Latest Department News
Dr Paul Joyce appointed to Samuel Davidson Chair
April 2012
The Department of Theology & Religious Studies at King's College London, is very pleased to announce the appointment of Dr Paul Joyce of Oxford University to the position of the Samuel Davidson Chair in Old Testament/Hebrew Bible at King's, with effect from September 2012.
Dr Joyce is an internationally acclaimed Old Testament/Hebrew Bible scholar, specializing in the book of Ezekiel and, more recently, the book of Lamentations.He is the author of several books, including Ezekiel: A Commentary (Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies, 482; New York: T&T Clark / Continuum), and many articles.
He brings to the post many years of teaching experience, an extensive experience of supervising DPhils and PhDs, and an exciting agenda for research and leadership in the subject area.
Upon being appointed to the post, Dr Joyce commented:
I am thrilled to be moving to a Chair that has been held by a sequence of distinguished scholars, several of whom have exercised a particular influence on my own work.. [a]nd excited by the opportunities involved in pursuing research and teaching in the heart of one of the world’s great cities.
Read more! Follow this link to read an interview with Dr Joyce in which he discusses his career to date, and reflects upon the continuing significance of the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament to society today.
The Body as Cultural Entity in Biblical, Christian and Jewish Texts
May 2012
On 2nd May, 2012, Biblical Studies and Jewish Studies co-hosted a study day on ‘The Body as Cultural Entity in Biblical, Christian and Jewish Texts’.
The speakers were drawn entirely from the King’s family, presenting the cutting-edge research work of staff Dr Sandra Jacobs, Dr Laliv Clenman (Leo Baeck College), Professor Joan Taylor and Rev. Rosie Ratcliffe as well as our promising band of current doctoral students: Ella Fitzsimmons, Michelle Fletcher, Davina Grojnowski, Rebecca Horrocks, Steffan Matthias and Katie Turner.
Speakers presented a wide range of explorations along the theme of the ‘body’, utilising theoretical frameworks of gender studies, feminist and queer theology, literary intervention strategies, as well as historical-critical methodologies, contextual studies and close exegesis of texts, to explore the often elusive and sometimes shocking associations of the body, religion and culture.
This study day links with current themes being explored elsewhere at King’s, including the seminar series: Sensible Flesh: Rethinking the Body in the 21st Century and an art exhibition ‘BETWEEN: Body and Identity’ at the new Somerset House East Wing exhibition space.
Great thanks are offered to all for their stimulating contributions, and for all those who attended for their insightful questions and careful listening.
We hope to offer another study on the same theme next year, drawing also largely on the expertise of staff and students at King’s, and look forward to sharing this with all our colleagues and friends inside and outside the university.
Professor Joan Taylor, Tuesday 8th May, 2012
What have we learned about Radicalisation?
February 2012
On Wednesday 07 March 2012, Dr Marat Shterin will speak as part of a panel debating Radicalisation at an event organised by the Religion and Society Programme, a £12m cluster of research projects funded by the AHRC/ESRC.
Since 9/11 and 7/7 billions have been invested in tackling and understanding religious radicalisation. This debate brings together academic and policy experts to consider what have we learned:
-
About its nature and causes?
-
About parallels and precedents?
-
About the effect of policies designed to tackle the problem?
-
About future threats and where we go from here?
You can find out how to register for this event, and preview Dr Shterin's presentation, by visiting the Religion & Society website.
Professor Gabriel Barkay speaks at King's
February 2012
On Thursday 16 February, Professor Gabriel Barkay (Professor of Biblical Archaeology at Bar-Ilan University and Jerusalem University College), came to King's for a public lecture co-sponsored by the Anglo-Israel Archaeological Society and the Department of Theology & Religious Studies.
The lecture, 'New Light on the Temple Mount, Jerusalem', reported on the very significant artefacts found in soil removed from the Haram esh-Sharif/Temple Mount in Jerusalem over the last six years. Tens of thousands of finds have been recovered, producing an original and important corpus of data which contributes much new evidence to the history of this important site in Jerusalem throughout all of its periods of occupation.
