Guest Blog: Elsa Kunz, Graduate Student, Harvard Divinity School The category of “religion” is a challenging one, and many students arrive in the classroom with unexplored assumption about what “counts” as religion. For many students, “religion” is an isolatable category that occurs in designated spaces, places, and people. Yet the reality is that religion does […]
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Devotional Hindu Dance: A Return to the Sacred
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 […]
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 Learning about different religions can feel challenging, even overwhelming. Fortunately, the world of film offers opportunities to improve religious literacy while also increasing empathy and understanding. Films are powerful learning tools, and most of us have at least one potent memory associated with a particular movie. […]