Richard Newton

May be over the hump on one of my book projects. We’ll see. It’s too early to call. #amwriting

Strategies to strengthen the academic study of religion Strategy group meeting and REL Toolbox to help departments remain strong in a challenging time

@seedpods.bsky.social is now steering the RELtoolbox and has linked it to something new he’s cooking up and he needs your help.

religion.ua.edu/blog/2025/10...

ListServ, Who Knew? Off-Script Newsletter I had no idea ListServ could produce HTML newsletters. Who knew? If you haven't signed up for the Off-Script Newsletter, drop your email in the form below so you can stay up on all the news happening in the critical comparative study of scriptures.

ListServ, Who Knew?

Off-Script Newsletter I had no idea ListServ could produce HTML newsletters. Who knew? If you haven't signed up for the Off-Script Newsletter, drop your email in the form below so you can stay up on all the news happening in the critical comparative study of scriptures.

Well said! I think there’s a lot of crosstalk in this AI moment about what we (students, teachers, admins) think is going on in the classroom.

Teaching Lessons from the Mat I have never had the type of hobbies that are shared by the masses. I have played golf once. I've never been confident enought to play pickup basketball. (I'm not whether the flesh is willing and the sprit is weak or the other way around.) I played one disastrous season of league softball, but that's a story for another time. 😉 …

Teaching Lessons from the Mat

I have never had the type of hobbies that are shared by the masses. I have played golf once. I've never been confident enought to play pickup basketball. (I'm not whether the flesh is willing and the sprit is weak or the other way around.) I played one disastrous…

Off-Script Off-Script is a monthly Zoom conversation for graduate students and scholars interested in the critical comparative study of scriptures. Think of it as a get-together for our subfield to conne…

Dr. Rachel Schwaller (@universityofkansas) will kickoff our first Off-Script of Fall 2025! Get ready to learn about her new project, “(Un)scripted (Un)settlement: Mapping the Language of Homeless Encampment in Lawrence, KS.”Fri. 9/12, Noon-1pm Central. Register at sowingtheseed.org/off-script

Off-Script is Back, Jack! Throughout 2025, we hosted Off-Script, a monthly conversation on scriptures, scholarship, and our subfield. Sponsored by the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Alabama, the Institute for Signifying Scriptures, and the Society for Comparative Research on Iconic and Performative Texts, these Zoom discussions have been a great place to both develop and showcase a critical comparative approach to the study of scriptures.

Off-Script: Conversations on Scriptures, Scholarship, and Our Subfield is back this Fall! Our first gathering will be with Dr. Rachel Schwaller (University of Kansas) on Sept 12.

6 Little Ways I Fought Back Against Our Technological Present I’m not anti-tech. I’m just wantonly old school.

6 Little Ways I Fought Back Against Our Technological Present

Scriptures Everywhere: Barracoon The Institute for Signifying Scriptures is launching a monthly, online seminar. The theme for this Fall 2025 is Memory and we'll be reading Zora Neale Hurston's Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo." The meetings will take place on the first Friday of each month at 10am Pacific. ISS asks that you register at signifiyingscriptures.org. While you're there, check out previous episodes of their podcast…

The Institute for Signifying Scriptures is launching a monthly, online seminar. The theme for this Fall 2025 is Memory and we'll be reading Zora Neale Hurston's Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo."

aarweb.org/news/the-rel...

Coming soon from @bloomsburybooksus.bsky.social

still got a few left. interested grad students & contingent folks, email me your mailing address and i’ll send you a free hard copy.

“Multiplicity and the Idea of Scripture.” Last semester at Off-Script, Dr. David Lambert shared how he was reconceptualizing his understanding of "scripture" in light of assemblage theory. Happy to share that you can find his thoughts on this in print!

Last semester at Off-Script, Dr. David Lambert shared how he was reconceptualizing his understanding of "scripture" in light of assemblage theory. Happy to share that you can find his thoughts on this in print!

Get Off My Lawn and Leave my Footnotes Alone! The story of my writing career in one scene. Please convert your footnotes to in-text citation? Fine, I'll make the switch. Can you meet me halfway with chapter endnotes? Book endnotes! Isn't that a lot of work for the reader, sifting back through the bibliography to find the endnote section? ...not if there isn't a bibliogrpahy. You gotta be kidding me.

