later this year with University of California Press!
www.ucpress.edu/books/signs-...
Dr. Justin Klassen (Bellarmine University, McMaster University PhD 2009) just published a new article, “Uselessness as Disruption: Spiritual Resources for Eco-Crisis,” in Spiritus.
muse.jhu.edu/article/986932
Looking to learn something new this Spring?
Consider taking Introduction to Sanskrit virtually, Mondays/Wednesdays, 1-4pm EST!
Wherever you are this Spring, you can learn Biblical Hebrew!
Congratulations to Dr. Adele Reinhartz (McMaster PhD 1983) on the publication of her edited volume (in collaboration with Oded Irshai), In Praise of Wisdom, a Festschrift in honour of Paula Fredriksen!
Congratulations to Dr. Andrew Krause (McMaster PhD, 2015) who has been named Assistant Dean and Associate Faculty at St. Stephen's College at the University of Alberta!
On March 27th, the Department of Religious Studies celebrated the retirement of Doreen Drew. Doreen was a beloved member of the department, serving as our graduate administrative assistant for 22 years (and almost 40 years total at the university!). To many new and exciting adventures, Doreen!
🎉🎉Congratulations to Dr. Jeremy Cohen on winning the 2026 MSU Excellence in Teaching Award! 🎉🎉
Why not use this Spring and Summer to learn something new? All our courses are online so you can study from wherever your Spring and Summer adventures take you!
Check out Dr. Rob Jones’ (McMaster PhD 2020) latest article, “Was There an Enoch Group in the Second Temple Period? The Contribution of the Aramaic Dead Sea Scrolls,” in the Journal of Ancient Judaism
Congratulations to Dr. Jordan Ryan (McMaster PhD 2016) on the recent publication of his article, “Filipino American Biblical Interpretation: Nascent Hermeneutics” in Currents of Biblical Research!
Check out Dr. James Benn’s latest essay on demonic states from Suramgama sutra in a new volume entitled Meditation Sickness: A Sourcebook on the Dangers of Buddhist Practice!
uhpress.hawaii.edu/title/medita...
Today at 1.30, Dr. Myriam Nafte will join the Department of Religious Studies to give a talk entitled, "Mediating Mortality: The Afterlife of Human Remains." All are welcome to join!
Recently, Dr. Michael Gabizon (McMaster PhD 2022) spoke about intermarriage in the Hebrew Bible and Second Temple Period with Isaac Oliver on the Talmud for Everyone Podcast. Check it out below!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4my...
This Friday at 1.30pm, Dr. Myriam Nafte will join the Department of Religious Studies to give a talk entitled, "Mediating Mortality: The Afterlife of Human Remains." All are welcome to join!
Today, Matthew Thiessen will give a paper entitled "Mapping Biblical Studies and Christian-Jewish Relations" at the Mapping the Field of Jewish-Christian Relations Conference at Boston College.
For more details or to watch via Zoom, click here: www.bc.edu/content/bc-w...
Dr. Stephanie Balkwill (Associate Professor, University of California, Los Angeles; McMaster PhD 2015), paper on “Buddhist Utopianism in Luoyang: Political Hope and the Certainty of Collapse” for a panel on Visions of a Better Tomorrow: Utopian Dreams in Late Classical and Early Imperial China.
Dr. James Benn will chair a panel organized by Dr. Lan Li (McMaster PhD 2024) entitled *Making the Sacred Resonate: Interpreting Chinese Religious Art in International Classrooms, Galleries, and Museums.*
PhD student Xiaowen Zhou will give a paper entitled “Reframing Demons: The Daoist Adaptation of Buddhist Child-Protecting Spirits (Bāla-grahā) in Late Medieval China” for a panel on Contingency, Repositioning, and Ambiguous Relations in Chinese Religion.
Dr. James Benn will be a discussant for a panel entitled *Threshold Bodies: Care, Spectacle, and Witness in Chinese Buddhism.*
A number of students, alumnae, and faculty of McMaster’s Grad Program in Religious Studies will be busy this weekend attending and presenting at the annual meeting of the Association for Asian Studies in Vancouver! See details in thread.
Tonight at 7pm, Dr. Matthew Thiessen will deliver the Annual Jakob Jocz Lecture at Wycliffe College at the University of Toronto. His lecture is entitled, "Jesus and the Jewish Law: The Purification Mission of Jesus." Dr. Michael Gabizon (McMaster PhD 2022) will respond.
Congratulations to Dr. Mark Scott, Associate Professor at Stonehill College and McMaster B.A. Honours in Religious Studies 2001, on the recent publication of his book, The Beauty of Souls: Aesthetic Encounters with Marilynne Robinson (Fortress Press, 2025)!
www.fortresspress.com/store/produc...
Congratulations to Sayed Mohaqqeq, a doctoral student in our program, on being awarded a Graduate Pedagogy Fellowship from Yale University's Life Worth Living Network!
More details on this fellowship can be found here: lifeworthliving.yale.edu/fellowship
Today at 4:30-6:00pm, Dr. Aya Oba will give a talk entitled "Building Connections in a New Land: Chinese Religious Communities and Support Around Funerals" in LRW 1003.
All are welcome to attend!