New Faculty Profile: Mona Hassan

On Duke Today, you can read about one of our new faculty members, Mona Hassan, assistant professor of Islamic Studies and History in the Department of Religion:

Mona Hassan: The History of Emotions and Religious Imaginations
Religion professor explores how the Muslim past shapes imaginations of the future
By Andrea Fereshteh

Online Office Hours with Mark Goodacre

Mark Goodacre appeared live on Duke University's Ustream Channel on Friday September 18, for an hour, in "Online Office Hours", answering questions sent in by the general public on the topic of the New Testament and Christian Origins. You can watch these online office hours here:



Duke Chronicle published an article about this new venture at Duke, Professors offer online office hours, on Monday.

E. P. Sanders, Jesus and Judaism

Duke Today reports on the two books recently published that honor Ed Sanders's work, Common Judaism and Redefining First Century Jewish and Christian Identities:

Duke Religion Professor E. P. Sanders Honored with New Books

The piece features an eight minute video interview:

Graduate Program in Religion: Fall News 2008

The latest version of the Graduate Program in Religion newsletter is now available online:

GPR Fall 2008 News (PDF)

The newsletter features the latest from faculty and graduate students, and some reflections from Professors Moody Smith and E. P. Sanders.

Duke in Israel

The Department of Religion (along with Ancient and Middle-Eastern Studies) is sponsoring a wonderful new Study Abroad Program this summer (2009): DUKE IN ISRAEL. A six week program located in Jerusalem, it will feature two courses: one on Biblical Archaeology, and one on the city of Jerusalem itself! The program includes a long field trip to the most important archaeological sites in Israel and also some in Jordan, such as Petra, a World Heritage site described by UNESCO as "one of the most precious cultural properties."

An optional 5-week Duke Engage program, following the academic program, is available.

The following document gives full details of the program:

Duke In Israel
May 17 to June 28 2009

New Graduate Program Website

The Graduate Program in Religion is proud to unveil its new website:

Graduate Program in Religion, Duke University

Feel free to post your comments here.

Harry Partin Dies

We are sorry to report the death of colleague Harry Partin, who taught the history of religions and Duke for thirty years. Duke Today has the story here:

Harry Partin, Long-time Teacher of History of Religions, Dies
Former faculty member was 82