Undergraduate teaching for the Fall/Winter session is at an end, the marks are safely gathered in, and the University is moving towards the quieter Spring and Summer terms.  We can pause for a moment to reflect on the achievements of this academic year so far before we turn to our research and writing projects.

Wabash Summative Conference

Celia Rothenberg, Marie vander Kloet from the Centre for Leadership in Learning, and I attended the Summative Conference for the sixteen universities and theological schools that participated in the Wabash Center's Graduate Programs Teaching Initiative 2010-2012. It was very helpful and informative to spend time with those engaged in the training of doctoral students in Religious Studies across North America.  We benefited from exploring a variety of approaches to the issue of how to prepare doctoral students for the demands and rewards of undergraduate teaching.  It was particularly enjoyable to spend time with the faculty from McGill University who were on the same plane with us to Indianapolis and back again.

Third Annual Scrollery Colloquium

On April 11, 2012, a group of twenty-five students and faculty members from McMaster University and the University of Toronto gathered to discuss Dead Sea Scrolls research at the 3rd Annual Scrollery Colloquium. This year the event was hosted on the McMaster campus and featured short faculty presentations on current research and papers from four graduate students. Anthony Meyer and Andrew Perrin were among those from McMaster who read papers. The discussions that began in the afternoon colloquium were continued over a casual dinner.

Publications

Dana Hollander and Aaron Hughes (University at Buffalo) guest-edited a special issue of the Journal of Jewish Thought and Philosophy on “Re-Imagining the Historical in Jewish Philosophy: Beyond Historicization.” The papers in this issue originated at a conference “Jewish Philosophy: Past Approaches, New Directions" held jointly at McMaster and King’s University College at the University of Western Ontario in April 2009.  Dr. Hughes was Schreiber Visiting Professor of Jewish Studies in our department in Winter 2008.

Conference Papers and Invited Talks

Daniel Machiela spoke on his research to the department of Jewish, Christian, and Islamic Origins of the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen. 

Ellen Badone gave a paper at a workshop on "Appraising and Renewing the Anthropology of Religion" held at the European Academy in Berlin.

I gave two related talks at the Center for Buddhist Studies, University of California Los Angeles.

Graduate Student Scholarships

Mike Bartos (PhD candidate, Western) was awarded the Frank C. Miller Ontario Graduate Scholarship.

Adrian Chih-mien Tseng (PhD candidate, Asian) was awarded the Ontario Graduate Scholarship - Freeburne award.

Graduate Student Publications

Andy Perrin (PhD candidate, Biblical), "The Variants of 4Q(Reworked) Pentateuch: A Comprehensive List of the Textual Variants in 4Q158, 4Q364-367 in Biblical Sequence," Journal of Jewish Studies 63/1 (2012): 127-57.

Undergraduate Thesis

Sabine Bluschke successfully completed an undergraduate thesis entitled "Interpreting Susanna in Text and Art." Her work was supervised by Philippa Carter.

Alumni News and Publications

at Nipissing University, co-edited a volume Dark Faith: New Essays on Flannery O'Connor's The Violent Bear It Away (University of Notre Dame Press). The collection features contributions by both Dr. Srigley and her former supervisor, Travis Kroeker.

And Finally. . .

Thanks for reading April's News from the Chair. 

Be seeing you!

James A. Benn
Chair