The Marty Center

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The Marty Center

We create and share knowledge about the roles religion plays in the world. The Marty Center is part of the University of Chicago Divinity School.

We build on its longstanding conviction that the best and most innovative scholarship in religion arises from sustained dialogue with the world beyond the academy. We contribute to this dialogue by offering scholarly perspectives on the religious questions facing the wider public, while providing faculty and students the tools and opportunities to situate their scholarly questions within a broader cultural frame of reference. Learn more on our website at martycenter.org.

08/27/2026

In our August newsletter, the Marty Center team shared some recommendations for recent (or recently read) books, many of which perhaps unsurprisingly, feature religion in interesting ways. You can read the full newsletter via the link in our bio. We’d love to know what religion-related books are on your list, too! Comment below to tell us what you’ve been reading, or email [email protected].

We’ll publish a full list of responses in next months newsletter, so be sure to subscribe.

08/19/2026

Closing out our mini report on the June Martin Marty Center and Smart Museum of Art trip to Europe: photos from the Venice Biennale. As part of our research on religion and art, and the life histories of “sacred” objects, the team analyzed dozens of pieces of contemporary art. For some of the most compelling, examining their connections (both stated and unstated) to issues of religion, spirituality, sacrality, and/or preservation:

1: The remarkable built environment of Venice:

2: Tabita Rezaire, Omo Elu, which depicts the Yoruba goddess Yemaya in its indigo-dyed fabric panels;

3: Ranti Bam, Ifa Ile Oja, which imagines the ways that matter (like clay) might be inhabited by agentive spirits;

4: Textile fragment, V&A Collection, from the Applied Arts Pavilion’s interrogation of what happens to objects/artifacts when they’re separated from their contexts; and

5: the textiles of the Morocco Pavilion, which reference memory, embodiment, and ritual.

08/05/2026

Several weeks ago we shared some photos from Emily D. Crews and the Smart Museum of Art team’s travels to Paris as part of our joint Lilly-funded project on the provenance of religious objects in museum collections. After Paris, the group traveled to Rome, where they visited the Pantheon, the Capitoline Museum, and the sprawling complex of museums at the Vatican. At each site, they explored how provenance information was shared, how religious objects and histories were displayed and narrated, and whether religious institutions engage with objects differently from secular institutions.

07/29/2026

What makes a Mark Rothko painting so powerful that it brings some people to tears?

A recent Upworthy article quoted Marty Center Executive Director Emily D. Crews's reflections on that very question, citing her Smart Sightings piece, "The Religious Experience of Mark Rothko."

Read the Upworthy article to learn more about the intense emotions that Rothko's work can evoke and the piece by Dr. Crews to explore how some museum-goers might experience encounters with art as encounters with the sacred.

Links
https://www.upworthy.com/art-historian-explains-why-mark-rothkos-make-some-people-cry/
https://martycenter.org/series/smart-sightings/the-religious-experience-of-mark-rothko

07/08/2026

Earlier this month, MMC’s Executive Director Emily D. Crews and staff from the Smart Museum of Art traveled to (sweltering, heat-wave suffering!) Europe as part of our Lilly-funded project on the provenance of religious objects in museum collections. In Paris, the team attended a conference about provenance and cultural heritage at the Ecole du Louvre. They also visited several (blessedly air-conditioned) museums—including the Musee d’Orsay, Musee Guimet, and Musee du quai Branly—with galleries or exhibitions that focused on objects’ ownership histories and cultural significance.

06/03/2026

This week, to celebrate our graduates, the final installment of our series highlighting the Swift 100 exhibition by , features describing the Cloister Arcade one of the campus’s most iconic graduation photo locations. Visit the link in our bio to hear the full 25 stop audio tour and explore the entire 100 object exhibition.

06/02/2026

Despite the cool weather 🌷❄️, spring quarter has indeed come to an end, and summer is nearly here.

We asked each member of the team to share a moment, project, or experience that stood out to them, over the course of the year. Take a swipe through and see the highlights that we think made this year memorable ➡️💭

05/28/2026

“Perhaps most intriguing for assessing the religious character of the Don Colossus is Burns’s attempts to differentiate ‘honor’ from ‘worship.’ The distinction echoes ancient Christian defenses of icons and other forms of material worship.” - Nathan J. Hardy, Sightings, May 28, 2026

In this week's Sightings essay for The Marty Center, Nathan J. Hardy explores how defenders of Trump’s golden statue echo Christian arguments on relics and icons, framing political devotion as saintly honor. Read more via https://ow.ly/K61v50Z5eFk

05/27/2026

As spring quarter draws to a close, we’ve been reflecting on the year and the many ways our work has taken shape across campus. There’s something especially rewarding about spotting our posters, programs, and promotional materials across the quad, on bulletin boards, in classrooms, and even onstage. It is a small reminder of the visibility and impact of the conversations, events, and collaborations we’ve helped bring to life this year.

05/21/2026

“To the extent that Hollywood movies offer us a 'degraded mythology,' in [Wendy] Doniger’s words, it has less to do with the medium of cinema and more with studios’ desires to sell Lego sets and chicken nuggets.” - Russell P. Johnson Sightings, May 21, 2026

In this week's Sightings essay for The Marty Center, Russell P. Johnson examines how the Star Wars movies offer a spirituality that resonates with many religious believers, but there are downsides to studios being in the mythmaking business. Read more via https://ow.ly/4zKi50Z2SyZ

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http://martycenter.org/

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