Numinosity - Department of Comparative Religion
Students practice empathy and ethnography in visit to controversial church
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Upham Hall
The Department of Comparative Religion equips students to understand how religions impact individuals and societies. In virtually all cultures, throughout recorded history and into the present, religious has been a powerful dimension of social, political, and economic life. It has also had enormous impact on literature, the arts, and human thought.
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#MoveInMiami
Message from the Chair
James C. Hanges
Dear Alumni and Friends:
The 2017-2018 school year was a productive one for the Department of Comparative Religion and our students. Check out a timeline of the highlights.
The 2017-2018 school year, by the numbers:
  • 23 religion minors
  • 39 religion majors
  • 30% increase in the number of religion majors from last year
  • 5 religion majors graduated during 2017-2018
  • 7 students went to Oman/UAE with our study abroad program
  • 9 new inductees to the Theta Alpha Kappa honor society
  • 1023 Miami students enrolled in religion courses (close to 5% of Miami’s undergraduate student body
  • $4600 in Experiential Learning grants awarded to our majors and minors
  • $1700 raised during #MoveInMiami 2017 to support our students’ learning
Your giving enriches students’ learning.
In this issue of numinosity, we’ve highlighted our department’s Experiential Learning Grants. These are funded from two sources:
  • Responsibility Centered Management (RCM) revenue. The university gives our department a share of any extra revenue generated by programs we create outside the fall and spring semesters, such as the Oman/UAE study abroad program.
  • Gifts from you—alumni and friends of the department.
At the start of each school year, as new students move onto campus, Miami holds a fundraising campaign. For #MoveInMiami 2018, our department will raise funds for Experiential Learning Grants. Look for more info later in the summer.
Thank you to all who have given in the past! Please consider giving in August 2018.
James C. Hanges
Chair and Professor

Students practice empathy and ethnography during visit to controversial church
The tiny Westboro Baptist Church is infamous for picketing with signs that condemn gay and lesbian people or thank God for the deaths of American soldiers. In July 2017, five Miami undergrads and a Comparative Religion professor spent a few days interviewing members of the WBC in their home in Topeka, Kansas, in an effort to better understand religious extremism.
With Experiential Learning Grants, students go places
In 2018, our department awarded a total of $4600 to four students, to help them pursue learning experiences away from campus, from Topeka, Kansas, to Akko Israel.
Margaret Hamm
Other Student Achievements
  • Margaret Hamm, a double major in religion and political science, has received a Geoffrion Fellowship, the highest undergraduate honor awarded by Miami’s Humanities Center. As a fellow, Margaret will take part in the Altman Program, a select interdisciplinary community of students and faculty who will work together during the 2018-2019 year to explore the theme “Truth & Lies.”
  • Winners of the annual department awards
  • New inductees into Theta Alpha Kappa, the national honor society for religious studies
College of Arts and Science at Miami University
200 Upham Hall • Oxford, OH 45056 
513-529-4300 • religion@MiamiOH.edu
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