Classical Religious News

Vanderbilt University recognized the 2026 Founder’s Medalists for their remarkable scholarly dedication and outstanding achievements during the Graduates Day event on May 7 as part of the Commencement celebration. Read More

We are pleased to announce that Prof. Joe Rife has been elected a Corresponding Member of the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, the research institution under Germany’s Federal Foreign Office with several branches located globally. The position is a rare honor bestowed on select foreign scholars. In Joe’s case the membership recognizes his ongoing and… Read More

The department is delighted to share that Chiara Sulprizio is the recipient of the inaugural Silver Public Engagement Award for the 2024-25 academic year from the Archaeological Institute of America’s Outreach & Education Committee. This award recognizes the broad and important range of… Read More

The Vanderbilt Department of Classical and Mediterranean Studies hosted an international colloquium on September 29 and 30, with scholars visiting from the U.S. and Europe to share work on Latin philology, textual criticism, and commentary-writing. Supported by a grant from Vanderbilt’s Office of the Vice Provost for Research and Innovation, Prof. James Zainaldin organized the colloquium,… Read More

The Department congratulates James Zainaldin on the publication in the past week of his monograph The artes and the Emergence of a Scientific Culture in the Early Roman Empire with Cambridge University Press! Zainaldin’s book reconsiders ancient Latin writings on disciplines including medicine, architecture, agriculture, land-surveying, and the art of… Read More

Jason Harris has received the 2024 Harriet S. Gilliam Award for Excellence in Teaching by a Lecturer or Senior Lecturer. The award recognizes a continuing-track faculty member on a full-time, multi-year contract who has achieved excellence in teaching undergraduates. The Department congratulates and thanks Prof. Harris for his many years of… Read More

Professor James Zainaldin has received a junior research scholarship from the Fondation Hardt pour l’étude de l’antiquité classique in Geneva, Switzerland, to support a scholarly stay at the the Fondation’s world-renowned research library. Professor Zainaldin will be visiting the Fondation Hardt later in 2025 to advance his research on the… Read More

  Join us October 24th at 12:15pm 200 Center Bldg Classroom Michael Muhammad Knight explores American Islam in seventeen books that traverse the genres of fiction, memoir, reflection, and original scholarship. Knight’s writing lives began in 2003 with his self-published novel, The Taqwacores, which told the story of a fictitious… Read More

Mayanthi Fernando, PhD Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of California Santa Cruz “Toward a Negative Zoology: Human Limitation and More-Than-Human Worlds” Wednesday October 16th 12:15-1:45 PM Buttrick 306 My talk takes as its starting point Muhammad Asad’s observation in The Message of the Quran… Read More

Ten scholars have been chosen to join the 2024-2026 cohort for the Young Scholars in American Religion program. The cohort brings with them vast professional experiences and research interests relating to the study of American Religion. During their two years in the program, these scholars will be… Read More

Collins shares about his minor in Arabic and his future career plans: “I started studying Arabic in my freshman year with an interest in understanding a language that I had been passionate about from the very first time I heard it spoken and a region that I was always curious… Read More

Dr. Razak Khan presents “From Khilafat to Shaheen Bagh Movement: Muslim Women and Unveiling as Politics in India.” Join Us! Tuesday, October 1, 2024 4:10 – 6:00pm  Divinity 124 Dr. Razak Khan, Research Fellow, Center for… Read More

On April 22, 2024, the Department of Classical and Mediterranean studies presented Eleanor Vander Laan with a new award to recognize academic excellence and extraordinary service by a graduating senior major. They are a graduating senior majoring in Classical and Mediterranean Studies, as well as Educational Studies and History. Eleanor… Read More

In How to Be Healthy, Adjoint Assistant Professor of Classical and Mediterranean Studies and Vanderbilt University Medical Center practicing physician Katherine D. Van Schaik presents a collection of Galen’s enduring insights about how we can take care of our bodies and minds, prevent disease, and reach a healthy old age. The… Read More

Two Vanderbilt Classical and Mediterranean Studies faculty members are representing the department at the January 2024 annual meeting of the Society for Classical Studies, the national professional organization for the discipline. Isabella Reinhardt will present on “Ares, Xerxes, and Collective Suffering in Aeschylus’ Persians” on Jan. 6 in the panel “Tragedy and Theory.” Dr. Read More

The symposium’s central aim is interdisciplinary conversation about religion. As such, undergraduate students from across the humanities—Anthropology, Area Studies, English, Comparative Literature, History, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Sociology, etc.—are participating in the symposium and will be presenting their papers. Molly Wells will be presenting her paper “Liturgical Dance, Performativity, and the… Read More

See his publication here. The paper has also recently been translated into German. Congratulations, Jaret!… Read More