Stfx Religious Studies

09/02/2026

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Congrats to Dr. Sara Parks, whose new article, "L'effet Brooten: Sortir les Femmes des Marges Conceptuelles" came out this summer in the French-language journal Foi et Vie, in a special themed issue on "Les femmes dans le judaïsme".

The article shows how gendered stereotypes have often caused interpreters of ancient inscriptions, archeology, and documents to dismiss very clear evidence of women, sometimes coming up with hilarious excuses as to why the women should be ignored (they're the result of spelling errors, they're men with women's names, the author was just being polite, etc.) Sara named this common problem "The Brooten Phenomenon" after the way it happens to Professor Bernadette Brooten's clear inscriptional evidence for women leaders of ancient synagogues.

The journal issue is online here: https://www.foi-et-vie.fr/archive/review.php?code=2025_04
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StFX University Stfx Faculty of Arts Communications Sara Parks PhD

09/01/2026

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Congratulations are in order for StFX University Religious Studies prof Dr. Gerjan Altenburg, who presented new research this spring in Toronto.

He shared "Buddhist Monasticism, Law, and Society in Canada's Maritime Provinces" at the Fourth International Conference on Buddhism and Law, York University, April 17-19 2026.
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Stfx Faculty of Arts Communications

09/01/2026

Religious Studies has room for you! Check out our fall courses!

08/31/2026

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Congratulations to StFX University Religious Studies department chair, Dr. Ken M. Penner, on his brand new publication on the Bible and AI:

Ken Penner, "1 Kings 3:1-15 - The Listening Heart: Discernment in the Age of Intelligent Tools," in Douglas Estes and Marcus Schwarting, eds., "40 Bible Passages About AI: Scripture for an Age of Intelligent Machines" (Friendship Press, 2026).

https://www.friendshippress.org/products/40-bible-passages-about-ai-nbsp?variant=51270057492768
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Faculty of Arts Communications

08/29/2026

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Huge congratulations to Dr. Linda Darwish, whose SSHRC-funded manuscript has just been submitted. The book, "Meaningful Journeys: Stories of Forced Migration from Muslim-Majority Countries to Canada" is co-authored with Linda's former PhD supervisor at Concordia, Dr. Lynda Clarke. A five-year SSRHC Insight Grant supported interviews, translation, compiling, and analysis across many personal narratives of forced migration from Afghanistan, Bosnia, Iraq, and Syria to Canada. Look for this insightful book when it comes out with McGill-Queens University Press, in their Refugee and Forced Migration Studies series:

https://www.mqup.ca/Series/M/McGill-Queen-s-Refugee-and-Forced-Migration-Studies
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StFX University Stfx Faculty of Arts Communications

08/28/2026

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Three cheers for our newest Religious Studies colleague, Dr. Rebekka King, whose book "The New Heretics: Skepticism, Secularism, and Progressive Christianity" (NYU Press 2023) was just awarded a Book Prize from the Canadian Society for the Study of Religions. (This is actually the 2024 Book Prize, but it was just announced this summer.)

Drawing on three years of ethnographic fieldwork in North America, Dr. King's book focuses on testimonies of deconversion, collective reading practices, and the ways that religious beliefs and practices are adapted to fit secular lives. She introduces the concept of “lived secularity” as a category for examining religiosity that is entangled with and subsumed by secular identities. This theoretical framework provides insight into emerging groups such as “the nones,” atheism, and multi-religious identities.

Praise for this book:
"An extraordinary work: engaging and insightful from cover to cover. King’s organizing concept of lived secularity makes an innovative contribution that scholars across disciplines will find useful. ~James Bielo, Miami University
"King deftly brings to life her concept of ‘lived secularity’ through vivid testimony and engaging scholarship. . . . The New Heretics furthers our understanding of contemporary Christianity." ~Ryan Cragun, University of Tampa
"An eye-opening resource for religious studies, secular studies, theology, and sociology." ~J. R. Shook, Bowie State University
"The New Heretics is insightful, cogent, and generous." ~Journal of the American Academy of Religion
"This is a nuanced portrait of an ongoing reconfiguration of Christian faith in late modernity. It will be of particular use to those interested in questions of secularization, lived religion, and lived secularity." ~Reading Religion

Link to the book: https://www.indigo.ca/products/the-new-heretics?variant=46248882274514
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StFX University Stfx Faculty of Arts Communications St.FX Sociology Society

08/27/2026

Join our Gatto Chair in Christian Studies, Dr Matthew Anderson today by Zoom as he talks about the deck of "Pilgrim Cards" he is developing based on his pilgrimage studies (and long-distance walking) experience. The cards help groups and individuals self-reflect and better understand others before a pilgrimage ... or a shared decision. Learn more at the online session (see link in post).

StFX students, Matthew is also teaching RELD 397 Pilgrimage one time only this term! (Spots still available)

Sacred Journeys Network members, this talk is not to be missed!
Hear Prof. Matthew R. Anderson of St Francis Xavier University, Canada, speak this Thursday August 27, 2026 12pm (Eastern US Time) on ‘The 13 Pilgrims Card Deck.’
Here is the Zoom link: https://concordia-ca.zoom.us/j/81918173924?pwd=63Q3D0ghau382b3NefLtbnypJEaAKJ.1

08/27/2026

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Hooray for Dr. Matthew Anderson, whose award-winning book "Someone Else's Saint: How a Scottish Pilgrimage led to Nova Scotia" was featured this summer in Quebec City in a triple-book discussion panel, during the 13th annual Sacred Journeys Conference for Pilgrimage Studies. Fellow honorees were Dr. Ken Wilson with "Walking the Bypass" and Dr. Alison Smith with "Women and Pilgrimage."

More about Dr. Anderson's Book:
https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/audio/9.6829991
https://nimbus.ca/store/someone-elses-saint.html
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StFX University Stfx Faculty of Arts Communications Pottersfield Press

08/26/2026

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Major congrats to Dr. Sara Parks, who officially became a tenured Associate Professor as of July 1st!

Sara's recent book projects include her monograph "Gender in the Rhetoric of Jesus" and her award-winning textbook "Jewish and Christian Women in the Ancient Mediterranean" co-authored with Shayna Sheinfeld and Meredith Warren. She has also contributed chapters to the collaborative volumes "Judeophobia and the New Testament," "Gender in Second Temple Judaism," "Constructions of Gender in Religious Traditions of Late Antiquity," and "From Difference to Deviance: Rivalry and Enmity in Earliest Christianity," as well as to Oxford Handbooks on Apocrypha & Pseudepigrapha, Historical Jesus Research, and The Q Sayings Source. Sara teaches classes on New Testament, Early Christian Women, apocalyptic literature, Greek and Roman Mythology, and more.
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StFX University Stfx Faculty of Arts Communications

08/25/2026

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Hearty applause for chair of the Religious Studies department, Dr. Ken Penner, who has received a SSHRC Insight Development Grant of $33,938 in funding for his project, “Methodological validation of generative AI in scholarly editing.”

Read more about this and other exsiting StFX Insight Development projects here: https://www.stfx.ca/news/SSHRC-Insight

Relatedly, Dr. Penner is looking to hire a graduate student research assistant: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/kenmpenner_this-is-advance-notice-of-an-opening-for-activity-7470446506823581696-0B7C
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StFX University Stfx Faculty of Arts Communications