Newsletter
Church of St.Mary Zion with treasury of the Arc of the Covenant in the background, Axum, Ethiopia - photograph courtesy of
www.sacredsites.com and Martin Gray
Spring, 2005
Contents

James Carroll, Solomon-Tenenbaum Lecturer
1

South Asianist Returns Home by Tom Ellis
2

An Islamicist: al-Hamdu lillah! by David Vishanoff
3

College of Arts & Sciences
4

Bernadin Lecturer Presents "Centering Prayer"
5

Hall Lecture Examines "Gospels, Community,
and a Rule of Faith"
6

Shorts: Department News in Brief
7

Alumni News
11

Find Us On the Web by Mardi McCabe, Website Manager
12

Editor's Note
13

Photo Gallery: 2003-2004
14
1
Newsletter: Fall Lecture Series
James Carroll Offers Solomon-Tenenbaum
Lecture on Anti-Semitism
James Carroll, ex-priest, novelist, essayist, column-writer
for the Boston Globe since 1992, and author of
Constantine's Sword: The Church and the Jews (2001),
presented the Solomon-Tenenbaum Lecture on September
21 in the USC School of Law Auditorium.
James Carroll
Welcomed by President Sorensen and new Provost Mark
Becker, Carroll was introduced to a large audience by Carl
Evans, Chair of the Solomon-Tenenbaum Lectureship
Committee. Carroll spoke on "Anti-Semitism: The Old and
the New." He lectures widely on Jewish-Christian
reconciliation, on Catholic Church reform, and on the
question of war and peace.
Earlier in the Day, Carroll joined four other participants in a panel discussion of "The
Use and Misuse of Religion for Political Ends," moderated by Charles Bierbauer, Dean
of the USC College of Mass Communications and Information Studies. Panelists
included Bruce Lawrence, Marcus Humanities Professor of Religion at Duke; Kenneth
Wald, Director of the Center for Jewish Studies at the University of Florida; Ann Burlein,
Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at UNC-Charlotte; Joe Darby, Pastor of Morris
Brown AME Church in Charleston, SC; and Carroll.
2
Newsletter: South Asianist Returns Home
First and foremost, I must convey my excitement to be back at my
undergraduate Alma Mater. Though a bit strange to consider now
as colleagues my former professors, I am finding my return to
USC most enjoyable.
Upon graduating from this department in 1992, I enrolled in the
Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at the University
of Pennsylvania. Specializing in Sanskrit and Indian philosophy, I
completed a Master's research project on the Indian Buddhist
"doctrine of momentariness" and matriculated in the Ph.D.
program in Religious Studies.
Tom Ellis
To complete the dissertation, I took two extended research trips to
India. The dissertation focuses on the twentieth-century Hindu religious thinker, J.L.
Mehta, whose work engages not only classical and contemporary Hindu material but
also the philosophical works of Martin Heidegger, Hans-Georg Gadamer, and Jacques
Derrida. I am currently revising the dissertation for publication. Some of this material is
forthcoming in a collected volume on postcolonial philosophy of religion.
After graduation from Penn in May 2002, I spent two enjoyable years in the Department
of Religion at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, PA.
In addition to the comparative philosophy of religion, in the past several years I have
also pursued research in the psychology of religion. In particular, I am interested in the
intersection of attachment theory, object relations theory, developmental psychology,
and Hindu religious thought and behavior. I have submitted for publication an article
addressing the deep motivations informing Hindu god representations. This work is
leading toward a monograph, Varieties of Hindu Religious Experience. Intentionally
playing with the title of William James's classic, this work will move beyond a descriptive
typology and toward a theoretical interpretation of Hindu religious experience.
Interdisciplinary interests coupled with response to contemporary events have led me to
develop a course on religion and violence, currently offered through the Honors College.
3
Newsletter: An Islamicist: al-Hamdu lillah!
By David Vishanoff
The ink is still wet on my diploma, but already the slow, solitary
work of dissertation research is a dim memory. Since graduation
from Emory last May, and my move to Columbia, my energy has
been principally devoted to creating a new program of study on
Islam within this Department.
David Vishanoff
Three new courses are already being offered: an introduction to
Islam, which engages students with twelve different kinds of
