Colloquium Series

The Department of Religious Studies regularly hosts scholars presenting their current research, and we have most recently used that monthly spot to host for workshops for graduate students.

2015-16 Colloquia

Michael Stone, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, “Secret Groups in Ancient Judaism”

Brendan Jamal Thornton, UNC Chapel HIll, “Victims of Illicit Desire: Pentecostal Men of God and the Spectre of Sexual Temptation”

Rebekka King, Middle Tennessee State University, “Proportional Prosperity: Class, Language, and Philosemitism in American Evangelicalism”

Kelly Hayes, Indiana University – Indianapolis, “Holy Harlots: Femininity, Sexuality, and Black Magic in Brazil”

William Sherman, “The Unpredictable Pasts and Apocalyptic Futures of Afghan Genealogies”

Jason Bivins, NC State University, “Jazz and American Religion”

Sarah Dees, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, “The Materialization of Native American Religions”

2016-17 Colloquia

Edward Wright-Rios, Vanderbilt, “Modern Mexico and Religion”

Kelly Baker, Independent Scholar, “Run, Zombies!”

Gregory Grieve, UNC Greensboro, “Cyberzen”

Jon Bialecki, University of Edinburgh, “Speculative Religion and the Belief/Disbelief Complex”

Kevin O’Neill, University of Toronto, “Pentecostalism and Rehab in Guatemala”

2017-18 Colloquia

Jon Bialecki, University of Edinburgh (UK), “Speculative Religion and the Belief/Disbelief Complex”

Kevin McNeal, University of Houston, “Cremating the Body Politic: Reconsidering the Politics and Poetics of Indo-Carribean Mortuary Ritual”

Candida Moss, University of Birmingham (UK), “Bible Nation: The United States of Hobby Lobby”

Rebekah Welton, University of Exeter (UK), “Gluttony and Drunkenness in the Hebrew Bible”

Terence McKiernan, Independent Scholar, “Apocalypse Past, Present, and Future: Archiving the Catholic Sex Abuse Crisis”

2018-19 Colloquia

Eric Braun, University of Virginia, “Mindfulness: Dead or Alive”

Noah Salomon, Carleton College, “For Love of the Prophet: The Art of Islamic State-Making in Sudan”

Jack Downey, LaSalle University, “Dying They Live: Self-Immolation, Martyrdom, and Communicating Suffering”

Rona Avissar, David Yellen Academic College of Education, “Family and Children in the Archaeology of the Hebrew Bible”

2019-20 Colloquia

James Tabor, UNC Charlotte, “Me Too in the Ancient Mediterranean World: Mary the Mother of Jesus and Other Forgotten Women of Early Chrsitianity”

Julia Moore, UNC Charlotte, “Racism, Religion, and the Pursuit of Mammon in American Presbyterianism”

2020-21 Colloquia

Kent Brintnall, UNC Charlotte, “Constraining Violence”

John Reeves, UNC Charlotte, “A Traipse Through the Parascriptural: Unpacking an Unusual Prophetic Tale”

Danielle Boaz, UNC Charlotte, “Twenty Years of Religious Racism in Brazil”

Ian Binns, UNC Charlotte, “Reconcilable Differences: Bridging the Divide Between Science and Religion”

Gregory Starrett, UNC Charlotte, “Against Magical Thinking”

Christopher Cameron, UNC Charlotte, “The Origins of Black Religious Liberalism in Early America”

2021-22 Colloquia

John Marks, UNC Charlotte, “Why Are There Still Creationists?”

Joyce Dalsheim, UNC Charlotte, “The Trouble with Christian Time: Thinking with Jewish Sages”

Mark Pizzato, UNC Charlotte, “Churches and Temples as Neuro-Performative Sites”

2022-23 Colloquia

Sean McCloud, UNC Charlotte, “The Law of Attraction and Contemporary Discourses on Agency”

Barbara Thiede, UNC Charlotte, “Rape Culture in the Hebrew Bible (and Why the Academy is Culpable)”

Kent Brintnall, UNC Charlotte, on sex abuse project

2023-24 Colloquia

Series of workshops for graduate students on topics such as conducting research and devising theses and professionalization.