Student Conference Shaping Up!

This year’s Research in Religious Studies conference to be held here at the University of Lethbridge April 30 and May 1, is starting to look like it will be another success!

The conference is for undergraduate and MA students (or PhD candidates in the very early years of their programs) in any field of the academic study of religion.

The paper submissions are starting to come in, although we don’t really expect a lot until closer to the deadline. Still, we have already accepted contributions from St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia, John Carroll University in Ohio, and Trinity Western University in British Columbia, not to mention a number from Alberta and elsewhere!

The paper topics already span the iconography of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha,  a comparison of the mystical philosophies of Sankara and Ibn Arabi (and another paper on the latter), Kali, Kerouac’s Buddhism, and exogamous marriages in Ezra and Nehemiah.

Go here to submit your paper proposal. All we need is a title for the paper and a 200-300 abstract (summary) of the paper. You don’t need to submit the whole thing. For more information, including tips on presenting papers, writing abstracts, and the like, to to our conference blog: Research in Religious Studies.

Our keynote speaker for the banquet on Saturday May 1 is Marco Hilgersom from Lethbridge College, who is one of the most engaging and entertaining speakers we have heard. He formerly taught Buddhism and other courses here at the University of Lethbridge and will be talking about the  many religious studies students: what the heck good is religious studies anyway?

Religious Studies Rules!
Marko Hilgersom

Are you tired of responding to “What are you going to do with that?” or “Are you going to become a pastor?” when you tell people you are a Religious Studies Major? There is a simple reason for devoting your life to a religious studies ma-jor. Religious Studies Rules! Religious studies will not only make you a fantastic dinner guest and more attractive to the opposite sex but it provides the key to a successful life. Where else can you find such a varied approach to knowl-edge? Religious Studies is parts history, philosophy, anthro-pology, psychology, literature, sociology, and fine arts. It is truly the most liberal of the Liberal Arts and the most human of the Humanities. Religious studies majors of the world, unite! All you have to lose is your shame.