McMaster Religious Studies

Check out Dr. Shayne Clarke’s recent essay “A Preliminary Survey of Viśākha(deva)’s Bhikṣuvinayakārikākusumasraj,” published in Minding the Buddha’s Business: Essays in Honor of Gregory Schopen (Wisdom Publications, 2025).

wisdomexperience.org/product/mind...

In 2025, Dr. Ellen Amster was appointed the McMaster University Global Ambassador to Morocco on a mission organized by the Canadian embassy to Morocco. This meeting connected Canadian universities with over 35 Moroccan universities.

Read more here:
healthsci.mcmaster.ca/mcmaster-glo...

Check out Dr. John Martens (McMaster PhD 1992) article, "Was There Universal Education of Girls and Boys in the Qumran Communities?" in the most recent issue of Dead Sea Discoveries!

brill.com/view/journal...

Recently, Dr. James Benn published an essay entitled “The Inner World of a Self-immolator?,” in Inner Worlds: Individuals and Interiority in Chinese Religious Life (De Gruyter Brill). Check it out here:

brill.com/edcollbook/t...

Check out Dr. Katharine Fitzgerald’s (McMaster PhD 2023) recent article, “Threatened bodies: Gender and trauma in the narratives of Judith and Susanna,” in the Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha!

journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...

Recently, Dr. Liyakat Takim published an essay on Muḥammad Muḥsin Fayḍ Kāshānī in *Qurʾānic Hermeneutics from the 13th to the 19th Century* (De Gruyter, 2025).

www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi...

Today, Greek and Roman Studies hosts a lecture by Dr. Hanna Tervanotko (Department of Religious Studies), “Dice, Stars, and Names: Divinatory Techniques in Jewish Texts of the Greco-Roman Era.” There will be a reception at 4pm and then the lecture at 4:30 in the Great Hall in Alumni Memorial Hall.

Dr. Matthew Thiessen recently published an essay entitled “Paul among the Sons of God" in *Paul within Paganism* (eds. Paula Fredriksen, Alexi Chantziantoniou, and Stephen Young; Minneapolis: Fortress, 2025).

www.fortresspress.com/store/produc...

McMaster grad Dr. Jordan Ryan (PhD 2016) talked with fellow McMaster grad Dr. John Martens (PhD 1992) on the What Matters Most Podcast about his commentary on Acts for the New Testament in Color, and so much more.

Links below:
open.spotify.com/show/3R2CTf0...
podcasts.apple.com/.../what-mat...

Today, at 11am! Come join us to hear from McMaster Faculty of Social Sciences alum, Gurratan Singh (former MPP of Brampton East), who will speak about the value of social sciences and the humanities for a life of public service and leadership.

A formal invitation with full program details will be sent in February. Information will also be available on our website.

We are planning an afternoon event that will include opportunities for food, drink, and conversation, as well as a chance to explore the current research of the department’s graduate students and faculty, and participate in academic discussion. The celebration will culminate with a dinner.

McMaster University's Graduate Program in Religious Studies will celebrate its 60th anniversary on Saturday, May 23, 2026. All former and current graduate students, faculty, and staff are invited to attend, so please mark your calendars for this special occasion.

Recently, Dr. Hanna Tervanotko co-edited with Dr. Elisa Uusimäki a special issue of Dead Sea Discoveries entitled *Intersectional Investigations into the Complexity of Social Life in Early Judaism*. Check it out here:

brill.com/view/journal...

Congratulations to Dr. Shayne Clarke on the recent publication of *Minding the Buddha’s Business: Essays in Honor of Gregory Schopen*, coedited with Daniel Boucher (Wisdom Publications, 2025)!

wisdomexperience.org/product/mind...

Congratulations to Dr. Ellen Amster, whose book, Medicine and the Saints: Science, Islam, and the Colonial Encounter in Morocco 1877-1956, was recently translated and published in Arabic!

utpress.utexas.edu/9780292762114/

Congratulations to Dr. James Benn (@jamesabenn.bsky.social) on the recent publication of *Inner Worlds: Individuals and Interiority in Chinese Religious Life* (Brill, 2025), co-edited with Benjamin Brose.

@degruyterbrill.bsky.social

brill.com/edcollbook/t...

Save the date!

Next Monday, the Department of Religious Studies will host former MPP of Brampton East, Gurratan Singh, for a discussion of the value of the social sciences and the humanities for a life of public service.

@mcmasteruniversity.bsky.social

Save the Date: Tuesday, January 27th, 2pm EST

Prof. Adele Reinhartz (McMaster PhD, 1983), "Chanele's Diary: Tracing the Lives of Two Teenagers in - and after - the Lodz Ghetto."

@uottawa.ca @britedivinity.bsky.social

Messianic Imagination- Wipf and Stock Publishers Messianic Imagination: Politics, Theology, and Literature explores the intersections of political theology, apocalyptic vision, and literary engagement. Insp...

Dr. Travis Kroeker retired in 2025. In his almost 40 years in the Department, he supervised over 20 MA theses and 20 PhD dissertations.

Recently, his former students edited a volume in his honour: *Messianic Imagination: Politics, Theology, and Literature.*

wipfandstock.com/978166676132...

Dr. Liyakat Takim recently published an essay entitled “An Analysis and Comparison of Shi’i Akhbari Exegesis in the Medieval Period,” in *I of the Heart: Texts and Studies in Honor of Seyyed Hossein Nasr.* @degruyterbrill.bsky.social