Program History & Archived Events

Program History

Update coming soon

Archived Events

• "Apocalyptic Violence: The Desire for Universal Destruction & Its Historical Origins" Presented by Dr. Matthias Riedl, Associate Professor of History, Central European
• "Beauty as a Road to God.” Speaker- Dr. Elinore Stump, (The Robert J. Henle Professor of Philosophy at St. Louis University)
• Faith and Reason: Themes from Swinburne. This conference is organized by Michael Bergmann & Jeffrey Brower. 
• "Challenges to Religious and Moral Belief: Disagreement and Evolution" Sponsor: Professors Michael Bergmann and Patrick Kain (PHIL), John Templeton Grant.
• "Dawn of the CyberChrist" by Matthew Tan
• "End of Life Issues: Life Sustaining Treatment Choices" Presented by Bishop Timothy Doherty
• "Henry Ford's War on Jews & the Legal Battle Against Hate Speech"Dr. Victoria Saker Woeste, Research Professor, American Bar Foundation
• "Human Origins in Light of Science and Religion" Presented by Brendan Purcell, Notre Dame University, Sydney, Australia.
• "Masterpiece of the Incarnation: The Marian Hermeneutics of Praise in the Patristic & Medieval Periods" Presented by Brian Reynolds
• "One Spirit, Many Gifts" Presented by Sister Jannette Pruitt, Coordinator for Black Catholic Ministry, Archdiocese of Indianapolis. 
• "Same-Sex Intimacies in an Early Modern African Text about an Ethiopian Female Saint, Gadla Walatta Petros (1672)" Presented by Professor Wendy Belcher, Associate Professor of African Literature, Princeton University. 
• "The Call of Bilal: Islam in the African Diaspora"
• Presented by Edward Curtis, Millennium Chair of Liberal Ats & Professor of Religious Studies, IUPUI-Indianapolis. 
• "The First Jesuit Pope: What is in Store for China" by Lin Yu and "The Catholic Church in China: the Ricci Path for Reconciliation?" by Fenggang Yang
• "The Future [Catholic] Church" Public lecture by John Allen, Senior Correspondent, National Catholic Reporter 
• "The Struggle for Women's Equality at Jerusalem's Western Wall" Film and Discussion, Featuring "Praying in Her Own Voice"
• The Evolutionary Psychology of Chinese Religion by Kelly James Clark
• "The Threefold Truth as the Basic Pattern for T'ien-t'ai Buddhist" Public lecture by Paul Swanson, Permanent Fellow, The Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture, Nanzan University Co-
• "Visualizing Paradise: Artists Representing Eden Before and After Milton's Paradise Lost" Presented by Wendy Furman-Adams (English, Whittier College)
•  “Let’s Talk about it - Bridging Cultures: Muslim Journeys,” presents “Dreams of Trespass: Gender and Space in Morocco”
•  “Let’s Talk about it - Bridging Cultures: Muslim Journeys,” presents “Minaret: Immigration and Religious Migration” by Leila Aboulela
• 2015 Sociology of Religion Seminar "Does Religious Diversity Affect Religious Commitment? Some New Answers to an Old Question" Presented by Daniel Olson, Purdue University
• A Serious Samson Series - sponsored by the PU Religious Studies Program and Jewish Studies Program
• "The Long Life of Racism and Islamophobia" Presented by Junaid Rana, Associate Professor of Asian American Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• Bridging Cultures – Muslim Journeys, “Let’s Talk About It – Round 2
  Presents a discussion of In The Country of Men translated by Hisham Matar
• Led by Professors Idrissi Alami and Lynne Dahmen
• Bridging Cultures – Muslim Journeys, “Let’s Talk About It – Round 2
  Presents a movie showing, Persepolis. Discussion led by Professors Idrissi Alami and Lynne Dahmen
• Bridging Cultures – Muslim Journeys, “Let’s Talk About It – Round 2
  Presents a discussion of Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi. Led by Professors Idrissi Alami and Lynne Dahmen
• Bridging Cultures – Muslim Journeys, “Let’s Talk About It – Round 2
  Present a discussion of House of Stone by Anthony Shadid. Led by Professors Idrissi Alami and Lynne Dahmen
• Bridging Cultures – Muslim Journeys, “Let’s Talk About It – Round 2
  Presents a discussion of Broken Verse by Kamila Shamsie Led by Professors Idrissi Alami and Lynne Dahmen
• “Can there be a Christian Social Science? The Case of William Robertson Smith.” Speaker- Robert Segal (Chair of Religious Studies, University of Aberdeen)
• Bridging Cultures – Muslim Journeys, “Let’s Talk About It – Round 2
  Presents a movie showing, Door to the Sky, discussion led by Professors Idrissi Alami and Lynne Dahmen
• Bridging Cultures – Muslim Journeys, “Let’s Talk About It – Round 2 “Dreams of Trespass by Fatima Mernissi” Led by Professors Idrissi Alami and Lynne Dahmen
• Center on Religion and Chinese Society's Global China Forum Lecture "A Post-Vatican II Bishop: Aloysius Jin Luxian and the Mind of Chinese Catholic Intellectuals" Featuring Dr. Jin Lu, Purdue University, Calumet
• Chinese Studies Colloquium "Remapping Antiquity: Books and Readers in Early Daoism" Presented by Jonathan Pettit, Associate Director of the Center on Religion and Chinese Society