primary material; a course on the Qur'an; and a proseminar in the
Honors College on Islamic theology. Two more are in the works for
next year: one on traditions (Hadith) handed down from early
Muslims, and another on Islamic law, with special attention to
constructions of gender at every layer of legal discourse.
These courses build upon my research into the ways Muslims have used and defined
and interpreted sacred texts - especially the Qur'an and Hadith, but also the sacred
texts of other religious traditions. The courses provide the religious studies component
of an interdisciplinary "cluster" project that is gathering momentum across the
humanities at USC: a program in the study of Islamic cultures. This endeavor brings
together faculty specializing in several regions of the Islamic world, from a number of
departments and disciplinary perspectives.
It will allow students from across the University to supplement their disciplinary studies
with a rich local understanding of a predominantly Muslim culture. A capacity for
respectful and attentive intercultural conversation is vitally important for students
entering politics, economics, business, history, literature, and many other fields. The
skill of listening to people of other cultures is not yet one of our national hallmarks. But it
is a trait that the humanistic study of religions can do much to promote. I devote my
energy to making USC a place where this skill is nurtured and advanced.
4
Newsletter: College of Arts & Sciences
This year saw the merger of the College of
Liberal Arts with the college of Math and
Science. Dr. Mary Anne Fitzpatrick, deputy
dean of the College of Letters and Science
at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, was
named dean of the new College of Arts and
Sciences.
We are grateful for the colleagues, listed
below, in other departments who have
served with us over the years on our theses
committees, offered courses in which our
students enroll to fulfill degree requirements, Carl Evans, department chair, and College of
Arts and Sciences dean Mary Anne Fitzpatrick
and who have generously supported the
department's mission. We look forward to many more years of collaboration and crossfertilization with these and others in the new College of Arts and Sciences
Ann Kingsolver, Anthropology
Karl Heider, Anthropology & Provost's Office
Jonathan Leader, Archeology & Anthropology
Keen Butterworth, English
Judith James, English & Graduate School
Ed Madden, English
Lawrence Rhu, English
Meili, Steele, English
Kathy Edwards, History
Jessica Kross, History
Ken Perkins, History
Michael Scardaville, History
Junko Baba, Languages, Literatures, and Cultures
Yoshitaka Sakakibara, Languages, Literatures, and Cultures
Jeremiah Hackett, Philosophy
Gene Long, Philosophy
Chris Tollefsen, Philosophy
Shahrough Akkhavi, Political Science
Jill Frank, Political Science
Mark Whitaker, Sociology, USC-Aiken
Agnetta Enermalm, Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary
Lamontte Luker, Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary
5
Newsletter: Ftr. Thomas Keating on Prayer
Bernardin Lecturer Presents "Centering Prayer"
On November 12, Cistercian Fr. Thomas Keating offered
the sixth annual Joseph Cardinal Bernardin Lecture on
"Centering Prayer as a Preparation for Contemplative
Prayer." Hal French, chair of the Bernardin Lecture
Committee, presided at the event held in the sanctuary of
St. Joseph's Church on Devine Street.
On the following day, a Saturday, Keating led a five-hour
workshop on centering prayer at St. Joseph's. He is the
author of numerous books and video/audio tape series,
Ftr. Thomas Keating
many addressing this practice. He helped found the
Snowmass Interreligious Conference in Colorado in 1982 and remains active in
interreligious dialogue, speaking to diverse audiences worldwide.
The lectureship honors the life and legacy of the late Cardinal Bernardin, who spent his
childhood in Columbia and was awarded an honorary degree by USC in May 1980.
6
Newsletter: Hall Lecturer, Pheme Perkins
Hall Lecture Examines "Gospels, Community,
and a Rule of Faith"
On Thursday, March 17 Dr. Pheme Perkins, Professor of
New Testament at Boston College, offered the first two of
the 2005 Nadine Beacham and Charlton F. Hall, Sr.
Lectures in New Testament and Early Christianity. She
gave an afternoon lecture at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, on
"Looking at the Passion: Canonical and Apocryphal
Gospels" , and an evening lecture in the Russell House
Ballroom, on "Gospels, Community, and a Rule of Faith" .
