Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Todd Fuist Discussing His Book, Religion And Progressive Activism, Eric Stock

Interviews for WGLT

Assistant Professor of Sociology Todd Fuist speaking with WGLT's Eric Stock about his book "Religion and Progressive Activism: New Stories about Faith and Politics."

Mother Goddesses And Subversive Witches: Competing Narratives Of Gender Essentialism, Heteronormativity, Feminism, And Queerness In Wiccan Theology And Ritual, Carly B. Floyd

Honors Projects

Wicca has typically been viewed as an empowering alternative to institutionalized and patriarchal religions, and women especially have been drawn to this religion because of its inclusion of women as goddesses and priestesses. It is also seen as a sex-positive religion, and many LGBTQ+ people embrace Wicca due to its lack of concepts such as sin and shame, especially around sex and sexuality. This research, however, troubles the claim that Wicca is a feminist, woman-friendly, queer-friendly religion. While women are celebrated and valued, I argue that women’s positive portrayal as mothers, nurturers, emotional, and intuitive portrays women’s nature in a …

Judaism And The West, Robert Erlewine

IWU Authors Bookshelf

From Indiana University Press:

Grappling with the place of Jewish philosophy at the margin of religious studies, Robert Erlewine examines the work of five Jewish philosophers—Hermann Cohen, Martin Buber, Franz Rosenzweig, Abraham Joshua Heschel, and Joseph Soloveitchik—to bring them into dialogue within the discipline. Emphasizing the tenuous place of Jews in European, and particularly German, culture, Erlewine unapologetically contextualizes Jewish philosophy as part of the West. He teases out the antagonistic and overlapping attempts of Jewish thinkers to elucidate the philosophical and cultural meaning of Judaism when others sought to deny and even expel Jewish influences. By reading the …

Invocation For President Jensen’S Inauguration, Elyse Nelson Winger

Inauguration of Eric R. Jensen

These remarks are available for viewing below and may be downloaded above. A photograph of University Chaplain Elyse Nelson Winger is also linked here.

Elyse Nelson Winger On Religion And The Presidetial Race, Judith Valente

Interviews for WGLT

WGLT'S Judith Valente speaks to IWU Chaplain Elyse Nelson Winger.

More information from the WGLT interview is available at the Download link above and to the right of the page.

Book Review: The Philosophy Of Hebrew Scripture, By Yoram Hazony, Robert Erlewine

Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Open Mind: Essays In Honour Of Christopher Rowland, Kevin Sullivan

IWU Authors Bookshelf

Edited by Jonathan Knight and Kevin Sullivan, this Festschrift draws on the research interests of Christopher Rowland. The collection of essays comes from former doctoral students and other friends, many of whom shed light on the angelic contribution to the thought-world of developing Christianity. The significance of the Jewish contribution to developing Christian ideology is critically assessed, including the impact of the original Jewish sources on the earliest Christian belief.

From Amazon.com

Evans '14 Tapped For Library Of Congress Internship, Kim Hill

News and Events

No abstract provided.

Reason Within The Bounds Of Religion: Assmann, Cohen, And The Possibilities Of Monotheism, Robert Erlewine

Scholarship

Recent years have witnessed many actions, often violent and xenophobic, explicitly rooted in monotheistic intolerance. Perhaps, then, it should not be surprising that many secular-minded critics view monotheistic religions as not much more than intractable problems for democratic societies. Indeed, for such critics, the respective ages and histories of these traditions are not to be esteemed. Rather, these religions are simply primitive, and so they require domestication (or annihilation) by liberal values. Looking around the world today, one often wonders if it is even possible for modern sensibilities to be reconciled, or even to coexist, with the Abrahamic monotheisms and …

“This I Say Not As One Doubting”: Traditions Of The Apostle Thomas From The Beginning Of The Common Era Through 800 Ce, Janna Y. Strain