The lecture was appreciated by MA students of Bible and Archaeology, a module newly run this year by Dr Joan Taylor.
Further joint lectures relevant to the Bible and Archaeology are scheduled and information will follow soon.
Book launch: The Shi’a of Samarra: The Heritage & Politics of a Community in Iraq
Edited by Imranali Panjwani (I.B Tauris, 2012)
February 2012
On Wednesday 29 February a launch event will be held for Imranali Panjwani’s new edited book The Shi’a of Samarra: The Heritage & Politics of a Community in Iraq (I.B Tauris, 2012). The book synopsis is as follows:
On 22 February 2006, the main dome of the al-Askariyya shrine in Samarra was blown up. In the aftermath, sectarian strife between Shi'i and Sunni communities in Iraq and the wider region resonated around the world. The assault on Samarra, which was built in the period of the Abbasid caliphate in the ninth century CE, therefore came to represent for many a symbol of the destructive civil conflict which engulfed Iraq following the 2003 US-led invasion. 'The Shi'a of Samarra' explores and analyses the cultural, architectural and political heritage of the Shi'a in both Samarra and the Middle East, thus highlighting how this city functions as a microcosm for the contentious issues and debates which remain at the forefront of efforts to rebuild the modern Iraqi state. Its examination of the socio-political context of the Shi'a/Sunni divide provides important insights for students and researchers working on the history and politics of Iraq and the Middle East, the nature of Shi'i scholarship and religious practices as well as those interested in the art and architecture of the Islamic world.
Details of the launch, and a discount flyer for the book, can be found on the event page.
New podcast: Frustrations and challenges: Egypt a year on from the fall of Mubarak
February 2012
A year on from the fall of President Mubarak, Dr Charis Boutieri and Dr Ashraf Mishrif, from the Middle East & Mediterranean Studies programme, and Dr Ami Abou Bakr, from the Department of Political Economy, examine the apparent slow rate of political progress in Egypt and discuss the tests the country and its people will face as they make the transition towards democracy.
Download the podcast on iKings.
Religion, Extremism and Radicalisation in post-communist Russia
February 2012
Dr Marat Shterin has recently published an article for Radicalisation Research, a leading academic website funded by AHRC/ESRC that provides analytical material on the cutting edge research on radicalisation. The site aims to provide policymakers, journalists, and anyone whose work utilises concepts such as radicalisation, fundamentalism or extremism, with easy access to high-quality academic research on these controversial issues. By taking a non-partisan approach and providing access to the best, including the latest, research we hope to challenge ungrounded assumptions that may obscure a clear understanding of violent extremism.
Recent uses of the term ‘radicalisation’ can be misleading especially where they suggest a conveyor-belt process of radicalisation and often the focus on Islamic ideologies is problematic. High-quality comparative research helps to clarify and correct concepts used in these debates.
You can Dr Shterin’s paper online by visiting the Radicalisation Research website.
Podcast of Dr Carool Kersten at LSE
February 2012
The London School of Economics have released the podcast of Dr Carool Kersten's talk at LSE's Middle East Centre on 'Muslim Cosmopolitanism or Heresy? Lessons for the Aftermath of the 2011 Arab Spring' on 06 February 2012.
"In the course of the last decade, dramatic political events involving Muslims across the world have put Islam under increased scrutiny. The focus of this attention is generally limited to the political aspects and often even further confined by constrictive views of Islamism narrowed down to its most extremist exponents. Much less attention is paid to the parallel development of more liberal and progressive alternative Islamic discourses; but the final decades of the twentieth-century has also seen the emergence of a Muslim intelligentsia exploring new and creative ways of engaging with the Islamic heritage. Their ideas appear to provide an alternative to both the hard secularism represented by either authoritarian or more benign regimes and the advocacy of an Islamic state. It appears that this third way resonates with the ambitions and expectations of those involved in the Arab uprisings of 2011.
In this presentation Carool Kersten discusses how three emblematic Muslim intellectuals from Algeria, Egypt and Indonesia give new relevance to religion in the post-secular and post-Islamist Muslim world of the 21st century."
You can listen to this podcast if you visit the LSE website.
