Academics

Special Events, Fall 2009

Method and Theory in the Study of Religion, class field trip to Abbey of Gennesse, a Trappist monastery out side Rochester, NY, spring 2007The interdisciplinary nature of the study of religion lends itself to collaborations with many departments and programs across campus.

We bring a variety of speakers and visiting professors to campus to address the intersection of religion and politics, architecture, environmentalism, and mass media, among other topics. We welcome students to join us on excursions beyond Colgate to deepen our understanding of the multi-faceted phenomenon that is religion.

We are also organizing a yearlong series on religious literacy. Our aim is to educate students and faculty across the university about fundamental things one should know about religion.

Visiting Lecturers

Thursday, September 17, 2009
4:30 pm, Lawrence Hall
“The Origin and Expansion of Orthodox Christianity in Ethiopla"

Tsega Etefa, Assistant Professor of History, Colgate University

Reception immediately following in the Longyear Museum of Anthropology, Alumni Hall

Tuesday, September 22, 2009
4:30 pm, Love Auditorium, Olin Hall
“The Original Meaning of the Establishment Clause and Its Contemporary Implications"

Noah Feldman, Bemis Professor of Law, Harvard University, and John Witte, Jr., Jonas Robitscher Professor of Law and Director of the Center for the Study of Law and Religion, Emory University.  The Arthur W. and Anne Hale Johnson Religion and Ethics in America Lecture Series.

Thursday, September 24, 2009
4:15 pm, Memorial Chapel
“Religion and Science:  Where the Conflict Really Lies" 

Alvin Plantinga, John A. O'Brien Professor of Philosophy, University of Notre Dame

Thursday, September 24, 2009
4:30 pm, Golden Auditorium, Little Hall
“Icons of Devotion / Icons of Trade:  Contemporary Religious Art of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church" 

Raymond Silverman, Professor of History of Art, and Afroamerican & African Studies, University of Michigan

Tuesday, September 29, 2009
4:10 pm, Lawrence 105
“The Heritage of Colgate Missionaries in Northeast India"  

Fred Downs, Professor Emeritus, Eastern Theological College, Jorhat 

Wednesday, September 30, 2009
4:30 pm, Lawrence 105
“Relics and the Roads They Travelled in Post Roman Europe"  

Julia Smith, Edwards Professor of Medieval History, University of Glasgow 

Thursday, October 8, 2009
4:10 pm, Perrson Hall Auditorium
“Creative Responses to Religious Pluralism"

Diana Eck, Professor of Comparative Religion and Indian Studies in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Member of the Faculty of Divinity, Harvard University.

Thursday, October 22, 2009
4:15 pm, Love Auditorium, Olin Hall
“Anselm's Ontological Argument"

Lynne Rudder Baker, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, University of Massachusetts - Amherst

Monday, October 26, 2009
12:10 pm, Love Auditorium, Olin Hall
“Thirty Years of Service in Japan"

A luncheon with Leroy Seat, Chancellor Emeritus, Seinan Gakuin

Tuesday, November 17, 2009
4:10 pm, Lawrence 105
“Technologies of Desire:  Give Me Children or I Shall Die"

Suzanne Holland, NEH Professor of the Humanities, Colgate University 

Thursday, November 19, 2009
4:15 pm, Love Auditorium, Olin Hall
“Human Rights, Ethics, and Religion"

Nicholas Wolterstorrf, Noah Porter Professor of Philosophical Theology Emeritus,Yale University

Thursday, November 19, 2009
7:00 pm, ALANA Cultural Center
“Navajo Storyteller"

Sunny Dooley, Native Dine' (Navajo) storyteller, poet, playwright, lecturer and folksinger. She is from the Four Corners region of the southwest from a community called Chi Chil' Tah (Where the Oaks Grow) and has been telling the Origin and Creation Stories of the Dine' people for the past 9 years. 

Friday, November 20, 2009
11:30 am, Women's Studies Center
“Weaving Women's Lives in a Navajo Family"

Carole Cadman and Louise Lamphere, University Regents Professor of Anthropology, University of New Mexico.

Exhibitions, Symposia and Other Religion-Related Events on Campus 

August 31 - October 9, 2009
      Longyear Museum, Alumni Hall
      "Reflections of Ethiopian Orthdoxy: Coptic Crosses and Objects of Personal Devotion"

     Clifford Gallery, Little Hall
      “Reflections of Ethiopian Orthodoxy: Contemporary Paintings in Traditional Styles"


Sunday, September 20, 2009
3:30 pm, Memorial Chapel
“Music from China"

Thursday, November 19, 2009
7:00 pm, ALANA Cultural Center
“Navajo Narratives Engendered:  A Symposium"

Mary Moran, Professor of Anthropology, Colgate University; Carole Cadman, Sunny Dooley; Louise
Lamphere, University Regents Professor of Anthropology, University of New Mexico; Maureen Trudelle Schwarz, Professor of Anthropology, Syracuse University