CATHOLIC STUDIES

University of California,
Santa Barbara

Department of Religious Studies

gathering scholars and bringing their work into dialogue with the wider community


Upcoming Events

Winter '16 Quarter


Tuesday, February 9th at 6:00 PM, MCC Theater, Co-sponsored event.
"Second Class Feminists?: The Changing Role of Women in Faith Communities"
-- A panel including Catholic theologian and activist, 
Dr. Gina Messina-Dysert.
Feminism and religion...an oxymoron? These women don't think so. While conversations about feminism are all the rage in pop culture, more and more women and men today are bringing their feminist ideologies into their faith communities to work for positive social change. This panel will explore why feminism is important in both mainstream and religious communities and will discuss why the feminist movement remains critical in the 21st century. Panelists include contributors to the Faithfully Feminist book: Dr. Gina Messina-Dysert (Dean of the School of Graduate and Professional Studies at Ursuline College), Nia Malika Dixon (author, filmmaker, and founder of Audaz Entertainment, an independent production company), and Rabbi Tamara Cohen (Director of Innovation at Moving Traditions). A reception with panelists will follow in the lounge.
Co-Sponsored by the Cordano Endowment in the Department of Religious Studies.
For more information, please see the event flyer.

Tuesday, February 10, 4pm, McCune Conference Room, HSSB 6020, UCSB
Emmanuel Falque, Tipton Lecture: "Only A God Can Still Save Us"

More information will be posted as it becomes available. Immediate inquiries should be addressed to Professor Thomas Carlson.

Wednesday, February 17, 5pm, McCune Conference Room, HSSB 6020
Robert A. Orsi,
 
Professor of Religious Studies and History and Grace Craddock Nagle Chair in Catholic Studies at Northwestern University
"The Problem of Presence in Modern Religion and Its Study"
The question of “real presence” -- the Catholic doctrine of the literal, physical, embodied presence of Christ in the host -- coincided with early modern global conquest and commerce and shaped how Europeans encountered the religions of others. The stakes of a seemingly arcane theological dispute over how Christ was or was not present in the Host proved to be extraordinarily high. Robert Orsi explores the role of “real presence” in the making of the modern world, in particular modern religion, and in the study of religion, and calls instead for religious and historical scholarship that attends to the gods really present.
Sponsored by the Cordano Endowment in Catholic Studies in the Department of Religious Studies.
Free and followed by a reception. For more information, please see the event flyer.

Spring '16 Quarter


Conference on Religion and the Environment
... highlighting the papal encyclical Laudito Si' (On Care for Our Common Home) and reflecting on its potential impact on the response to climate change. Details TBA.


Past Events


Jeffrey J. Kripal, Interview
January 20

Ann Taves will engage Professor Kripal in a conversation about The Role of Catholicism in His Life and Work (tentative title) on Thursday or Friday following the Michaelson Lecture, which he will give on Wednesday, January 20 at 5pm in the McCune Conference Room. Kripal holds the J. Newton Rayzor Chair in Philosophy and Religious Thought at Rice University. He is the author of numerous books on mysticism, parapsychology, and the study of religion in which he frequently refers to his Catholic upbringing and his own unusual experiences.

Yanfei Sun, "Christianity in Contemporary China"
Wednesday, January 13, 2016, HSSB 3041, UCSB
​Please join us for a lecture by Yanfei Sun, Associate Professor of Sociology at Zhejiang University and Visiting Associate Professor at Harvard. This lecture, based on fieldwork in Southeast China, will explore the growth of Christianity in post-Mao China and compare the growth trajectories of Protestantism and Catholicism.
For more information, please see the event flyer.

Tuesday, October 20th, 7:30 pm
Katie Oxx, "Filming Pope Francis: 36 Hours Behind the Scenes in Philadelphia"
Bonaventure Hall, Mission Renewal Center, 2201 Laguna St.
Event flyer

Monday, October 19th, 4:00 pm, Mosher Alumni Hall, UCSB
Katie Oxx, “Producing Urban Trinity: The Story of Catholic Philadelphia: Challenges and Opportunites of Transmedia Storytelling for Religion Scholars and HIstorians”
Event flyer

April 30-May 2, 2015
"Freedom of (and from) Religion: Debates over the Accommodation of Religion in the Public Sphere"
5th Annual Catholic Studies Graduate Student Conference
Keynote Speaker: Winifred Sullivan
Lead Organizer: Cordano Fellow Kolby Knight
"What Happened in Indiana? Did Religious Freedom Jump the Shark?"
Loma Pelona Center, UCSB
Event Flyer
Event Schedule

April 27, 2015
"Speed Faithing"
First event of Better Together at UCSB, a student-led organization working toward building interfaith cooperation on campus by engaging diverse religious and non-religious identities in open discussions and events exploring issues of ethics, religion, and public life.