Carool Kersten at UKEC, plus lectures in February
February 2012
Dr Carool Kersten participated in the 'Islam in Malaysia' panel at the annual conference of the UK & Eire council of Malaysian Students (UKEC) here in London alongside high profile Malaysian public figures and politicians, including Zainah Anwar, founder of the Sisters in Islam, leading columnist Karim Raslan, Dzulkefly Ahmad, an MP for PAS, Malaysia's main Islamic Party.
Photographs from this event have been posted on the Department of Theology & Religious Studies' Facebook page.
On 06 February Dr Kersten will speak at LSE on 'Muslim Cosmopolitanism or Heresy? Lessons for the Aftermath of the 2011 Arab Spring'
Following this, on 29 February he will be at UCL's European Institute to take part in 'Trajectories of Dissent: Arab Spring and Europe 1989'
Charis Boutieri's work listed among the best doctoral theses in cultural anthropology in 2011
January 2012
Dr Charis Boutieri’s doctoral thesis was recently chosen by prominent anthropology Barbara Miller (from the The Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University) to appear among "Anthroworks best 40 dissertations in cultural anthropology 2011". Charis’ thesis was entitled: An Ambivalent Embrace: The Cultural Politics of Arabization and the Knowledge Economy in the Moroccan Public School:
This dissertation is based on fieldwork in urban Moroccan high schools. I explore the relationship between Arabization (post-Independence nationalizing agenda) and public education. I argue that tensions traversing the public school relate to Morocco’s ambivalent cultural politics in the postcolonial period and to the social fragmentation this cultural politics has encouraged. Through classroom observations, discussions with students, teachers and parents and curricula analysis, I trace the Arabized school’s ambiguous bilingualism between French and Arabic and narrate how school participants encounter their colonial heritage as re-articulated in the discourse of development. These dynamics reconfigure the school from a mechanism of social and symbolic engineering to a space where the cultural politics of Morocco is debated.
Congratulations Charis!
Cosmopolitans & Heretics nominated for Best First Book award
December 2011
Columbia University Press has nominated Dr Carool Kersten’s book Cosmopolitans and Heretics (released earlier this year) for the Best First Book in the History of Religions Award from the American Academy of Religion.
You can read more about the book on the publisher’s website.
Ben Quash on BBC Radio 3: ‘Tracing Beauty’
December 2011
Professor Ben Quash has recently finished writing and recording a 45-minute Sunday Feature for Radio 3, called 'Tracing Beauty', and to be broadcast at 7.45 pm on Sunday 08 January.
UPDATE 09/01/2012: You can now listen to this broadcast online via BBC iPlayer.
When Oscar Wilde and the aesthetic movement declared art to be immoral they undid the final stitches that bound beauty to her ancient sisters goodness and truth. Ben Quash argues that beauty has now become a concept in exile, one that we feel hesitant to use.
On one side, idealizing views have represented beauty as distant and inaccessible – a standard of perfection (whether formal or moral) that seems to have no place in our fragmented, relativistic world. On the other side, reductionist views have made beauty little more than a name for what gratifies our senses. There is nothing profound in it; it’s ephemeral.
Ben suggests that if we had a more confident sense that the world was a place made for us to be at home in, then we would have the confidence to use the language of beauty again. It names an experience of recognition and communion between us and our world. Without confidence in our place in the world, we cannot have confidence in the language of beauty.
Ben visits London Fashion Week, a National Trust garden, a medieval church on the Welsh Marches, and a gallery of contemporary art to trace where we still use the language of beauty – and how – and where we don’t – and why. On the way he meets the writer and curator Sir Roy Strong, Tim Marlow the Director of White Cube, the editor of British Vogue, the head gardener of Sissinghurst, a professor of neuroaesthetics, and the literary historian Alison Milbank.
Pop Goes the Bible - Dr Diana Lipton on BBC Radio 4
December 2011
Dr Diana Lipton, former staff member of the Department, contributed to BBC Radio 4’s programme ‘Pop Goes the Bible’, alongside Paul Gambaccini, picking out some of the 100's of pop songs that have been inspired by the Old and New Testaments.