Honors Projects

Historically, Thomas has a rich identity. Much of the apocrypha was named for the "doubting" disciple, such as The Gospel of Thomas, The Book of Thomas the Contender, and The Acts of the Apostle Thomas, yet these traditions do not address Thomas's story from The Gospel of John. In fact, Thomas becomes the favored disciple in The Book of Thomas the Contender and logion 13 of The Gospel of Thomas. In The Acts of the Apostle Thomas the disciple leaves Rome to evangelize in India where he is eventually martyred. Today, he is still revered in South India …

Not So Doubtful: Traditions Of The Apostle Thomas From The Beginning Of The Common Era Through 600 Ce, Janna Strain, Kevin Sullivan, Faculty Advisor

John Wesley Powell Student Research Conference

Historically, Thomas has a rich identity. Much of the apocrypha was named for the “doubting” disciple, such as The Infancy Gospel of Thomas, The Book of Thomas the Contender, The Acts of the Apostle Thomas, and The Gospel of Thomas, yet these traditions do not address Thomas’s doubting story from The Gospel of John. In fact, Thomas becomes the favored disciple in The Book of Thomas the Contender and logion 13 of The Gospel of Thomas. In The Acts of the Apostle Thomas the disciple leaves Rome to evangelize in India where he is eventually martyred. Today, …

Rediscovering Heschel: Theocentrism, Secularism, And Porous Thinking, Robert Erlewine

Scholarship

While Abraham Joshua Heschel remains a celebrated figure in modern Judaism, one cannot help but notice beneath the veneer of approbation is a consistent lack of appreciation for his thought. In this essay, I argue that Heschel’s rigor and ingenuity has been largely overlooked because interpreters apply categories to his thought which are not only heterogeneous to it, but also whose foundation Heschel’s thought actively tries to subvert. Rather than elucidating a particular dimension of Heschel’s thought which I then critique—an endeavor I believe that scholars have been too eager to undertake—I attempt to clear away some of the ground …

Jerry Stone, Jerry H. Stone, Meg Miner

All oral histories

Jerry Stone taught in the Religion department from 1964-1992. He started as an Assistant Professor of Religion and within three years became a full Professor of Religion, and then became Director of Liberal Studies. A couple years before retiring, he returned to teaching.

Stone has also acted as pastor at a local church and in Cooksville during his time at Illinois Wesleyan University, and taught Sunday school classes at First Presbyterian Church.

Since retiring, Stone also taught a religions course for a semester at Heartland College.

The Sick Person And Science: The Role Of Religion In Medicine And Modernity, Daniel J. Deweert

Honors Projects

The secularization thesis predicts that science will eventually render religion useless due to inherent incompatibilities. Modern discourses have created a similar conflict between scientific competence and more humanistic aspects of medicine. I will use the secularization thesis to analyze the unusual role of medicine as both a scientific discipline and a venture into the moral realm. Religion affects the way humans understand nature, which impacts the possibility of the scientific method as well as the role of the sick person in society. Though individuals have always been healers, institutionalizing healthcare through the creation of hospitals indicates a profound shift of …

The Sick Person And Science: Religion's Role In Medicine And Society Today, Dan Deweert, Kevin Sullivan, Faculty Advisor

John Wesley Powell Student Research Conference

No abstract provided.

The Legacy Of Abraham Joshua Heschel, Robert Erlewine

Scholarship

Abraham Joshua Heschel was a singular figure in American Jewish history and, indeed, in Jewish thought. Born in 1907 and reared in the world of Polish Hasidim, Heschel studied philosophy and Biblical criticism in Berlin before becoming a pivotal figure in American Jewish and non- Jewish religious life, galvanizing Americans on issues of social justice. The conditions that produced a figure capable of such depth and breadth of traditional Jewish learning and secular studies seem no longer possible in our age, focused as it is on hyper-specialization. Heschel shared a vision of Judaism at once profoundly rooted in tradition and …

Hermann Cohen, Maimonides, And The Jewish Virtue Of Humility, Robert Erlewine

Scholarship

This paper explores Hermann Cohen’s engagement with, and appropriation of, Maimonides to refute the common assumption that Cohen’s endeavor was to harmonize Judaism with Western culture. Exploring the changes of Cohen’s conception of humility from Ethik des reinen Willens to the Ethics of Maimonides and Religion of Reason out of the Sources of Judaism, this paper highlights the centrality of the collective Jewish mission to bear witness against the dominant order of Western civilization and philosophy in Cohen’s Jewish thought.