• College of Liberal Arts Faculty Development Center presents "Partisanship for Latino Immigrants in the United States" by Dr. James McCann, Professor of Political Science AND "Does Religious Diversity Boost or Diminish Religious Participation?" by Dr. Daniel Olson, Professor of Sociology
• CRCS Fall Lecture Series "Shaping and Reshaping Shanghai's Religious Space" Presented by Professor Benoit Vermander of Fudan University
• Discovery Lecture Series. “Religion, Science, and Naturalism: Where the Conflict Really Lies” Speaker- Renowned philosopher Alvin Plantinga (Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at both University of Notre Dame and Calvin College)
• Display at the Hicks Undegraduate Library "Rewriting the Book of Nature: Charles Darwin & the Rise of Evolutionary Theory" Purdue has partnered with the U.S. National Library of Medicine on the exhibit, just over 150 years since Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species.  Associated lectures and presentations are still in the works in Hicks. 
• Indiana Medieval Graduate Consortium (IMGC) Annual Symposium "Exploring the Premodern World"  
• "Divine Likeness: Interpreting Orthodox Icons" Presented by Dr. Ashley Purpura, Visiting Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, Purdue University
• ISIS and the Islamic State: A Panel Discussion Sponsored by the Aquinas Educational Foundation, the College of Liberal Arts and the Religious Studies Program
• Jewish Studies Noon Lecture Series
  • "Holocaust Denial" Presented by Lukas Plank, Winner of the 2015 Edward Simon B'nai B'rith Barzillai Lodge No. 111 Prize in Jewish Studies,
  • "Problematic Discourse and Producing Orthodoxy: 'Jews' in Byzantine Christian Hagiography and Hymns." Presented by Dr. Ashley Purpura
  • "Supermentsh: Superman's Covert and Overt Jewish Origins," Presented by Andrew Fogel (Ph.D candidate, HIST)
  • "The Jewish Community in Iraq: 1951 to Present" Presented by Marcus Smith, Graduate Student, Department of History, Purdue University
  •  "The Jewish Dietary Laws: A Matter of Interpretation," Presented by Nicole Fourman (Winner of the 2014 Edward Simon B'nai B'rith Barzillai Lodge No. 111 Prize in JS)
  • "Between Refugees and the State: Hungarian Jews and Jewish Refugee Policy in Wartime Austria-Hungary," Presented by Rebekah Klein-Pejšová (History & Jewish Studies)
  • "Topographies of Commerce: The Making of an Ionian Jewish Adriatic"
  • Presented by Constanze Kolbe, Graduate Student, Department of History, Indiana University
  • "Zachor: Jewish Geneaology as Discovery and Remembrance of a Lost World" Presented by Joyce Field, Emerita JewishGen Vice President of Research and Data Acquisition. 
• Jim Davidson Lecture in the Sociology of Religion  “Between Retreat and Revival: Religion, Secularism and the Politics of National Heritage”
• Larry Axel Memorial Annual Lecture in Religion "God in the Lab: Technical Expertise and Rabbinic Authority" Co-sponsored by the Purdue Jewish Studies and Religious Studies Programs​
• "Is Judaism Really Monotheistic? A Maimonidean Inquiry", Kenneth Seeskin (PHIL, Northwestern)
• "Religion in Conflict: From Martin Luther to the Thirty Years' War (1500-1650)"
  Presented by Dr. Sigrun Haude, Associate Professor of History, University of Cincinnati
•  "The King James Bible and the U.S. Populance" Public lecture by Mark Noll (Notre Dame-History) 
• MARS Annual Symposium "Reading Chaucer in the Renaissance"
• Presented by Dr. Paul Strohm, Professor Emeritus at Columbia University
• "Religious Transnationality: Local Churches, Foreign Missionaries, & the Pursuit of Religious Freedom in China" Presented by Dr. Ray Wang, National Chengchi University.
• MARS Monday "Meaning, Truth, & History: Maimonides & Spinoza on the Interpretation of Scripture" Presented by Daniel Frank (Philosophy & Jewish Studies)
• Paradigm Shifts, Race and Religion in the U.S. and Europe Presented by Dr. R. Stephen Warner, Professor Emeritus, University of Illinois, Chicago
• Political Terrorism & the U.S. Empire Presented by Dr. Achin Vanaik, retired Professor of International Relations & Global Politics, University of Delhi. 
• Purdue Renaissance Comparative Prose Conference
• Radical Religious Women Symposium & Power of Women's Stories presentation
• Religio-cultural Road Trip to the Indianapolis Art Museum
• Judaica Show-and-tell Discussion
• Seminar Discussion and Public Lecture "ENGL 665/CMPL 650: World Literature, 1492-1700" Featuring Dr. Randall Zachman, Professor of Reformation Studies, History of Christianity, University of Notre Dame
• Seminar Discussion and Public Lecture "We Must Know What We Believe: Martin Luther on the Right and Duty of All Christians to Read Scripture" Featuring Dr. Randall Zachman,
• Sociology of Religion Seminar "Contours of the Sacred: A Workshop on the Geospatial Studie of Relgion and Society" Featuring Jonathan Pettit, Purdue University
• The Political Philosophy of Michel Foucault & Gilles Deleuze Conference
• "Transmission and Transition: The Incorporation and Transformation of Medieval Chinese Divination in Early Japan" Presented by Stephan N. Kory, Swarthmore College