The Marty Center

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 ➡️💭
 

“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

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.

“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

Last week, the Marty Center held the final session of this year’s Religion, Art, Museums, and Cultural Heritage Workshop. We visited the Institute for the Study of Ancient Civilizations () for a conversation with curator Kiersten Neumann, who helped us analyze ISAC’s history and collection through the lens of the workshop themes, ownership and authenticity. Thank you to Kiersten () and ISAC for an excellent learning experience, Donato Loia () and Prof. Matthew Harris for their partnership, and to all our students for their amazing contributions this year.

“Bill's students do not write ethics hoping that the world will conform to our proposed imaginations of it. We write to elucidate the world as it is, helping others to think clearly about the complexity and enormity of the moral task on the real world.” - David Barr, Sightings, May 14, 2026

In this week's Sightings essay for The Marty Center, David Barr examines how William Schweiker teaches students to think independently, face reality honestly, and pursue an ethics grounded in human dignity. Read more via https://martycenter.org/sightings/william-schweikers-realist-legacy