News from the Religious Studies Chair September 2015

McMaster basked in beautiful sunshine for most of the month of September, greatly easing the transition back into the regular academic year. We were fortunate enough to be able to take our annual photographs outside as  we launched the graduate program for 2015-16 at our "Beginning of the Year" lunch in Celebration Hall. As you can see, a full complement of faculty members, graduate students and staff attended. Our guests included Roy Cain, Acting Dean of Social Sciences, and Tony Porter, Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies, Social Sciences. We also hosted friends from MIIETL, the School of Graduate Studies, and the Faculty of Social Sciences office. Our thanks go to Courtney Sheppard for taking photographs of this event.

Lunch for Religious Studies Students

We had a record-breaking turnout for our annual pizza lunch for students in Religious Studies and those who combine Religious Studies with another subject. More than 30 students, plus staff and members of the Undergraduate Affairs Committee filled UH 122 as we celebrated the success of our students in our courses, talked about continuing enhancements to our program, and discussed opportunities for graduate study. As always, this was an excellent opportunity for us to get to know some of our outstanding students a little better.

Conference Participation

Zdravko Planinc “‘Expel the barbarian from your heart:’  Intimations of the Cyclops in Euripides’ Hecuba,” American Political Science Association, San Francisco

Graduate Student Publications

Jordan J. Ryan (PhD candidate, Biblical), "Jesus at the Crossroads of Inference and Imagination: The Relevance of R.G. Collingwood’s Philosophy of History for Current Methodological Discussions in Historical Jesus Research." Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus 13, no. 1 (2015): 66-89.

Recent MA Defenses

Caleb DeJong (Western), For the Sake Of The Whole: A Theological Examination Of Dostoevsky’s Elder Zosima Via Sergius Bulgakov

Yohan John (Asian), Buddhism And Caste: An Ethnographic Study of The Navayana Buddhists

Matthew Lee (Western), Divine Violence and Divine Sovereignty: Kierkegaard and the Event of Moriah

Rachel Mattheson (Western), Sacramental Vision in Annie Dillard’s Holy the Firm

Justin Tombs (Biblical), The Temple of God in the Letters of Paul

And Finally...

Thanks for reading September's News from the Chair.

Be seeing you!

James A. Benn
Chair