Pheme Perkins, 2005 Hall
Lecturer
The occasion of the morning lecture at Trinity Cathedral
was the Tenth Annual Ecumenical Clergy Day for
Protestant ministers, Catholic priests, and Jewish rabbis.
On the following day, March 18, Perkins delivered a third lecture at Mepkin Abbey,
"Gospels and the Spiritual Quest." Question-and-answer periods followed each lecture.
Perkins is the author of more than twenty books, including Peter: Apostle for the Whole
Church (University of South Carolina Press, 1994). She has published more than one
hundred scholarly articles and numerous review essays
7
Newsletter: Shorts
Departmental News in Brief
Carl Evans
At the Spring meeting of the General Faculty Carl Evans was awarded the USC
Educational Foundation Award for Service. He was the keynote speaker, on "Who are
our New Neighbors? Religious Diversity in South Carolina," for the annual LARCUM
(Lutheran, Anglican, Roman Catholic, United Methodist) Bishops' Dialogue in
November. He is a member of the leadership training team for a program on holistic
health run by the USC Arnold School of Public Health and the SC Conference of the
United Methodist Church and funded by a grant from the Duke Endowment. He
continues to chair the Solomon-Tenenbaum Lectureship in Jewish Studies committee
which brought James Carroll to USC in the fall of 2004.
Hal French
Emeritus professor Hal French published "A Non-Violence Self-Inventory" in a 2004
issue and "A Christian Insight on Forgiveness" in a 2005 issue of the journal
Interreligious Insight. At the Ammerdown Retreat Centre in England he led a workshop
on "Learning Non-Violence from Gandhi and Friends." At the World Association of Vedic
Studies conference at the University of Maryland he offered a plenary lecture. In
Naples, Florida, he gave five presentations to the group, Common Ground, and at
Florida International University led a workshop on Christian Spirituality. He was the
faculty sponsor for an Alternative Spring Break student group trip to the Dominican
Republic to work in an orphanage.
Donald Jones
Associate Chair of the Department, Donald Jones continues to organize the annual Hall
Lectureship - on March 17 featuring Pheme Perkins, Professor of New Testament at
Don Jones discussing a text with MA candidate and
course instructor, Brian Rivers.
8
Boston College. Jones presented a lecture, "Christianity and the Roman Imperial Cult,"
to high school students attending Classics Day at USC in October. His book on the
gospel writer Luke, to be published by the USC Press, is in the works.
Jim Cutsinger
James Cutsinger continues editing a series of new anthologies compiled
from the writings of the Swiss philosopher and comparativist Frithjof
Schuon. Each volume begins with a short introduction by Cutsinger and
features a thoroughly revised translation of the original French, editorial
notes, a glossary of foreign terms and phrases, and a comprehensive
index. Each of the first two volumes, The Fullness of God: Frithjof Schuon
on Christianity (Spring 2004), and Prayer Fashions Man: Frithjof Schuon
on the Spiritual Life (January 2005), also includes an appendix of previously unpublished
materials, including selections from Schuon's letters, autobiographical and spiritual
letters. A third collection is in the works, including chapters on the perennial philosophy,
the relationship between religions, the human person, sacred art and symbolism.
Kevin Lewis
Kevin Lewis published "Understanding Terrorism" in the journal, Christian Networks
(Fall 2003), short articles on Henry David Thoreau, Simone Weil, and Walt Whitman in
the new 4th edition of Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwort (Mohr-Siebeck), and a
review of the 2002 documentary film about Israeli and Palestinian children, "Promises,"
in the newsletter of NAIN (North American Interfaith Network). He has contributed an
essay to the forthcoming volume, Teaching Wiesel's Night, in the ongoing MLA series
on pedagogy. This year he has chaired the article prize committee for the Nineteenth
Century Studies Association. In April he moderated a "town hall meeting" on church,
state, and same-sex marriage in the USC Law School auditorium. In September he read
his ballad, "Mango Jam," at the Poetry Initiative Summit event at the Columbia Museum
of Art and his poem, "Those Were Not Troubles," commissioned for the luncheon
program celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of Women's Studies at USC.
Jon Michael Spencer
