A Response to the Criticism of Janani Mandayam Comar’s Reading Religion Review Dr. Sabrina D. MisirHiralall, Montclair State University While I welcome the constructive criticism of scholars in the field, I believe it is crucial to respond to the criticism of Janani Mandayam Comar who misunderstands and misrepresents my monograph Devotional Hindu Dance: A Return […]
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Virtually Seeing What Takes Place Next
Guest Post: John Soboslai, Assistant Professor of Religion, Montclair State University This article is the third in a three-part series on using virtual reality (VR) to promote religious literacy and enhance civil discourse. My first post outlined the general idea of using virtual reality (VR) as a way to remotely step into various religious rituals. […]
Benjamin Franklin’s Contribution to Jewish Practice
Guest Post: Shai Afsai Benjamin Franklin, one of America’s Founding Fathers, was born on this date, January 17, in 1706. In addition to being a well-known statesman, he was a successful newspaper editor and inventor. He was also one of the founders of the Academy and College of Philadelphia, a predecessor of the University of […]
Teaching Religious Literacy with Films
Guest Post: Jennifer Fischer, Co-Founder, Think Ten Media Group Big Sonia follows the life of Sonia Warshawski, a Jewish teenager living in Poland when the German army invades in the 1930s. Her father and brother were shot, her sister disappeared; she and her mother became slave laborers and were finally deported to a death camp. […]
Ritual Selections: Deciding to See What Takes Place
Guest Post: John Soboslai, Assistant Professor of Religion, Montclair State University In my first post I outlined the goals and hopes that brought an interdisciplinary group of scholars and media creators together in June of 2022. Seeking to lay the foundation for a series of immersive, interactive, virtual reality experiences of religious rituals around the […]