In a Religious Dispatches essay, “‘Cult’ Cinema Comes of Age,” Visiting Associate Professor of Religious Studies S. Brent Plate examined recent films that focus on cults including The Master, the latest in the group. In the Oct. 7 article, Plate described The Master as “emblematic of a new, more nuanced treatment of cults in the movies,” and “more or less … the story of L. Ron Hubbard and the birth of Scientology.”

The extensive research of Heidi Ravven, professor of religious studies, on the relationship between the philosophy of the 12th century philosopher Moses Maimonides and that of the 17th century philosopher Baruch Spinoza is the subject of a chapter in a new book, Maimonides and Spinoza: Their Conflicting Views of Human Nature (University of Chicago, 2012) by Joshua Parens.

Heidi Ravven, professor of religious studies, has published “Rethinking Moral Agency via the New Brain Sciences and Spinoza” in American Journal of Bioethics Neuroscience (AJOB Neuroscience). Volume 3, Issue 3:3.  July-September 2012.

An exhibition featuring illustrations by Thomas Nast and Winslow Homer from the collection of Professor of Religious Studies Emeritus Jay G. Williams '54 is on view at the Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown.  “On the Home Front: New York in the Civil War” displays articles from the Civil War era and will be open through Dec. 31.

Heidi M. Ravven, professor of religious studies, recently published an essay titled "Maimonides' Non-Kantian Moral Psychology: Maimonides and Kant on the Garden of Eden."  The essay appears in a volume of The Journal of Jewish Thought & Philosophy devoted to 'The Kant-Maimonides Constellation" (volume 20, number 2, 2012).

An article on The Washington Post website titled “Atheists find a new venue for the godless: on film,” and released by the Religion News Service, quoted Visiting Associate Professor of Religious Studies S. Brent Plate.  “An independent faith film festival will create film fests for similar reasons — to be with other, like-minded people, to laugh together and cry together and think together,” Plate said in the article that focused on the San Francisco-based, annual Atheist Film Festival. Published on Aug. 17, the article also appeared on the The Times-Picayune site.

Abhishek Amar, assistant professor of religious studies, presented an invited talk on July 24 in the department of history at the Hyderabad Central University in India. In “Conflict and Coexistence: Buddhist Hindu Interactions in the Early Medieval Eastern India” Amar examined the role of Hinduism in the disappearance and decline of Buddhism in India.

Brent Plate, visiting associate professor of religious studies, presented two papers this summer. The first was at the International Media, Religion and Culture conference, a scholarly meeting held biennially in a different part of the world. This year's conference was hosted by Anadolu University in Eskisehir, Turkey.

Assistant Professor of Religious Studies Abhishek Amar presented an invited lecture about the beginning of exploration and excavation of ancient religious centers on July 12 at the Deccan College Post Graduate Research Institute in Pune, India.

Visiting Associate Professor of Religious Studies S. Brent Plate guest-edited the June 2012 issue of the journal CrossCurrents (Wiley-Blackwell). The issue theme is "The Mediation of Meaning," and includes articles by scholars and artists working in museum studies, art and religious studies.