Penn Religious Studies

Free registration is required for the Boardman. Please use this link to register:

upenn.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...

PSCO Event https://rels.sas.upenn.edu/events/2026/03/05/psco-event

https://rels.sas.upenn.edu/events/2026/03/27/praise-impractical-innovative-pedagogy-and-future-humanities

https://rels.sas.upenn.edu/events/2026/03/19/book-launch-prof-steve-weitzmans-disasters-biblical-proportions

Upcoming RELS events!

3/5: Philadelphia Seminar on Christian Origins

3/19: Book Launch for Prof. Steve Weitzman's "Disasters of Biblical Proportions" (RELS Colloquium/PSCO/Jewish Studies)

3/27: In Praise of the Impractical: Innovative Pedagogy and the Future of the Humanities (Boardman symposium)

You can read more about Claire's work on dreaming in contemporary Theravada Buddhism here!

rels.sas.upenn.edu/people/clair...

Claire Elliot

Congratulations to RELS PhD candidate Claire Elliot, who has been named as one of this year's Dean's Scholars at Penn! This is one of the highest honors conferred on graduate students in the School of Arts and Sciences @sas.upenn.edu

Congratulations, Claire!

rels.sas.upenn.edu/news/2026/03...

Happening today!

RELS PhD candidate Hector Jaevonny Kilgoe successfully defended his dissertation "We Will Stay: Reflexivity and the Discourse on Black Emigration and African Missions at the Congresses on Africa" this week!

Congratulations, Dr. Kilgoe!

rels.sas.upenn.edu/news/2026/02...

Distinguished Alumna Colloquium Yogis and Magic: Swami Viśuddānanda’s “Science of the Sun” Loriliai Biernacki (University of Colorado Boulder) Feb 26, 2026 at 3:30pm - 5:00pm | Cohen 204 An early 20th century yogi, Swami Viśuddhānanda stunned his followers with wild yogic magic, materializing tangerines inside Bengali pastries when there were none at hand, as the guru Yogānanda tells us in his famous Autobiography of a Yogi. Viśuddhānanda himself explains these impossible feats not as yoga, but rather as a “science of the Sun.” What is so interesting about Gopinath Kaviraj’s depiction of his guru Viśuddhānananda’s impossible feat, affecting material realities beyond the yogi’s own body, is that his model essentially rewrites the relation between mind and matter through relying on a linguistic frame. Loriliai Biernacki teaches at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Her research interests include medieval Sanskrit texts, the subtle body, Indian philosophy, New Materialism, gender, and the interface between religion and science. Her book The Matter of Wonder: Abhinavagupta’s Panentheism and New Materialism (Oxford 2023) won the American Academy of Religion 2024 Book Prize.

Distinguished Alumna Colloquium

Yogis and Magic: Swami Viśuddānanda’s “Science of the Sun”
Loriliai Biernacki (University of Colorado Boulder)

Feb 26, 2026 at 3:30pm - 5:00pm | Cohen 204

RELS alumnus Dr. Abdul Manan Bhat ('25) has received honorable mention for the 2025 S. S. Pirzada Dissertation Prize for his dissertation Postures of Tradition: Poems, Performance, and Islamic Adab in the Twentieth Century.

Congratulations, Dr. Bhat!

southasia.berkeley.edu/initiatives/...

This looks great but immediately what jumped into my head:

Baby, don't hurt me
Don't hurt me no more

Congratulations to RELS PhD student Sana Rizvi, who will be exhibiting her photography at an event in Karachi opening this weekend! More details here:

rels.sas.upenn.edu/news/2026/02...

Happening today! Come join us and let's talk about love!

Promotional poster: What Is Love?

Please note that there is no RELS colloquium this week and next week's colloquium event (with Dr. Mendel Kranz) has been POSTPONED.

All are welcome to join us for a Valentine's Day-themed event on Thursday, Feb. 12, 3:30-4:30, Cohen 402! Come hear four Religious Studies faculty talking about love!

