Title: Making Sense in Religious Studies: A Student’s Guide to Research and Writing
Authors: Margot Northey, Bradford A. Anderson, Joel N. Lohr
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Genre: Religion/Research
Year: 2011
Pages: 240
Binding: Paperback
ISBN13: 9780195439526
Price: $19.95

Had I never hopped into post-secondary education, this book would give me a good sense of the practical things I was missing out on. The operative word in the title Making Sense in Religious Studies is “in,” rather than “of.” Like the other volumes in Oxford University Press’s “Making Sense” series, this book is more pedagogical than theoretical. In addition to being concise and inexpensive, each book in the series provides students with “clear, concise, and readable guidelines” which are narrow enough to capture the essence of a particular focus of study, but broad enough to improve a student’s general academic performance (vii). This volume covers “subject-specific” and “big-picture” aspects of undergraduate education in religious studies (vii). [Read more...]

Teaching Undergraduate Research in Religious Studies is a collection of essays from sixteen faculty members trying to formulate better approaches for undergraduate research in Religious Studies. I’m pretty sure it is the first book which tackles the idea of directed undergrad research specifically in the field of religious studies. Interestingly, they drew on earlier efforts to design useful undergraduate research programs, specifically the “apprenticeship model of education” first defined  in the field of chemistry (3). But Religious Studies isn’t a hard science, so there’s plenty of room for disagreement about how an apprenticeship model should work.

The main objective, according to the authors, is to help certain undergrads conduct a specific inquiry or investigation which makes “an original intellectual or creative contribution to the discipline” (6). Needless to say, they had difficulty defining exactly what might constitute such a contribution! Part II of the book examines a few ways undergraduates might contribute by exploring archival material, doing fieldwork (ethnography, etc.) and working with texts.

But Part I is what really caught my attention. [Read more...]

June 27, 1844 marked the martyrdom of Joseph Smith. Artist Andrew Knaupp’s depictions of this event are my favorite, though you won’t see them in official church publications. For instance, here’s one of Joseph firing his weapon:

Andrew also includes youtube video commentary of his pieces:

I’ve written elsewhere about complaints regarding the historical accuracy of church art. I appreciate Knaupp’s attention to detail, and his somewhat unique style. I also thought Seth Adam Smith did a nice job on the video about this paintings, so I highlight it here. See Ardis’s careful response to another of Smith’s videos here.

See Knaupp’s entire painting series on the martyrdom here. In case you’re wondering, this one’s my favorite:

Praise to the man!

I can’t remember if this clip made the bloggernacle rounds back when it first hit the web, but in case you missed it, here’s a local traffic reporter in Utah reporting under the influence of cold medication:

FM100 Holiest Traffic Report