Long live the footnote--and the index too!

Dramatizing Religion in Anastasia: The New Broadway Musical The medium isn’t the only the adapted in the film to musical prodcution of Anastasia.

The medium isn't the only thing adapted in the film to musical production of Anastasia. My latest on the blog.

sowingtheseed.org/2025/08/04/d...

Biz Markie, Sampling, and Signification Theory Judge Kevin Thomas Duffy declared, "Thou shalt not steal" in his 1991 decision in the civil case Grand Upright Music Limited v. Warner Brothers Record, Inc.. How does signification theory help to unde...

Glad to see this piece of student-scholarship on a key development in intellectual property law. Religion in Culture MA student Maggie Weatherwax uses signification theory to break it down. religion.ua.edu/blog/2025/06...

Criminally underrated: research databases that actually work with institutional logins and bring you directly back to the desired document.

Cover of An Introduction to the Sociology of Religion: Classical and Contemporary Perspectives by Inger Furseth and Pal Repstad. Second Edition. The cover image is a mosque and a church.

Prepping my new Sociology of Religion course and pleased to see @suzanneowenphd.bsky.social referenced!

What’s the word for refusing to do something because even though you might actually like doing the thing you hate bandwagons more? Um…asking for a friend.

1 Samuel 3 is about little children refusing to sleep at night and the parents who have given up. “I did not call for you!” is my new motto. #biblicalstudies #parenting

Has anyone seen studies on academic conference attendance over the past decade (esp. since 2019)? I'm especially interested in seeing trends religoius studies and the humanities. #highered #religiousstudies #humanities

Juneteenth Juneteenth is a time to gather as a family, reflect on the past and look to the future. Discover ways to celebrate this African American cultural tradition of music, food and freedom.

I'll add that in discussions of Black history, the idea that it is a national celebration rather than evidence of emancipation as a slow and uneven process is pretty recent. It's been really fascinating to see how Juneteenth has become a national event. nmaahc.si.edu/explore/mome...

A bar graph asking “What gives people feelings of power?” The answers are money, status, and fulfilling a social and behavioral credit with Sociology of Religion (REL108). The latter is by far the most popular answer.

I’m teaching a new class this semester: REL108 Sociology of Religion! #acrel #sociology #religiousstudies

First draft is done on an article that’s been germinating for some time. Time to take a break from Art. A and move to Art B. Then I’ll go back and do revisions Art A, then send it out for pre-review while I work on B and so on… #process #research #amwriting

OSU Wexner chief named University of Alabama president COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – The head of the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center is heading south for a new job – president of the University of Alabama. The University of Alabama’s board of tru…

The head of the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center is heading south for a new job – president of the University of Alabama.

The 2025 SBl Annual Meeting Preliminary Schedule is Now Available Online! www.sbl-site.org

This November I’ll be popping into the SBL Paul & Politics section to discuss my work on the Philemon commentary and notes for the @wjkbooks.com NRSV-UE Study Bible.

The Association of Religion Data Archives Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA) best reference source to find data, information, datasets on American & international religion, US Religion Census

Who is doing cool stuff with @ReligionData in the classroom? I'm looking for ideas. #humanities #sociology #acrel www.thearda.com

I’ve enjoyed learning from Prof. Oleg Kyselov about the study of religion in Ukraine. He has a great essay in the Bulletin for the Study of Religion on this topic. doi.org/10.1558/bsor...

Coming to terms with the realization that anyone inheriting my library will find no brilliant notes, just unintelligible scholarly scrawl. High fives to my people who write to remember and not to re-read.

CFPs: SCRIPT @ AAR and SBL 2025 Tis the season for Call for Papers, or as we sometimes call them, CFPs. I’ll sharing here some of the CFPs coming to my desk and why I think you might consider submitting a proposal. The first one up is for the Society of Comparative Research on Iconic and Performative Texts (aka SCRIPT) for panels at the annual meetings of the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) and the American Academy of Religion (AAR).

CFPs: SCRIPT @ AAR and SBL 2025

Tis the season for Call for Papers, or as we sometimes call them, CFPs. I’ll sharing here some of the CFPs coming to my desk and why I think you might consider submitting a proposal. The first one up is for the Society of Comparative Research on Iconic and…