[Diana Lipton] shows how many popular song treatments refresh the ancient stories by setting them in an entirely different and often contemporary context. She cites Bob Dylan's treatment of the story of Abraham and Isaac in 'Highway 61 Revisited', but also finds a connection in Tom Jones' hit 'Delilah'. Although the only Biblical connection is the name 'Delilah', the blind passion of both the character in the song and Samson provokes the same disastrous outcome.
You can listen to the programme on BBC iPlayer (available until 24/12/2011).
Marat Shterin quoted in The Guardian on the new KCL Russia Institute
November 2011
Dr Marat Shterin is extensively quoted in a recent article in The Guardian discussing the new King's College London Russia Institute, set to open in 2013 ("King's College London to establish dedicated Russia Institute in 2013" - 20 November 2011)
The Institute will aim to become the leading international centre for the study of contemporary Russia. The Institute will launch MA and PhD programmes designed to complement those of the existing Global Institutes at King’s, focusing on the nations that are emerging as the key cultural, economic and political powers of the twenty-first century.
To read more about the Russia Institute, visit the King's College London News pages.
Islam's Contribution to Human Rights
November 2011
Imranali Panjwani (GTA & PhD Candidate in the Department) will give a two-part lecture series on 'Islam's Contribution to Human Rights: The Treatise of Imam al-Sajjad 1/2' at University College London in November.
The talks will take place on Thursday 17 November 2011 and Thursday 24 November 2011 at 18.00.
The venue is:
Rockefeller 337 David Sacks,
Rockefeller Building,
21 University Street,
WC1E 6DE
Madawi Al Rasheed on the BBC World Service
November 2011
Professor Madawi Al-Rasheed recently appeared on the BBC World Service's Forum to discuss the virtues and flaws of democracy with Helena Kennedy and Ramachandra Guha (05 Nov 2011). Professor Al-Rasheed argues that the Middle East lacks democratic institutions rather than democratic values.
To listen to this podcast, visit the BBC website.
Clare Carlisle to speak on Kierkegaard at Conway Hall
November 2011
Dr Clare Carlisle will deliver a lecture exploring the contemporary relevance of Kierkegaard's ethics at Conway Hall, near Holborn, on Sunday 13 November 2011. The subject of the talk is described here:
"In his 1843 book Fear and Trembling, Søren Kierkegaard presents a provocative discussion of the biblical story of Abraham and Isaac. Some readers are shocked by Kierkegaard’s apparent approval of Abraham’s readiness to sacrifice his son at God’s command, especially as this suggests alarming parallels with the actions of religious terrorists. However, careful reading of Fear and Trembling shows that this response is too hasty.
This lecture will examine the important – but often overlooked – role of courage in Kierkegaard’s account of Abraham’s faith. Courage is one of the traditional ethical virtues, but for Kierkegaard a certain kind of courage has a special place in the Christian life. However, this virtue is not confined to a religious context. Fear and Trembling emphasises features of human existence that call for courage: finitude, vulnerability, uncertainty, and deep attachments to other mortal beings. For Kierkegaard, it takes courage to love another person, and this makes it a universal human virtue. In fact, living without God may require even more courage than living with belief in God. Furthermore, in our present age the fast pace of change and the dissolution of traditional shared values make courage more important than ever for those who want to hold on to the idea of an ethical life."
For further information, visit the venue website.
Carool Kersten in the New York Times & International Herald Tribune
October 2011
Dr Carool Kersten was interviewed and quoted by Robert F. Worth of the New York Times in a news analysis piece that appeared in the 29 October issue of the New York. Here is the relevant paragraph:
'The Arab intellectuals who didn't roar' (NYT, 29 October 2011) "in recent years their voices often went unheard, because their secular language had little resonance in societies where political Islamic was becoming a dominant force. nor did Islamic reformers fare much better when they tried to cast their political critique in religious terms. The Egyptian scholar Hassan Hanafi, for instrance, in the 1980s began calling for the creation of an "Islamic Left", a socialist ideology rooted in religion. He was branded a heretic and had to seek police protection after receiving death threats from jihadists. His work gained an audience in Indonesia, but not in his own country, said Carool Kersten, a lecturer at King's College London who has written on Islamic reformers"
The full article is available on The New York Times website, and appeared in the International Herald Tribune on 31 October 2011.
