2018 Seminar: Gender and Sexuality in the Study of Religion

The Jerald Brauer Seminar of Winter 2018 was taught by Professors Sarah E. Fredericks, Sarah Hammerschlag, Angie Heo. This team-taught, interdisciplinary graduate level course focused on gender and sexuality in the study of religion; providing theoretical concepts, tools and methods for students to analyze gender and sexuality across a variety of religious traditions, historical periods and literary genres. Divided into three parts - philosophy, anthropology and ethics, the course proceeded to the areas of specialty offered by participating faculty members. Topics covered included structuralist and poststructuralist approaches to sexual difference; political economy of sex; performativity theory; sexuality and postcolonial theory; law and secularism; and the relationship of gender and the environment. 

As a capstone to the course, a roundtable was held on Wednesday, March 7th, 2018 to focus on gender and sexuality in France. Invited speakers include Amy Hollywood, a leading gender theorist and a scholar of continental philosophy and medieval mysticism (Harvard); Mayanthi Fernando, an anthropologist of law and Islam (Santa Cruz); and Béatrice de Gasquet, a sociologist of contemporary Judaism (Paris Diderot). 

2015 Seminar: "Jewish and Christian Responses to Biblical Criticism"
Faculty: Jeffrey Stackert (Bible) and Paul Mendes-Flohr (History of Judaism)
Fellow: James L. Kugel (Harvard University; Bar Ilan University)

2014 Seminar:  "Intentionality and Belief"
Faculty: Daniel A. Arnold (Philosophy of Religions) and Ryan Coyne (Philosophy of Religions and Theology)

2013 Seminar: "Uncle Tom's Cabin: Lives and Afterlives"
Faculty: Catherine A. Brekus (History of Christianity and Religions in America) and Richard A. Rosengarten (Religion and Literature)
Fellow: David Reynolds (CUNY, Department of History)

2012 Seminar: "Translation"
Faculty: Wendy Doniger (History of Religions) and Jeffrey Stackert (Hebrew Bible)
Fellow: Stephen Mitchell

2011 Seminar: "The Case for Humanism" 
Faculty: Willemien Otten (Theology and the History of Christianity) and William Schweiker (Theological Ethics)

2008 Seminar: "The Buddha in Barcelona: Medieval Cosmopolitanism and the Transmission of Culture" 
Faculty: Matthew Kapstein (Philosophy of Religions and the History of Religions) and James T. Robinson (History of Judaism) 
Fellow: Charles Burnett (Warburg Institute, London)

2006 Seminar: "Religion and Violence in American Culture"
Faculty: W. Clark Gilpin and Martin E. Marty (History of Christianity)
Fellow: Harry Stout, Yale University)

2004 Seminar: "The Religious Quest for the Human: Jewish and Christian Reflections"
Faculty: Paul Mendes-Flohr (Modern Jewish Thought) and William Schweiker (Theological Ethics)

2003 Seminar: "The Western Legal Traditions and Religious Diversity"  
Faculty: Hans G. Kippenberg (History of Religions) and Winnifred Fallers Sullivan (Anthropology and Sociology of Religion) 
Fellow: Martha Minow (Harvard Law School)

2002 Seminar: "Biblical Theology"
Faculty: Tikva Frymer-Kensky (Hebrew Bible and the History of Judaism) and David Tracy (Theology and Philosophy of Religions)
Fellow: Stephen Geller (Jewish Theological Seminary, New York)

2001 Seminar: "Religion and Slavery: Theological and Historical Perspectives"
Faculty: Dwight N. Hopkins (Theology) and Catherine Brekus (History of Christianity)
Fellow: Willie Coleman (BT Forum)

2000 Seminar: "Sociology and the Study of Biblical Texts" 
Faculty: John J. Collins (Hebrew Bible) and Martin Riesebrodt (Sociology of Religion)
Fellow: Rainer Albertz (Theology, University of Münster).

1999 Seminar: "Strategies of Goodness: The New Testament and Ethics"
Faculty: William Schweiker (Theological Ethics) and Adela Yarbro Collins (New Testament)
Fellows: Wayne Meeks (New Testament, Yale University) and Lisa Cahill (Ethics, Boston College)

1998  Seminar: "Jewish and Christian Mysticism: Comparative Studies"
Faculty: Bernard McGinn (History of Christianity) and Michael Fishbane (History of Judaism)
Fellow: Louis Dupres (Philosophy, Yale University)

1997 Seminar: "Toward a Contemporary Jewish Theology"
Faculty: Michael Fishbane (History of Judaism) and Tikva Frymer-Kensky (Biblical Studies)
Fellow: A consultation of six international scholars

1996 Seminar: "Toward a History of Myth"
Faculty: Wendy Doniger (History of Religions) and Bruce Lincoln (History of Religions)
Fellow: Cristiano Grottanelli (History, University of Pisa)

1995 Seminar: "Religion and Families in America: Past and Present" 
Faculty: Don S. Browning (Ethics and the Social Sciences) and Martin E. Marty (History of Christianity)
Fellows: William Galston (Political Science, University of Maryland; Deputy Advisor on Domestic Policy, The White House) and John Witte (School of Law, Emory University)

1994 Seminar: "Experimental Lives in the American Renaissance" 
Faculty: David Tracy (Theology) and W. Clark Gilpin (History of Christianity) 
Fellow: David S. Reynolds (English and American Studies, City University of New York)

1993 Seminar: "Religion, Literature and Politics at Mid-Century" 
Faculty: Martin E. Marty (History of Christianity) and Mark L. Krupnick (Religion and Literature)
Fellow: David Hollinger (History, University of California at Berkeley)