Faculty News

2009-2010 | 2010-2011 | 2011-2012 | 2012-2013 | 2013-2014 | 2014-2015 | 2015-2016 | 2016-2017| 2017-2018 | 2018-2019 | 2019-2020 | 2020-2021| 2021-2022 | 2022-2023 | 2023-2024 | 2024-2025

2024-2025

• Congratulations to Prof. Sarah Jacoby on the publication of Buddhism: Introducing the Buddhist Experience (4^th ed., Oxford UP, co-authored with Donald Mitchell)! The volume covers Buddhism in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Tibet, Thailand, China, Korea, Japan, and an updated chapter on Global Buddhism.

• Prof. Shira Schwartz, along with collaborators Cherhana Achar and Cory Bradley, has been awarded NICO funding for their proposal “Diagnosing Deservingness: Religion, Race, and Gender in Healthcare." Congratulations, Shira!

• Religious Studies Welcomes Professor Usman Hamid! 
• Congratulations to Professor Sarah Jacoby on her promotion to Full Professor! 

2023-2024

• Check out “Jewish on Campus” featuring articles by Professor Wimpfheimer, department alum Josh Feigelson, and former faculty member Dr. Claire Sufrin
• Congratulations to Professor Sarah McFarland Taylor for being named the winner of the 2023 Iris Book Award for her book Ecopiety: Green Media and the Dilemma of Environmental Virtue. 
• Congratulations to Professor James Bielo, who was recently awarded a Luce-AAR Public Scholarship grant as part of his ‘Secondhand Sacred’ project. 
• Professor Christine Helmer’s co-authored book (with Amy Carr), Ordinary Faith in Polarized Times: Justification and Justice (Baylor University Press), was awarded the status of “finalist” in the National PROSE Book Awards 2023 competition for theology/religious studies.
• Professor Antonio Terrone brings a unique perspective on martial arts, deeply influenced by his travels and research in Asia and his training under renowned Aikido masters around the world.
• Professor KB Dennis Meade receives grant from from the Crossroads Community Stories Fellows Project!
• Congratulations to Prof. Kevin Buckelew on his book colloquium for 'Buddhist Masculinities'!
• Congratulations to Prof. Elizabeth Shakman Hurd for receiving a Buffett Global Collaboration Grant!
• Prof. Elizabeth Shakman Hurd: "How the US is making it illegal for students to disagree with Israel".
• Meet Adjunct Professor Allison Hurst of the Department of Religious Studies
• Congratulations to Professor Christine Helmer for releasing a new book titled  Ordinary Faith in Polarized Times: Justification and the Pursuit of Justice! 
• Meet Associate Professor James Bielo of the Department of Religious Studies
• Congratulations to Professor Brannon Ingram and Professor Sarah Jacoby for being selected as two of the 2023-2024 Alice Kaplan Institute for the Humanities Faculty Fellows!

2022-2023

• Professor Christine Helmer shares how Davóne Tines’s MASS inspired her Introduction to Christianity course, through the interplay of culture, music, theology, history, and politics.

• Religious Studies welcomes Professor KB Dennis Meade.

• Prof. Christine Helmer’s "How Luther Became the Reformer" was recently published in Chinese translation.

• Congratulations to our faculty who have received Weinberg Research Recovery Grants in 2023-24.
  Prof. Elizabeth Shakman Hurd to work on, “American Border Religion” project,  Prof. Mark McClish's proposal entitled,  “The Beginnings of Hindu Law” and Prof. Sarah Taylor's project on, "Canceling the Apocalypse: Fueling Defiant Hope in the Climate Era."

• "The ‘wall’ between church and state is blocking our view on abortion rights" a piece by Prof. Elizabeth Shakman Hurd.

• Congratulations to Dr. Eli Rosenblatt, Visiting Assistant Professor, on his appointment as Wallerstein Assistant Professor of Jewish Studies and Director of Jewish Studies at Drew University in Madison, NJ.
• Congratulations to Professor David Shyovitz for being selected as one of the Alice Kaplan Institute for the Humanities Faculty Fellows for 2022-2023! 

2021-2022

• Prof. Robert Orsi was named to the 2021-2022 Associated Student Government Faculty & Administrator Honor Roll. He was nominated for his teaching of RELIGION 264: American Religious History from 1865 to the Great Depression. 
• Visiting Professor Eli Rosenblatt Chosen for Emerging Scholar Lecture Series

• Congratulations to Professor Ahmad Greene-Hayes who has won the first American Religion dissertation prize.