Dr Joan Taylor promotes her new edited book
October 2011
Dr Joan Taylor has been promoting the book she has co-edited and contributed to: KJV: Old Text - New Poetry (Wivenbooks, 2011) by giving poetry readings and talks.
Upcoming public events are at:
-
Spreading the Word - 1611-2011: 400 Years of the King James Bible, study day at the University of Essex, Saturday 29 October, Lecture Theatre Building, Colchester Campus;
-
KJV: Old Text - New Poetry, poetry at St. Mary’s Church, Shenfield, 16 November, 8 pm;
-
Celebrating Art and Religion, North East Essex Faiths Forum, Town Hall Colchester, 24 November, 8pm.
Podcast for Dr Carool Kersten’s new book
October 2011
Dr Carool Kersten has recently given an hour long podcast interview to discuss his new book Cosmopolitans & Heretics: New Muslim Intellectuals and the Study of Islam. You can listen to it on the New Books in Religion Website.
The book is published by Columbia University Press, 2011. For more information, you can visit the publisher’s page here.
Dr Kersten also recently gave a presentation on a new resources development project for teaching in contemporary Islamic thinking at the Islamic Studies Network workshop hosted by the AlWaleed bin Talal Centre for the Study of Islam in the Contemporary World, University of Edinburgh, on 21 October 2011. The project is executed under his direction with funding from the Higher Education Academy in the UK.
Professor Ben Quash on the BBC World Service
September 2011
Professor Quash was recently interviewed as part of a programme Iconic Geography on the BBC world service.
You can listen to the full programme online via the BBC website.
Dr Andrea Schatz becomes Reader in Jewish Studies
September 2011
In the latest round of Academic promotions, Dr Andrea Schatz has been promoted to Reader in Jewish Studies. This is a reflection of Andrea’s excellent work in building and promoting a strong research group for Jewish Studies in the Department.
Congratulations Andrea!
100% satisfaction with teaching in NSS 2011
August 2011
The Department was delighted to receive a positive rating in the 2011 National Student Survey. Professor Paul Janz, the Head of Department, made the following comment:
We are grateful to our 2010/1 finalists for completing the National Student Survey, the results of which were published this week. This year’s outcomes leave us both very pleased (up in every category over last year, with an overall student satisfaction rate of 86%) and eager to build further on these gains in response to student feedback and comments. We are especially delighted with the 100% satisfaction score for the teaching elements of the survey, which in this category places us at the very top end of the upper quartile for the TRS sector in the nation.
New research fellow appointed in Buddhist Studies
August 2011
The Department been successful to be awarded with the funding from a Thailand Foundation which will support us for three years on a half post in Buddhist Studies, and have appointed Dr. Andrew Skilton to the position.
This is the first time King’s has managed to attract funding from Thailand, and this funding allows the Department to include Buddhism in the study of world religions, an area which has become increasingly popular with King’s students.
In future years, we hope that Andrew will be involved in teaching undergraduate courses on Buddhist studies.
Welcome, Andrew!
Religion, State and Society - special issue guest-edited by Marat Shterin
July 2011
Dr. Marat Shterin has just finished guest-editing (with Dr. Barbara Spalek, University of Birmingham) a special issue of the Journal of Religion, State, and Society (No 39), which will appear in September 2011.
It is based on a series of workshops funded by the AHRC/ESRC and focuses on Muslim young people and the intersections between their biographies, faith and history in Britain and Russia. Without intending any direct and systematic comparison between the two countries, it offers a range of contributions based on primary research, which illustrate a variety of ways in which individual biographies, groups and social movements are shaped by ascribed or chosen identification with the Islamic tradition.
Addressing many issues that continue to generate much policy and research interest, the questions of radicalisation and extremism are examined too. However, this is done through complex, nuanced, and often challenging portrayals of the young people who happen or choose to be Muslims and their relationship with families, local communities, society and the global world.