This article was published as part of a special issue of the Journal of Jewish Thought and Philosophy, "Ancients and …

For You Are All One In Christ (Gal 3:28): The Role Of Women In The Pauline Churches, Sarah Casey

Honors Projects

This paper seeks to demonstrate the fundamental importance of women in Paul's ministry. Contrary to many modern interpreters, I suggest that Paul had an inclusive attitude toward women–an attitude that was rather extraordinary for his times. Paul's inclusive attitude was however not maintained in the later Christian churches. I suggest that this loss of inclusivity has led people to read Paul incorrectly, through the lens of the Deutero-Pauline literature and the later church, rather than letting Paul's letters stand on their own. Through a literary-historical analysis of the authentic Pauline letters I will try to show the various and substantial …

Nearer Neighbors: Unitarian Universalism, Liberal Protestantism, And Eclectic Faith-Assembly, Garrett M. Rapp

Honors Projects

Unitarian Universalism (UUism), the product of unification between the sects of Unitarianism and Universalism in the 1960s, owes much to its nineteenth-century provenance among various increasingly liberal groups of Protestantism. In my paper I describe Unitarianism’s differences and similarities with nineteenth-century Protestantism by means of the common trends and developments of secularization. I will argue that the mode of eclecticism that modern UUism employs to differentiate itself from its liberal Protestant progenitors preserves Christian preconceptions of the nature of fulfillment and religious truth. Additionally, I will discuss some of the assumptions inherent in UU’s eclectic process of faith-construction, and argue …

Nearer Neighbors: Unitarian Universalism, Liberal Protestantism, And Eclectic Faith-Assembly, Garrett Rapp, Robert Erlewine, Faculty Advisor

John Wesley Powell Student Research Conference

No abstract provided.

Chapel Hour: “Multi-Faith Service Of Gratitude”, Jessica Hinterlong ’11

News and Events

No abstract provided.

Student Religious Organizations To Lead Chapel Hour, Kasey Evans ’12

News and Events

No abstract provided.

Chapel Hour: “Love: Through It All”, Jessica Hinterlong

News and Events

No abstract provided.

Chapel Hour To Hold Welcome Service, Katie Webb ’13

News and Events

No abstract provided.

“A Place Of Paramount Peace”: The Unofficial Nationalism Of An Officially Peaceful Movement, Kari Irwin

Honors Projects

In this paper, I argue that despite the Sanstha’s official message of peace, ecumenism and tolerance, the group’s rhetoric and activities reveal an unofficial side of the Sanstha that may foster intolerance, fundamentalism, and, possibly, a Hindu nationalist agenda. This connection is not to be found at an official, or even public, level. In order to accurately assess the movement’s role as a transnational Gujarati Hindu movement, we must reach a middle ground between the currently polarized scholarship, and critically, but empathetically, examine the Sanstha’s objectives as a global movement.

Chapel Hour To Feature Passion Story, Heather Lindquist ’09

News and Events

No abstract provided.

Chapel Hour To Celebrate April Fool’S Day, Heather Lindquist ’09

News and Events

No abstract provided.

Chapel Hour To Hold March Diversity Forum, Heather Lindquist '09

News and Events

No abstract provided.

Chapel Hour To Celebrate Purim, Heather Lindquist ’09

News and Events

No abstract provided.

Chapel Hour Explores “Counting The Costs”, Heather Lindquist ’09

News and Events

No abstract provided.