William Arnal

William Arnal is a Professor at the Department of Religious Studies of the University of Regina, Canada. His early research was based on a thorough examination of the sociological conditions of the Q source and the discourses that stemmed from it in the 1st and 2nd centuries CE. His research has been focused on ancient […]

Daniel Boyarin

Professor Daniel Boyarin, Taubman Professor of Talmudic Culture and rhetoric, UC Berkeley ret. received his Ph.D. in 1975 from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. He has been an NEH Fellow (twice), a Guggenheim Fellow, a Fellow of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Jerusalem, a holder of the Berlin Prize at the American Academy […]

“A Jesus Before Paul?”

Kicking off our Season 11 Response essays, Robyn Faith Walsh builds on Willi Braun’s discussion of the emphasis on origins in New Testament studies to explore the strategic use and employment of Paul’s letters in the history of Christianity.

Comparing Methods in Christian Origins

The Cover art for Willi Braun's new book _Jesus and Addiction to Origins_

What happens when scholars take seriously the human-focused study of religious practices? In this episode, Willi Braun joins Andie Alexander to discuss the importance of critical approaches in the study of religion.

Master Archive

The Religious Studies Project Master Archive Below is the abstracted data from our episodes, presented text-only to be used in data-validation by our web team.  If images or audio players appear, it is because they are contained WITHIN an episode’s post content in WordPress. The goal of this item is to be able to make […]

Comparing Methods in Christian Origins [transcript]

Comparing Methods in Christian Origins Podcast with Willi Braun (19 April 2021). Interviewed by Andie Alexander Transcribed by Andie Alexander Audio and transcript available at: https://www.religiousstudiesproject.com/podcast/comparing-methods-in-christian-origins/ KEYWORDS Christian Origins, New Testament, Critical Theory, Social Formation, Identity Construction, Comparison, Authority, Categorization, Academic Study of Religion, Method and Theory Andie Alexander (AA)  00:00 Hello, I’m Andie Alexander […]

The (De-)Mystification of Christian Origins

In her response to our episode on Ancient Christian Origins with Bill Arnal, Michelle Sdao cites the risks of “methodolatry” and highlights emerging scholarship and methods on the edges of the disciplinary divides among religious studies, textual criticism, New Testament Studies and other allied fields.

Can We Resist “the Stance of the Faithful” in New Testament Studies?

The “easy decision” to decline the stance of the faithful when dealing with sacred texts means considerable challenges for the scholar of religion, argues Willi Braun in this response to our episode with Bill Arnal on “Ancient Christian Origins”

Encountering the Historical Jesus-People

“No matter where we do our reading, we bring ourselves to the task,” writes Dr. Allison L. Gray in this response to our interview with William Arnal on “Ancient Christian Origins”

Ancient Christian Origins: A Heterogeneous History

In this week’s episode, the RSP’s Sidney Castillo talks with Professor William Arnal about ancient Christian origins and the development of Christianity through New Testament sources such as the Gospel of Thomas and Q.

Ancient Christian Origins: A Heterogeneous History [transcript]

Ancient Christian Origins: A Heterogeneous History Podcast with William Arnal (19 October 2020). Interviewed by Sidney Castillo Transcribed by Andie Alexander Audio and transcript available at: https://www.religiousstudiesproject.com/podcast/ancient-christian-origins-a-heterogeneous-history/ KEYWORDS Early Christianity, New Testament, History, Identity, Origins, Historical Jesus, Q, Gospel of Thomas Sidney Castillo (SC)  0:03  And now, we’re back again it’s a Religious Studies Project […]

Painfully Stripped Away, Painfully Added

Adam Park’s response to episode 330 highlights boxing as a site for identity creation and the legacy of muscular Christianity as two important takeaways of our interview with Arlene Sanchez-Walsh.

Climates of Queer Concerns

What might a queer feminist engagement with Latour’s proposals look like?
It’s that hectic time of year for academics when papers and exams pile up and the end-of-year holidays loom large. In the midst of it all, I’ve been dividing my attention between the knowledge projects that interest me most: queer feminist theory, religious studies, and feminist science studies – particularly those engaged with the climate change and the politics of our new global epoch which some have christened the Anthropocene.

Michel Desjardins

Michel Desjardins (mdesjardins@wlu.ca) is Professor of Religion and Culture at Wilfrid Laurier University, in Waterloo, Canada. He is also currently serving as Associate Dean, Research and Curriculum, in the Faculty of Arts. He has taught and published in the areas of comparative religions, early Christianity, the academic study of religion, and the scholarship on teaching and […]

Religious Studies Opportunities Digest – 22 Feb 2013

The 2013 NAASR annual meeting, held jointly with the annual meetings of both the American Academy of Religion (AAR) and the Society for Biblical Literature (SBL), will take place inBaltimore from Nov. 22-24. The NAASR Program Committee accepts proposals for both individual papers and complete panels. We welcome proposals for rigorous, critical, theoretically sophisticated scholarship on any aspect of religion.