Parimal Patil, Harvard University Scripture Without a Scriptor: Hermeneutics in Classical India Wednesday, April 29 What does it mean for something to be ‘the word of God?’ What are the origins, forms, and functions of this concept? This seminar series will investigate what it means within the traditions of Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, and Hinduism, with […]

Marthe Hesselmans – Untangling Race, Religion, and Ethnicity in South Africa: A Community Effort April 28th In this presentation, Hesselmans zoomed in on two stories of integration that she encountered during her field research in South Africa in 2014. For more information, view the event page. Listen to the audio for this event here:

Shaul Magid, Indiana University “The Word of God Is No Word at All” Wednesday, April 15 What does it mean for something to be ‘the word of God?’ What are the origins, forms, and functions of this concept? This seminar series will investigate what it means within the traditions of Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, and Hinduism, […]

“Emergent Forms of Religious Life in Contemporary Mexico” aims to develop a preliminary exploration of the broad theme of emergent religious forms in Mexican public life.  We hope to address new narratives and social practices developed to cope with everyday life in a society that has undergone such rapid and deep transformation, the nature of engagement of […]

Wednesday, April 8 Hossein Kamaly, Barnard College “Can the Word of God be Ambiguous?” What does it mean for something to be ‘the word of God?’ What are the origins, forms, and functions of this concept? This seminar series will investigate what it means within the traditions of Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, and Hinduism, with […]

Hamid Dabashi, Columbia University “Can a Monotheist God be Multilingual?” Friday, March 27, 4:10-6:00pm Listen to the audio here: For more information, see the event page here.  

The 2015 Bampton Lectures in America will be given by Talmudic scholar Daniel Boyarin, speaking on: A Genealogy for Judaism. In this series of lectures, Daniel Boyarin proposes that scholarship ought to resist using the term “Judaism” with reference to the pre-modern period. As has been argued by several scholars already, there is no “native” term with […]