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Home » Academics » Majors, Minors & Programs » Religious Studies Department

Religious Studies Department

Lexi Levi and the Dalai Lama

We welcome students from all religious and theological, philosophical, and ideological persuasions. Our aim is to foster an environment where students feel free to deepen their understanding of their own traditions while engaging alternative perspectives that provide challenges and new insights. Along with various other course offerings, the Religious Studies Department has three fields of concentration: 1) Asian religions and cultures; 2) Bible and culture; and 3) Christian theology and history. These fields correspond with the current strengths and interests of the department.

religious-studies-video-thm

Why Choose Religious Studies?

 

Recent Austin College graduates Alexandria Levi and Kishan Kikkeri talk about their experience within the Religious Studies department where they learned how to understand the global flows of meaning and culture, and its application to their life after college.

Meet the Faculty

Ivette Vargas O'Bryan

Ivette Vargas-O'Bryan (department chair) focuses primarily on Indian religions and the Tibetan Buddhist traditions. Her current interests lie in the intersection between Asian religions and medicine.  Her main research projects in Tibetan communities include the role of spirit diseases in creating connections between Tibetan medical practice and religious traditions and secondly, the legacy of the Indian Buddhist nun Dge slong ma Dpal mo across Asia and the West. Her book, Disease, Religion and Healing in Asia: Collaborations and Collisions (Routledge 2018) is an edited volume including eminent scholars in the fields of religious studies; Buddhist, Indian and Tibetan Studies; anthropology; and medicine. She is currently completing a book, Falling to Pieces, Emerging Whole:  Suffering Illness and Healing Renunciation in the Dge slong ma Dpal mo Tradition, based on ethnographic and textual research concerning the biographies of an Indian Buddhist nun, renowned for her rituals of fasting and experiences with leprosy.  She is serving as President of the Southwest Commission on Religious Studies Asian and Co-Chair of the Comparative Religions Section of the American Academy of Religion. She is a recent recipient of the American Council of Learned Societies Project Development Grant (2020) for her book project. She has been a recipient of several prestigious grants and awards including a Fulbright Scholars Award (Hong Kong 2009-2010), Mellon Foundation grants, teaching awards, and others. Vargas-O’Bryan is actively delivering papers at regional, national, and international conferences.  Her publications deal with the following: the intersection between illness/medicine and religion, female disease deities and spirit diseases, Buddhist monasticism, and Asian religions pedagogy. Alongside these research interests, she also delivers public lectures on Asian themes, is highly active in creating opportunities for cross-cultural exchanges on campus, and organizes venues to increase awareness on mindfulness and Contemplative Studies in higher education. Vargas-O’Bryan is at home in McKinney with her family, in Tibet and Nepal, or some other mountainous, high altitude place.

 

Jeremy PosadasJeremy Posadas teaches and researches in the area of critical theological studies, which involves exploring the ultimate commitments and values people live by, but understanding them in relation to structures of social, political, and economic power, difference, and inequality. Originally trained in Christian ministry (and the study of its practices), Posadas now pursues a broader aim of challenging two assumptions that are often made about theology: (1) that theology is mostly about “beliefs,” and (2) that theology only exists in formal, official religions (e.g., Christianity, Islam). Instead, Posadas focuses on theology as a way of living life — how one conducts oneself and how one influences other people’s actions. And he looks for religious values and practices in both formally organized religions and in everyday practices that are usually not thought of in religious terms. For instance, does sex or dieting or playing sports or reality TV qualify as a religious experience, and if so, how (or if not, why not)? Posadas has expertise in feminist, anti-racist, queer, and post-structuralist theories, which he has drawn on for his presentations at the national annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion and previous publication. He will defend his dissertation, entitled “Transcarnation: The Body of Christ Worships in the Era of Biopower,” in Spring 2012. His future research will include interpreting the concept of “political spirituality” proposed by post-structuralist thinker Michel Foucault, as well as re-imagining Christology in light of Foucault’s analyses of power.

 

David SchonesDavid Schones, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Religious Studies

ACLS Project Development Grants Awarded

An AC alum and religion major and Religious Studies faculty member both received the American Council of Learned Societies Project Development Grant.

 

Emily ClarkEmily Clark  |  Abstract

Associate Professor, Religious Studies, Gonzaga University  -  Spiritual Matters: American Spiritualism and Material Culture

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Ivette Vargas-O'BryanIvette Vargas-O'Bryan  |  Abstract

Professor, Religious Studies, Austin College  -  Resisting Normativity: Overcoming Suffering and Building Traditions in the Gelongma Palmo-Avalokiteśvara Buddhist Legacy​

 

Devin Gonier

Devin Gonier ’09

Devin Gonier is the Chief Technology Officer at WageUp, a startup specializing in developing bespoke cutting-edge platforms that leverage machine learning tools to manage performance and gamify the everyday work experience. He is also completing his master’s degree at Columbia University in Machine Learning and has an undergraduate degree from Austin College in Philosophy and… [Read More]

Matt Crownover ’96

Awarded a prestigious scholarship by Perkins School of Theology, has been involved in justice ministries in Central America, worked with the homeless in New York City, and studied in Cuba. He now is a chaplain for Parkland Hospital in Dallas.

David Grant ’72

Professor in and chair of the Religion Department at Texas Christian University.

Nancy Duff ’73

Professor of Christian ethics at Princeton Theological Seminary.

Tim Kennedy

Tim Kennedy ’98

After graduating from AC in 1998, I moved to Washington, DC, and worked in the Federal Government for 13 years on Capitol Hill, at the White House, and at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. From 2011-14, I earned a Master of Divinity from Yale Divinity School as well as an Anglican Diploma and a… [Read More]

Ann Crews Melton ’03

Formerly an Interim Associate in the Office of Women’s Advocacy at the Presbyterian Church (USA), is now Development Associate at Temple Israel in Boston.

Anne Jernberg Scalfaro

Anne Jernberg Scalfaro ’03

Rev. Anne Jernberg Scalfaro ’03 received the Presidential Scholarship to attend Harvard Divinity School. She graduated in ‘06 and is now Senior Pastor at Calvary Baptist Church in Denver, Colorado. As Senior Pastor, Anne’s responsibilities include 1) Vision & Leadership, 2) Worship & Preaching, 3) Pastoral Care & Staff, and 4) Stewardship & Finance. That… [Read More]

Lydia-Bean

Lydia Bean ’02

Majors:  Spanish & Music Ph.D., Sociology, Harvard University Executive Director and Chief Strategy Officer at Faith in Texas Lydia is a Harvard-trained sociologist and author of The Politics of Evangelical Identity. As Executive Director and founder of Faith in Texas, she works to raise civic participation among low-income and moderate-income people of faith. Lydia writes… [Read More]

Program Details

  • Religious Studies Major Checklist
  • Religious Studies Minor Checklist
  • Religious Studies & Philosophy Major Checklist
  • See the Religious Studies Courses
  • See the Austin College Bulletin

Religious Studies

 

The Washington Post
Washington D.C.
October 27, 2017

Lydia Bean '02, executive director of Faith in Texas and author of "The Politics of Evangelic Identity," writes about how voters are learning to make their faith suit their partisanship.

Stephanie Waitt Lecture

Melanie Massie Lecture

John McGinn Lecture

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