• Professor Claire Sufrin was named a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award in the category of Modern Jewish Thought and Experience.
• Congratulations to Professor Michelle Molina, who has received a grant from the Alumnae of Northwestern to work on her "Religion Moves People: A Digital Humanities Project." as well as an Open Educational Resources Faculty Grant (OER) to incorporate into "Rel 170 Introduction to Religion" course.
• For the second year in a row Professor Christine Helmer received a summer URAP grant to support undergraduate research and mentoring her students!
• Congratulations to Professor Molina being selected as Fellows for the Kaplan Humanities Institute for 2021-22!

2020-2021

• "Is There a Right to Heresy?" by Elizabeth Shakman Hurd.

• "The Myth of Martin Luther" by Professor Helmer.

• "Some NU Catholics welcome Biden presidency despite division among American Catholics".

• "Religious Freedom, Public Health, and the Limits of Law" by Prof. Hurd.

• "Gender Equality in and on Tibetan Buddhist Nuns’ Terms." by Sarah Jacoby.

• Religious Studies welcomes Matthew Chalmers, a visiting professor, a scholar and theorist of religion, who specializes in late antique Christianity.

• "The Middle Ages and a New Direction in Luther Research" by Christine Helmer.

• "The Medieval Luther" newly published book by Professor Helmer.

• Congratulations to Professor Sarah Jacoby's McCormick Teaching Excellence Award!
• Check out "The Revealer" with an excerpt from Professor Sarah Taylor's newest book.

2019-2020

• Professor Sarah Taylor was interviewed on the Green Radio Hour about her new book Ecopiety.

• Treasure Seeker: With research that adds important female voices to Tibetan Buddhism, Professor Sarah Jacoby goes deep to examine the roots of human suffering, the path to liberation, and what the ‘Me Too’ movement may mean for global Buddhism!

• Contemplative Pedagogy and the Religious Studies Classroom: Editor's Introduction, by Professor Sarah Jacoby

2018-2019

• Professor Richard Kieckhefer interviewed for Time Magazine article "What happened to The Mountain? What the real history of Necromancy tells us about the Game of Thrones fight."
• Professor Robert Orsi's book, The Madonna of 15th Street: Faith and Community in Italian Harlem, 1890-1950, was ranked no. 9 on Bookscrolling's list of "The best books about the history of New York."
• Professor Cristina Traina and Alumna Michal Raucher, Ph.D., serve as panelists  for the Ethics Forward | Maternal Experience And Religious Ethics conference.
• Congratulations to Professor Sarah Dees, who has accepted a new position as Assistant Professor of American Religions in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Iowa State University.
• Professor Robert Orsi gave the keynote address, “The Sexual Abuse Crisis Between the Local and the Global, ” at a significant conference on Global Catholicism at the University of Notre Dame on April 6, 2019.
• Professor Christine Helmer releases new book, How Luther Became the Reformer.

• The Times of Israel praises Professor Barry Wimpfheimer's latest book, The Talmud: A Biography. Read the article here.

• Congratulations to Professor Balberg, Professor Dingeldein, Professor Ingram, Professor Jacoby, Professor Robert Orsi, and staff member Rossitza Guenkova named for the 2018-2019 ASG Honor Roll.

• Professor Barry Wimpfheimer's book is featured in the Chicago Tribune. 

2017-2018

• Religious Studies welcomes Kevin Buckelew, a new faculty member, who specializes in the study of Chinese Buddhism.
• Professor Barry Wimpfheimer has been interviewed about his new book The Talmud: A Biography (see below) for the New Books Network podcast. Listen here.
• Professor Brannon Ingram has won a Weinberg College Distinguished Teaching Award for 2018.  Ingram was noted for his passionate engagement with the topic of Islam and ability to design projects that capture students’ interest. 

• Professor Barry Wimpfheimer's new book The Talmud: A Biography has been published by Princeton University Press. Read the review by Tablet Magazine: "The Talmud, Personified": In his new ‘biography,’ professor Barry Scott Wimpfheimer argues that the Talmud is more important now than it has ever been.

• Professor Robert Orsi's book, "Madonna of 115th Street," was chosen one of the 25 best books about the history of New York by OscarNetBiz. Check out the article here.
• Barbara Newman, the John Evans Professor of Latin and a professor of English, religious studies and classics, has been elected to the American Philosophical Society.