Flyer for a postponed event with Paulina Kolata.

POSTPONED: Unfortunately, we have had to postpone our colloquium event with Paulina Kolata this week. Please watch this space for a revised date for this event when we have it.

Welcome back to campus to all of our students and faculty. Hope everyone enjoyed a good first day of classes and start of the spring semester! @upenn.edu @sas.upenn.edu

April 2: Steven Northrop Dunning Memorial Colloquium with Prof. Dan Vaca (Brown)

A complete list can be found at this link!

rels.sas.upenn.edu/events

March 26–28: In Praise of the Impractical: Innovative Pedagogy and the Future of the Humanities, 2025–2026 Boardman Symposium

rels.sas.upenn.edu/events/2026/...

Flyer: Loriliai Biernacki event

Feb. 26: Distinguished Alumna Colloquium with Prof. Loriliai Biernacki (Colorado)

Flyer: Undergrad open house

We have a number of very exciting events taking place throughout the semester, including:

Jan. 15: Undergraduate Open House

Flyer: Paula Kolata event at Penn

Our RELS colloquium series for spring semester begins next week with Prof. Paulina Kolata (Harvard) @paulakolata.bsky.social, who will be giving the E. Dale Saunders Buddhist Studies Lecture on "The Trouble with Buddhist Gifts: The Ethics of Ritual Care in Contemporary Japan"!

Happening tomorrow!

Attendees are welcome to download and read Prof. Farmer's open-access book, The Sound of Mormonism: A Media History of Latter-Day Saints.

digitalcommons.usu.edu/arrington_le...

Attendees are welcome to download and read Prof. Farmer's open-access book, The Sound of Mormonism: A Media History of Latter-Day Saints.

Our final colloquium of the calendar year, happening this Thursday!
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The Sound of Mormonism

Jared Farmer (University of Pennsylvania History Department)

Dec 4, 2025 at 3:30pm - 5:00pm | Cohen 204

Buddhism Behind Bars Kirby Sokolow, a seventh-year PhD candidate in the Religious Studies Department, wants to challenge stereotypes around incarceration and religion.

RELS PhD candidate Kirby Sokolow has been profiled in the latest issue of Penn’s Omnia magazine!

You can read the full interview with her about her research into Buddhism and prisons here:

omnia.sas.upenn.edu/story/prison...

Congratulations, Kirby!

Happening tomorrow!

Our next Religious Studies colloquium event!
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Moving Up the Cosmic Pole: Strategies for Legitimating Religious Authority in Buddhist Texts
RELS Colloquium
Ralph Craig (Whitman)
Nov 13, 2025 at 3:30pm - 5:00pm | Cohen 204

A reminder that there is no RELS colloquium this week!

Our next colloquium event will be held on Thursday, Nov. 13. We’ll be hosting Prof. Ralph Craig (Whitman) who will be giving a talk titled Moving Up the Cosmic Pole: Strategies for Legitimating Religious Authority in Buddhist Texts.

Bryn Athyn

Bryn Athyn

Bryn Athyn

Bryn Athyn

Prof. Justin McDaniel led a group of graduate and undergraduate students on a trip to Bryn Athyn Cathedral and Glencairn Mansion in the Philadelphia suburbs this past weekend!

Students took a tour of the mansion and the cathedral and listened to a lecture on the history of the Swedenborgians.

A reminder that we have no colloquium event this week! However, our affiliated program, the Philadelphia Seminar on Christian Origins, is holding a book event on Zoom with Prof. Ellen Muehlberger (Michigan) from 6:30–8:00 pm on Thursday, Oct. 30.

Details here:

rels.sas.upenn.edu/events/2025/...

YouTube video by Penn Religious Studies 2025 Information Session for Penn RELS Doctoral Program Applicants

Did you miss our information session for prospective doctoral students with graduate chair Prof. Schaefer and graduate coordinator Katelyn Stoler on Oct. 13? Check out the recording here!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4U6...

Happening today! Please consider attending if you're thinking about applying for our doctoral program.