Yahya Jongintaba (Jon Michael Spencer) will leave the University at the end of this
academic year to start his International Uhuru School in Tanzania and to establish a
library based on books collected during his extensive international travel during the last
dozen years. He invites visitors to his website: www.uhuruschool.com.
Jan Love
Jan Love is on leave this year in a new appointment as Deputy General Secretary for
the Women's Division of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries, a million
member organization with a budget of $20 million and a staff of thirty, headquartered in
New York City.
9
David Vishanoff (left) and Tom Ellis (right)
joined the Department as visiting assistant
professors in 2004.
David Vishanoff
The Graduate Division of Religion at Emory University awarded David Vishanoff
"distinction" for his completed dissertation, "Early Islamic Hermeneutics: Language,
Speech, and Meaning in Preclassical Legal Theory." He presented its three major
chapters at meetings of the American Academy of Religion and the American Oriental
Society during 2002 and 2004. In summer 2003 at the workshop, "Hermeneutics of
Border: Canon and Community in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam," at the Institute for
Advanced Study in Berlin he presented results of this work. His article on the early
Muslim theologian al-Nazzam has just appeared in the second edition of The
Encyclopedia of Religion. In November he addressed the USC Presbyterian Student
Association on, "Querying Islam: An Introduction to Variables in Islamic Thought and
Practice."
Tom Ellis
Tom Ellis presented a paper, "I Love You, I Hate You: Hindu Devotion and the
Vicissitudes of Object Representations," at the annual meeting of the Society for the
Scientific Study of Religions in October, and an invited lecture, "If You're Brahman,
Then I'm Not Krishna," on a similar theme at Appalachian State University in January. In
March he will present a paper, "Of 'And' and 'Of': The Politics of Grammar and the Study
of Religion," at the southeast regional meeting of the American Academy of Religion,
and in April a paper, "Do You Feel Lucky? Well, Do Ya, Punk?: Postmodernism as
Sacrificial Crisis and the Violent Redistribution of Chance," at the "Communities in
Crisis" conference at USC organized by the Department of English Language and
Literature.
Cliff Hospital
Adjunct professor Cliff Hospital teaches the introductory methods course for graduate
students, RELG 700, as well as graduate and undergraduate courses on Hinduism and
Buddhism.
10
Public Lecture
On November 15, Geshe Dakpa Topgyal, a Tibetan monk residing in
Charleston, SC, gave a public lecture on the Columbia campus, on the
concept of emptiness in Buddhist thought .
11
Newsletter: Alumni News
James Howell ('76), popular senior pastor of Myers Park Methodist
Church, Charlotte, has published his seventh book, The Kiss of God: 27
Lessons on the Holy Spirit. He contributes a "Religion and Ethics"
column in the Charlotte Observer.
Wayne Kannaday MA ('94) (Ph.D., Chapel Hill, '02) is an assistant professor in the
department of religion and philosophy at Newberry College. This year as President of
the South Carolina Academy of Religion (SCAR) he will deliver the presidential address
at the annual meeting at Claflin University on "Decoding DaVinci: The Importance of
Being Earnest about Genre, Facts, and History."
Jack Montgomery ('76) is now associate professor and collection
development librarian at Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green.
He has released two CDs of his original music, is currently authoring
works on conflict management and South Carolina folk religions, and
lectures occasionally on Hinduism for WKU's religious studies program.
Richard Campbell ('81) practices law and currently serves as judge of the State Court
of Elbert County, GA. His wife is a registered nurse. One son is a sophomore at the
University of Georgia, another will enroll at USC in the fall, and a third runs track in high
school. Richard will play the role of Felix Ungar in the Elberton Theatre production of
"The Odd Couple" this spring.
Pansy Wright ('91) currently enrolled in the MA program, presented a
paper, "Pursuing Purity: Reflections on Evangelical Faith-Based Sexual
Abstinence Programming in the U.S.," in the Spring 2004 USC Walker
Institute Graduate Student Colloquium Series. She looks forward to the
publication later this year of her poetry collection, "Talking to Myself:
Poems."
12
Newsletter: Find Us on the Web
by Mardi McCabe, Website Manager