2016-2017

• Professor Hurd writes a review titled "The Myth of the Muslim Country" in the Boston Review.
• Professor Sylvester A. Johnson featured in an article in The Atlantic titled How the FBI Is Hobbled by Religious Illiteracy.
• Trump’s immigration order requires bureaucrats to figure out who is Christian. That’s not easy.
• Former Professor Laurie Zoloth appointed dean of University of Chicago Divinity School. 
• Former Professor Laurie Zoloth appointed dean of University of Chicago Divinity School.
• Adina Goldman, Religious Studies Major and Franke Undergraduate Fellow, develops her independent research projects within the Kaplan Institute.
• Professor Balberg's new book, "Blood For Thought" delves into a relatively unexplored area of rabbinic literature.
• Professor Brannon Ingram and Professor Elizabeth Hurd awarded prestigious grant in religion, journalism, and international affairs.
• Professor Elizabeth Shakman Hurd and Professor Winnifred F. Sullivan, Indiana University, have launched a new teaching resource they have developed, Teaching Law & Religion Case Study Archive, thanks to support of the The Henry Luce Foundation's Initiative on Religion in International Affairs.
• Professor Barry Wimpfheimer and Luce Postdoctoral Fellow, Sarah Dees, reflect their work at the Digital Humanities Summer Workshop.

2015-2016

• Journal of Lutheran Ethics July/Aug. 2015 volume features Prof. Helmer's Theology and The End of Doctrine.
• Teaching the Talmud: Associate Professor Barry Wimpfheimer becomes Weinberg’s first professor to offer a MOOC.
• Professor Hurd publishes new book The Problem with Religious Freedom.
• Sarah Jacoby’s book, Love and Liberation: Autobiographical Writings of the Tibetan Buddhist Visionary Sera Khandro, has been published by Columbia University Press. 

2014-2015

• An interview with Professor Elizabeth Shakman Hurd, author of BEYOND RELIGIOUS FREEDOM.
• Journal of Lutheran Ethics (July/Aug. 2015 Volume) features Prof. Helmer's Theology and The End of Doctrine.
• Theology and The End of Doctrine by Christine Helmer was featured in The Christian Century.
• Setting Aside a Scholarly Get-Together, for the Planet’s Sake Professor Laurie Zoloth - a magnificent tribute for a truly generative vision of change.

2013-2014

• Ground Zero and the 'S-word' article by Matthew Cressler, Ph.D. Religious Studies

2012-2013

• Read a student's praise for the "Philosophy of Religion" class in The Daily Northwestern.

2011-2012

• Christine Helmer organized international conference Lutherrenaissance: Past & Present, April 12-14, 2012, with Crain lecturer Michael Massing, and theologians from Germany, Denmark, and North America.
• Professor Kenneth Seeskin publishes new book, Jewish Messianic Thoughts in an Age of Despair with Cambridge University Press.
• Cristina Traina's and Barry Wimpfheimer's new books were featured in the Fall 2011 issue of CenterPiece magazine published by the Office for Research.
• Cristina Traina’s book Erotic Attunement: Parenthood and the Ethics of Sensuality between Unequal is now available from the University of Chicago Press.

2010-2011

• New Book: Transformations in Luther's Theology: Historical and Contemporary Considerations. Edited by Christine Helmer and Bo Kristian Holm. 2011
• Christine Helmer's The Global Luther made the top 5 book list of the AAR's "Martin Luther and Global Lutheran Traditions" Consultation.
• Transformations in Luther's Theology: Historical and Contemporary Considerations. Edited by Christine Helmer and Bo Kristian Holm.
• Barry Scott Wimpfheimer’s book Narrating the Law: A Poetics of Talmudic Legal Stories is available from the University of Pennsylvania Press.
• Barry Scott Wimpfheimer recently appeared on the JUF television program, Sanctuary. Watch the video here.
• The Writing Place offers Writing Assistance for Graduate Students.
• Ken Seeskin has been awarded the 2010 National Jewish Book Award for The Cambridge Guide to Jewish History, Religion, and Culture in the category of collections and anthologies. This volume was edited by Ken and Judith Baskin, Knight Professor of Humanities at The University of Oregon.
• Barry Wimpfheimer quoted in New York Times
• Barry Scott Wimpfheimer’s book Narrating the Law: A Poetics of Talmudic Legal Stories is available from the University of Pennsylvania Press.
• Robert Orsi has received the 2010 E. LeRoy Hall Award for Teaching Excellence. Weinberg College Teaching Awards applaud excellence in instruction, significant contributions to curricular innovation, exemplary mentoring of research and independent study, and fostering of a sense of community both inside and outside the classroom.
• J. Michelle Molina has co-edited a book titled Rethinking the Human (Harvard University Press, 2010)

2009-2010

• On April 26, 2010 J. Michelle Molina spoke about “Circulations: Heart and Science in the Catholic Atlantic World” as part of the Klopsteg lecture series at Northwestern.
• In 2009-2010, the Department of Religious Studies organized a series of panel discussions, one each quarter, aimed at bringing together Northwestern scholars in various fields whose work engages topics of religion. Co-hosted by the Brady Program in Ethics and Civic life, and co-sponsored by the Alice Kaplan Institute for the Humanities, the series was very successful, and Religious Studies looks forward to continuing to foster interdisciplinary dialogue across Northwestern's many diverse and exciting communities.