This special edition brings together both established academics and young researchers who present new data and ideas in order to cast fresh ways of looking at Muslim young people’s lives within broader contexts of the profound social, economic, and cultural changes taking place in Britain and Russia. This special edition therefore links to many critical issues facing contemporary societies.
Madawi Al-Rasheed is the King's Media personality of the year
July 2011
Professor Madawi Al-Rasheed will receive the King's Award for Media personality of the year for 2011, following her frequent media appearances in the past few months. She will be presented with her award at a reception to take place in the Maughan library in September. Congratulations Madawi!
International Society for Biblical Literature event at King's College London - 04-07 July
June 2011
King's College London hosted the SBL's 2011 International Meeting. The International Meeting is held annually outside North America. It provides a unique forum for international scholars who are unable to attend the North American meeting of the SBL.
A number of members of the Department, including the Dean of the College The Revd Professor Richard Burridge, were involved in this major event.
> Download the programme highlights (pdf, 509kb)
Ben Quash at St Martin's-in-the-Fields, and on Radio 4
June 2011
Professor Ben Quash preached (live !) on Radio 4's Sunday Service on Sunday 3rd July from St Martin's-in-the-Fields. The event was timed to coincide with the opening of the National Gallery's major summer exhibition about altarpieces, called 'Devotion by Design'.
Award for Excellence in Teaching for Dr David Crankshaw
May 2011
It has just been announced that Dr David Crankshaw has won a King's College London Award for Excellence in Teaching for 2011. The Department is particularly delighted that our staff have secured an award of this kind for two years running: in 2010, Dr Diana Lipton was a recipient - a most unusual achievement! Congratulations David!
HERN prize for Dr Carool Kersten
Dr Carool Kersten has been awarded the runner-up prize for the 2011 Higher Education Research Network (HERN) Prize, to be presented on 21 June 2011 by Vice-Principal Eeva Leinonen at the 5th Annual Excellency in Teaching Conference.
Congratulations Carool!
Ben Quash to deliver keynote at Winchester conference
June 2011
Professor Ben Quash will speak at University of Winchester Centre for the Study of Theology & Religion's conference on The Bible: Culture, Community and Society, taking place in Winchester on 11-13 July 2011. For further details, see the conference homepage.
Marat Shterin on Radicalisation and Multiculturalism at the US National War College
May 2011
On 16 May, Dr Marat Shterin gave a seminar on Radicalisation and Multiculturalism in Britain and France for a delegation of the US National War College.
The College is a component of the National Defense University and its “mission is to educate future leaders of the Armed Forces, Department of State, and other civilian agencies for high-level policy, command, and staff responsibilities”.
The seminar involved a lively discussion of the concept and policies of multiculturalism and their impact on socialisation of younger people from ethnic minority backgrounds in Britain and France.
Christopher Hamilton to appear at HowTheLightGetsIn - 26 May - 05 June 2011
May 2011
HowTheLightGetsIn, the world’s first philosophy and music festival held annually in Hay-on-Wye, is back.
This year's festival will have over 350 events, plus a spectacular array of live performances, comedy nights and film screenings. Leading thinkers in every field will mix with cutting edge musicians to excite the imagination and renew the spirit.
The theme of this year's festival is New Gods: Icons and Ideas in a Changed World and in our powerful talks and fiery debates we'll be examining the big ideas that are set to shape the world in the coming years and decades.
From King’s College London’s Department of Theology & Religious Studies, Dr Christopher Hamilton will be joining the debates about the end of ideas, the post-nuclear family and the commodification of the body. For details of his contributions, please see the attached abstracts (pdf).
Other speakers this year include Leela Gandhi, Philip Pullman, Tim Crane, Bonnie Greer, Elleke Boehmer, Johann Hari, Vince Cable, Colin Blakemore, Camille O’Sullivan, Emilia Fox and many more. The full programme is online and available now at www.howthelightgetsin.org/tickets
Ben Quash on Clemency at the Royal Opera House
May 2011
Professor Ben Quash will be taking part in a post-performance panel discussion of the Opera Clemency on Wednesday 11 May 2011 at the Royal Opera House. The opera is based on the Genesis account of the visit of three angelic figures to Abraham and Sarah. Further information can be found by visiting the Royal Opera House website.