The current Department website was
created in 2000 and designed around the
information needs of our faculty and
students.
Graduate and undergraduate students will
immediately find links to their respective
areas where they will find further links to
specific areas of information they might be
looking for: degree requirements, course
lists, etc. Prospective students will find links
to overviews of the BA and MA programs,
application procedures, and forms on these Administrative Assistant Anne Lucht and Web
pages. Information on each faculty member Manager Mardi McCabe chill.
is easily accessed from the navigation
sidebar.
The Departmental News page has links to the latest departmental newsletter, to Current
Faculty News, Alumni News, and a gallery of candid photos of people in the
department.
The Academic Resources link is designed as an easy reference tool for the daily needs
of students and faculty alike. There are links to the Thomas Cooper Library circulation
desk and reference desks respectively (with phone numbers). Also: links to the Writing
Studio, Writing Center, several Study Abroad programs, technology training, and career
development sites. The Religion on the Web link lists eleven internet sites that provide a
wide array of research resources, including a link to the Libraries' New Acquisitions
page for notice of books newly acquired.
From the Graduate Program page, one can access the Intensive Language Programs
page with links to a dozen language programs around the country and abroad, covering
languages from Hebrew, Persian, and Arabic to Urdu, Tamil, and Tibetan. From here
one can go to the Advanced Graduate Study page with over sixty links to PhD programs
around the country that would hold interest for Religious Studies students. This page is
also a quick reference for faculty who want to go to the websites of any of these
institutions.
13
Newsletter: Editor's Note
Religious Studies on the Columbia and the other system
campuses of USC is a spirited David facing off against a
Goliath of less than adequate knowledge of the religion factor
in the formation of social and cultural traditions at home and
abroad.
Its name changed to "Religious Studies" in 1975, the
Department in Columbia takes as its watchword the
challenging contention of the pioneering comparativist of the
late nineteenth century, Max Muller: "He [or she] who knows
only one religion knows none." Thankfully, our undertakings
in the study of beliefs and practices of the religious worldwide
benefit from collegial cooperation with allies in other disciplines. Note the list of
associates in the College whose work we support in turn. Note the infusion of bolstering
comparativist vision in newcomers to the Department, Ellis and Vishanoff.
Liberal? Conservative? Labels like these, uncritically applied, missfire when targeting
enterprising radical recovery of neglected orthodoxies or conservation of liberating,
liberal elements in religious traditions. Sorting commonalities and differences, weighing
the approaches of arts and sciences, fitting relevant theory to complicated fact, this
department strives to contribute to understanding of the religion factor in the shrinking
global surround.
Kevin Lewis
14
Newsletter: Photo Gallery
Miscellaneous 2003
Back row: Jim Cutsinger, Cliff Hospital, Kevin Lewis
Front row: Carl Evans, Don Jones, Jan Love
John Michael Spencer
Jim Cutsinger
15
Jan Love - Political Ethics
Kevin Lewis & Don Jones
Professor Jim Cutsinger & graduate student
Pansy Wright
Intrepid Newsletter Reporter Extraordinaire, Katie Harbert.
16
Solomon-Tenenbaum visiting lecturer for 2002,
Yossi Klein Halevi, and Carl Evans, Department Chair.
Dr. K.L.Seshagir Rao, Chief Editor, Encyclopedia of
Hinduism project, and Dr. Hal French.
Yvonne Sumerel, Religious studies
graduate student.
Religious Studies graduate students at orientation
social. Graduate students.
17
Kevin Lewis, editor Religious
Studies Newsletter.
Mardi McCabe, Religious Studies
website administrator.
Graduate students Jack Turner
and Pansy Wright.
Miscellaneous 2004
Carl Evans and Kevin Lewis.
Anne Lucht, Administrative Assistant and Mardi
McCabe, Website Administrator.
18
The trials of an
Administrative
Assistant.
Anne Lucht and Pansy Wright in Religious Studies office
Jon Michael Spencer
in a quiet moment
outside the Religious
Studies office.
Carl Evans and Jan Love at reception congratulating
her on her new appointment.
Dr. & Mrs. Randy Akers
at the reception for Jan Love.
Claudia Brinson and
Carl Evans at reception
for Jan Love.