Student Work
Elizabeth Duell's interest in popular religions of the late middle ages led her to pursue three majors at the UO: religious studies, history, and medieval studies. Elizabeth, who took time between high school and college to work for the state of Oregon, is now entrenched in writing honors theses in both history and medieval studies and serving as the organizer of the religious studies group. In the future, this Lebanon, Oregon, native hopes to pursue graduate studies in medieval studies, focusing on the religious aspects of this time period. "I'm looking at doing research in ecclesiastical records of England and I am not entirely sure what I am going to find," says Elizabeth. "I plan to look at the interaction between the clergy or the "elite" and how that translated into how people actually celebrated the different masses and saint's days." The religious studies group, says Elizabeth, not only offers students a chance to attend local services but also a chance to "really sit down and talk about what our education means to us and how it changed or hasn't changed our ideas about our own personal spirituality."
Selected Faculty Work
Professor Judith R. Baskin, Knight Professor of Humanities, is department head in religious studies and also directs the Harold Schnitzer Family Program in Judaic Studies. Judith is the author of Pharaoh’s Counsellors: Job, Jethro and Balaam in Rabbinic and Patristic Tradition, and the forthcoming Midrashic Women: Formations of the Feminine in Rabbinic Literature. Judith calls religious studies a “very energetic, research oriented department,” and is proud that the department is “open and accessible to all students, regardless of their personal background.”
Associate Professor Mark T. Unno's interests lie in Medieval Japanese Buddhism, specifically in the relation between intellectual history and social practices. He also researched and has published in the areas of modern Japanese religious thought, comparative religion, and Buddhism and psychotherapy. He is the author of Shingon Refractions: Myoe and the Mantra of Light, a study and translation of the medieval Japanese ritual practice of the Mantra of Light. Mark teaches the following classes at the UO: Eastern Philosphy, Chinese Religions, World Religions of Asia, Dark Self East and West, World Religions of Asia, Japanese Religions, Medieval Japanese Buddhism, Buddhist Scriptures. "Having taught at other colleges and universities before, I can say with confidence what a wonderful place the University of Oregon is," says Mark. "I really enjoy teaching my main courses on Asian religions, especially East Asia, my main area, but I also find courses on comparative religion and special topics to be highly enriching, where I can go in-depth in new and creative ways. Open to new knowledge and understanding, enthusiastic, serious but also able to appreciate the humor in learning—these are just some of the qualities I find in the students here."
Stephen J. Shoemaker is an assistant professor who teaches courses on the History of Christianity. Steven's primary interests lie in the ancient and early medieval Christian traditions, and more particularly in Byzantine and Near Eastern Christianity. His research examines such issues as the cultural construction of gender, ethnicity, sexuality, and "orthodoxy" and "heresy" in Christian late antiquity. He has recently completed the first of two anticipated manuscripts on this subject, Death and the Maiden: Ancient Traditions of the Virgin Mary's Dormition and Assumption, a study of the earliest history of the Dormition traditions.
Career Prospects
The UO religious studies major provides a foundation for a number of professional callings including social work, counseling, nursing, law, and religious vocations. Many students continue their religious studies in graduate programs.