'Where is Philosophy of Religion going?'
May 2011
Three research students from the Department are participating in a conference at Trinity College Oxford on Thursday 12 May: 'Where is Philosophy of Religion Going?'
-
Chris Wojtulewicz - "Posing questions in the Philosophy of Religion: Eckhart and Derrida"
-
Imranali Panjwani - "Zayn al-Abidin's 'right's to one's self' - the relevance of the ...internal hum...an contract in the future of the philosophy of religion"
-
Jacob Phillips - will be responding to a paper by Anthony Paul Smith from Nottingham "The Deferred Questions of Religion and the Secular: A Response via François Laruelle's Non-Philosophy"
Dr Carool Kersten to visit Singapore & Indonesia
April 2011
Dr Carool Kersten will be travelling in Singapore and Indonesia between 04-20 May 2011, giving invited lectures for the Religion Cluster at the Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences, National University of Singapore, and at Universitas Gadjah Mada in Yogyakarta respectively.
Guardian University Guide 2011
The Guardian University Guide 2011 ranks the Theology & Religious Studies Department at King's in 4th place in the UK, after Oxford, Cambridge and St Andrews. We are especially pleased to report that we score exceptionally well for student satisfaction with the course and with teaching.
myScholarship awards for TRS students
We are delighted to announce that three of our students won a King's myScholarship award in 2010: Aliya Din, Hanna John, and Rebecca Knowles. The award recognises academic excellence and contributions to the student life of the department, School or the College.
Arts & Humanities Teaching Excellence and Graduate School Supervisory Awards for Professor Rory Miller and Dr Diana Lipton
The winners of the 2010 Teaching Excellence Awards and Graduate School Supervisory Awards at King's have been named. We are delighted to announce that Dr Diana Lipton, Lecturer in Biblical and Jewish Studies, is one of the five successful recipients of the award from across the School of Arts & Humanities, and that Rory Miller, Professor of Middle Eastern and Mediterranean Studies, has been awarded one of the College-wide Supervisory Excellence Awards.
British Academy award for 'Early "Christian" Epigraphy & Iconography'
The British Academy has awarded £119,968 to Professors Markus Vinzent(King's) and Allen Brent (Cambridge, research fellow of the project at King's) to investigate 'Early "Christian" Epigraphy and Iconography: A new approach to Doelger's classical project' over the next two years (2010-2012).
Centered on selected themes in early Christian life and thought the project will create a detailed commentary and analysis, including the literary development of early 'Christian' imageries. Inspired by Dölger's Ichthus, the project will regard seriously early Christian use of 'pagan' images and the process of the mutual transformation of both 'paganism' and 'Christianity' in the interactive dialogue between early Christianity and Graeco-Roman culture.
Strategic project partners include the following institutions in Rome: The British School at Rome, La Sapienza, Augustinianum and the Lateran University. The project will have an international advisory board.
As part of the project, there will be one part-time Research Assistantship and up to 6 subsidised PhD-scholarships available which will be advertised over the summer. The project will further enrich the Department's emphasis and expertise in Christian and non-Christian Art.
Leverhulme Trust award for Madawi Al-Rasheed
Professor Madawi Al-Rasheed has been awarded a Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship for her book project The Masculine State: gender, religion and politics in Saudi Arabia. In her research she adopts "an interdisciplinary approach to highlight the interconnection between important factors that impinged on women’s lives. It seems that an understanding of the continuous exclusion of women remains grounded in the combination of social tradition, religious interpretations, state policies and oil revenues."
Foundation grant for Jewish Studies
Thanks to the award of a generous three-year foundation grant, the Department of Theology & Religious Studies is able to create a centre of excellence in Jewish Studies, building on the existing strengths of its rich interdisciplinary Jewish Studies programme.
The project includes a systematic upgrade of teaching and research resources; the development of a new MA module using the unparalleled resources of the city of London; a series of public seminars; and three international workshops with invited participants addressing the theme of communication, community and the transmission of Jewish identities.