Jan. 29, 2016

Reflections from Harvard Divinity School

Seniors Victoria Gillon and Leah Shelton reflect on their experience in the fall of 2015 attending the Diversity and Explorations program at Harvard Divinity School.

"As someone who is looking to go to divinity and seminary for graduate school, this was a gold mine."

Fun facts about new religion faculty

Super powers, go-to jokes and cooking disasters... and a little serious advice.

Peace, quiet and fun at Holden Village

Religion's Dr. Jason Mahn as well as other Augustana professors and families are in Holden Village, Wash., with a group of students, including religion majors and minors. They will stay in the village for 41 days.

Holden village is a wilderness retreat center in the Lutheran tradition and gives students a chance to think about the meaning of faith traditions and of their own lives away from the frantic pace of our "normal" lives.

It’s a bit of a Sabbath — which the Jewish writer Abraham Heschel called the capstone of creation. Holden Term is open to all sophomores, juniors and seniors regardless of major. Courses cover several graduation requirements and Holden Term carries a Learning Community designation. Dr. Mahn is teaching a new course especially for Holden on the intersection of theology, ecology, and vocation called "Creator, Creation, and Calling."

Getting ready for Rome

In May 2017, Dr. Dan Lee will travel with students to Rome and Vatican City after they do coursework at Augustana. Students will have the option to combine either the Christian Traditions or Faiths in Dialogue courses with a service learning course.

After commencement they will travel through Rome as they bring the classroom with them to the home of the Vatican. The program will include meetings with church officials, visits to sites of significance and discussions related to the experiences as well as an opportunity to work with the refugee community. The program is open to students of any major.

'Reel Talk' brings film, commentary to Augustana

Sophomore Adiba Hasan, left, with director Wendy Lee.

The religion department is co-sponsoring a series of events called "Reel Talk: Movies and Conversation about religion in real life."

This term, we have watched the documentary, "Pad Yatra: A Green Odyssey," which documents the harrowing adventure of 700 people trekking across the Himalayas with a call to save the planet's "Third Pole," a glacial region devastated by global warming.

The film’s director, Wendy Lee, came and had Q&A afterward.

For the second event, Dr. Chris Jones from the religion department gave biblical and historical commentary on the film "Noah."

The third event featured Rabbi Elliot Dorff from American Jewish University speaking about "God without Ethics, Ethics without God: What Does Judaism Add to Ethics?"

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