March 13, 2015
"Iconoclasm: A Symposium"
Featuring: Thomas Carlson, James Kearney, Nuha Khoury,
Fabio Rambelli, 2015 Tipton Visiting Professor Regina Schwartz, Elliot Wolfson, Mayfair Yang
Cultural contexts, theories, purposes, practices
IHC Seminar Room, HSSB 6056
Event flyer

March 9, 2015
Regina Schwartz (Tipton Visiting Professor)
10th Annual Tipton Lecture, "Love Your Enemies: Retribution and Forgiveness"
McCune Conference Room, HSSB 6020
Event flyer

May 23, 2014
"Experience and Authority"
4th Annual Catholic Studies Graduate Student Conference
Keynote Speaker: Robert Ellwood
Lead organizer: Philip Deslippe
Keynote address, Robert Ellwood, "Hidden in Plain Sight: Non-Conventional Catholicism as the Past in the Present"
Loma Pelona Center, UCSB
Event flyer

January 22, 2014
Amy Hollywood (Tipton Visiting Professor)
9th Annual Tipton Lecture, "Apophasis and Ecstasy, At the Limits of Gender"
McCune Conference Room, HSSB 6020
Event flyer

May 28-29, 2013
"Peoplehood, Possession, and Place: Embodiment and Emplacement in Special Contexts"
3rd Annual Catholic Studies Graduate Student Conference
Keynote Speakers: Thomas Csordas, Tanya Luhrmann, and David Hershenov.
Organizers: Vikas Malhotra, Jenny Hahn, Chris Morales, Garrett Baer, Philip Deslippe, Michael Kinsella, Nathan Fredrickson, Keith Hess (philosophy)
McCune Conference Room, HSSB 6020
Event flyer

May 19, 2013
Massimo Faggioli, College of St. Thomas
"Vatican II: The Battle for Meaning"
St. Bonaventure Room, Santa Barbara Mission, 2201 Laguna Street, Santa Barbara
Event flyer

May 1, 2013
Thomas Csordas (Tipton Visiting Professor)
8th Annual Tipton Lecture, "Hammering the Devil with Prayer: The Contemporary Resurgence of Exorcism in the Catholic Church"
McCune Conference Room, HSSB 6020
Event flyer

February 24, 2013
Bishop Remi De Roo
"Recollections of the Second Vatican Council"
"The Second Vatican Council: A Message of Hope "
On the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the Second Vatican Council, Bishop Remi De Roo examined the achievements of the Council and pondered its meaning for today’s church and world.
Friar’s Lounge, Mission Renewal Center, Santa Barbara Mission,
2201 Laguna Street, Santa Barbara
Event flyer

April 19-20, 2012
"Sanctity and Society: Devotions to Holy Figures in Multi-Cultural Contexts"
2nd Annual Catholic Studies Graduate Student Conference
Keynote Speakers: Kathleen Cummings and Bishnupriya Ghosh
Lead Organizer: Cordano Fellow Lauren Griffin
HSSB 4080
Event flyer

March 22, 2012
Ann Taves (Cordano Chair of Catholic Studies)
"Apparitions: Seeing Jesus and Mary in the World"
Science, Theology, and Religion Series hosted by St. John’s Seminary, Camarillo, CA

January 19, 2012
Michele Dillon (Tipton Visiting Professor)
"American Catholics in the Twenty-First Century"
McCune Conference Room, HSSB 6020
Event flyer

May 27, 2011
"Framing the Word: The Bible in European Culture and Society c. 1250-1611," a conference held in conjunction with the Bibles exhibit (co-sponsored by Catholic Studies).
McCune Conference Center, HSSB 6020

