McMaster University Department of Religious Studies

Today Robert Revington (McMaster MA 2018, Toronto School of Theology PhD 2023) will give a lecture at University of Toronto alumni week titled "'Under a Very Heavy Cloud of Suspicion': Great Debates in Canadian Biblical Studies and Theology at the Turn of the Century." https://knox.utoronto.ca/alumnireunion/ Knox College

Maxwell Kennel (PhD 2021) just had his recent article, “Pacifist Historiography” (Angelaki 30 (2025): 34–48), translated into German as “Pazifistische Geschichtsschreibung” and published in a special issue of the Mennonitische Geschichtsblätter 83 (2026).

Check out Dr. Liyakat Takim's new essay “Shi'i Communities and Networks in North America” in The Oxford Encyclopedia of Islam in North America!

https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-oxford-encyclopedia-of-islam-in-north-america-9780190641290?cc=ca&lang=en&

Congratulations to Rory Tasker (MA 2021) on completing his Ph.D. in Curriculum and Pedagogy at the University of Toronto.

Check out Dr. Liyakat Takim's new essay, “Ijtihad and Reform in Modern Shi'ism” in The Oxford Handbook of Islamic Reform.

https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-oxford-handbook-of-islamic-reform-9780197532805?cc=ca&lang=en&

Check out John Van Maaren's (University of Vienna, McMaster PhD 2019) new article, "Learning to Treat Other Ways of Being Generously Through the Biblical Studies Classroom" in Teaching Theology & Religion!

Learning to Treat Other Ways of Being Generously Through the Biblical Studies Classroom This article outlines an approach to teaching the biblical texts that helps students develop the transferable cognitive skill of understanding the other on their own terms. It appeals to research on ...

This May, Elaine Michalicka (BA 2024) completed the Master of Divinity, with a focus on counselling and spiritual care, at McMaster Divinity College. She plans on working in chaplaincy within the Catholic District School Board.

We are hiring for a one-year position!

McMaster University’s Department of Religious Studies invites applications for a one-year, full-time Contractually Limited Appointment (CLA) position at the rank of Lecturer or Assistant Professor for the period of August 1, 2026 to July 31, 2027.

For full details, use the following link (position 76421):

https://www.academicwork.ca/jobs/jo-76421-one-year-contractually-limited-appointment-cla-mcmaster-university

Congratulations to PhD student Pema Sherpa, on being awarded a prestigious Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Dissertation Fellowship in Buddhist Studies! Pema was one of eight doctoral students worldwide and the only one based in Canada to receive this fellowship. Click on the following link for more information about Pema’s research project, being conducted under the supervision of Shayne Clarke:
https://www.acls.org/fellows-grantees/?_fellow_year=2026&_fellow_program=412.

Today is the final day of the CSBS annual meeting in beautiful Sackville, New Brunswick! And it's a big day for McMaster presenters…

Dr. Hanna Tervanotko presents “But ask the animals, and they will teach you, the birds of the air, and they will tell you” (Job 12:7): Bird Divination in Ancient Jewish Texts.”

Matthew Walsh (Acadia University, McMaster PhD 2016) presents “Context and Combinations: Daniel 7:13–14 in the Synoptic Gospels.”

Ken Penner (St. Francis Xavier University, McMaster PhD 2006) presents “Canadian Social Activists Inspired by the Bible.”

Rob Jones (Penn State University, McMaster PhD 2020) presents “Becoming Nonhuman: Revelation 13 and the Transhuman Apocalypse in Evangelical Christianity.”

And PhD student Eduardo Folster-Eli presents “The God of This Age: Nonhuman Agency in Comparative Perspective within the Ancient World.”