May 26, 2011
Tricia Bruce, Maryville College
"Responding to Abuse in the Catholic Church: The Challenge of Change from Within"
Bruce explored the challenges faced by the lay Catholic group Voice of the Faithful in its efforts to promote structural change in the church following widespread allegations of child abuse.
Flying A Studios, University Center, UCSB
Event flyer

May 5-7, 2011
Jean-Luc Marion Conference
Keynote Speaker: Jean-Luc Marion
A discussion of Jean-Luc Marion’s work regarding Augustinian thought, using it to reflect on the connections that truth and knowing have to love, as opposed to rationality.
McCune Conference Center, HSSB 6020
Event flyer

May 5, 2011
Jean-Luc Marion (Tipton Visiting Professor)
"Resting, Moving, Loving: The Access to the Self According to Saint Augustine"
McCune Conference Room, HSSB 6020

March 4-5, 2011
"Medieval Voices and Postmodern Theory"
1st Annual Catholic Studies Graduate Student Conference
Keynote Speakers: Thomas Carlson, David Albertson, Maria José A. de Abreu
Organizers: Rico Monge and Brad Onishi
Event flyer (link to pdf entitled "2011 Medievals Voices")
Event flyer

November 12, 2009
"Galileo, the Universe, and God"
This multidisciplinary event was a celebration of the 400th anniversary of Galileo's astronomical discoveries with the telescope, which changed our view of the universe forever.

October 28, 2009
"Fact or Fiction: Women, the Vatican, and Religion"
Sarah Dunant, international bestselling author of The Birth of Venus and In the Company of the Courtesan whose carefully researched historical fiction provides a compelling window on Catholic life in sixteenth-century Italy, discusses her latest novel Sacred Hearts.

November 18, 2008
A Conversation with Hans Küng, Mark Juergensmeyer and Wade Clark Roof, "Religion, Globalization, and the Public Sphere: Paths to Dialogue or Confrontation?"

November 17, 2008
Hans Kü, "Global Ethics and the World's Religions"
View .pdf flyer for details.

May 21, 2008
Colleen McDannell, University of Utah
"Learning from The Exorcist"
View .pdf flyer for details.

Monday, April 28, 2008
William A. Christian, Jr. (Tipton Visiting Professor)
"The Eyes of the Beholders: Spanish and Central European Visions of the Christ of Limpias, 1919-1936"
View .pdf flyer for details.

March 10, 2008
"Church, Sex and the Public Sphere: Italy and the United States." Join scholars from Italy and the United States for this one-day conference. Free and open to the public.
View conference website for details.

February 27, 2008
Peter Lake, Princeton University
"Buckingham Does the Globe: Shakespeare's Henry VIII and the Origins of the Personal Rule of Charles I"
View .pdf flyer for details.

February 17, 2008
Fr. Thomas Michel, S.J., Conference Director, Jesuit Secretariat for Interreligious Dialogue in Rome, Italy; Ecumenical Secretary, Federation of Asian Bishops Conference
"At the Convergence of Two Oceans: Issues in Catholic-Muslim Relations"
View .pdf flyer for details.

May 22, 2007
Bernard McGinn, U. of Chicago Divinity School (Tipton Visiting Professor)
"The Venture of Mysticism in the New Millennium"

May 3-4, 2007
Workshop: "Synaesthesia in Mystical Traditions, the Arts, and Cognitive Neuroscience"

February 28, 2007
Peter Phan, Georgetown University
"Is Christianity a Western Religion? A View from Asian Catholicism"
View .pdf flyer

February 7, 2007
John Allen
"The Upside Down Church: A Brief History of the Catholic Church in the 21st Century"
View .pdf flyer

May 31, 2006
Thomas Mayer, Fellow of the Royal Historical Society
"Trying Galileo"
View .pdf flyer

May 4-5, 2006
Conference: "The Catholic Church as Global Actor"
View .pdf flyer

May 4, 2006
Thomas J. Reese, S.J., America magazine
"The Catholic Church as Global Actor"
View .pdf flyer

April 18, 2006
Daniel Bornstein (Tipton Visiting Professor)
"At Home in the Parish: Priests and their Families in Medieval Italy" (Annual Tipton Lecture)
View .pdf flyer


Department of Religious Studies | University of California, Santa Barbara | Credits

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