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Contact Us
Director and Professor of Religious Studies
Numen Lumen Pavilion 205
2960 Campus Box
Elon, NC 27244
(336) 278-5988
bpennington4@elon.edu
Associate Professor of Religious Studies & Director of Multi-faith Scholars
Spence Pavilion-Religion/Phil., office 209
2340 Campus Box Campus Box
Elon, NC 27244
(336) 278-6484
aallocco@elon.edu
TwitterWelcome
The Elon Center for the Study of Religion, Culture, and Society is the research arm of the Elon University multi-faith center, which is located in the heart of campus and seeks to foster a diverse community of study, discourse and practice that promotes mutual understanding and respect across and within religious traditions and belief systems and contributes to the development of global citizenship.
The Elon Center for the Study of Religion, Culture, and Society highlights and promotes the interdisciplinary study of religion, culture, and society. This faculty-led center draws together faculty from disciplines across Elon’s campus, with students, staff, community members, and experts from the region and beyond. The Center will work to foster research, teaching, and dialogue that informs community knowledge and action. Pursuing fulfillment of Elon’s commitment to multi-faith education and engagement, the CSRCS convenes and facilitates dialogue that advances the understanding of the role of religion in society with intellectual rigor and academic integrity.
The Center offers rich and varied resources to fulfill the university’s vision of encouraging spiritual formation and expression, promoting religious literacy and respect for diverse faith traditions and world views, examining the role of religion in society, and supporting research and scholarship on religion. The Center invites broad participation of community members into meaningful dialogue, regardless of personal professions of faith, as a reflection of our commitment to modeling the respectful exchange of ideas and perspectives.
Center Intiatives include:
- Supporting the interdisciplinary study of religion on Elon's campus among faculty and students;
- Sponsoring colloquia on emerging and enduring issues related to the role of religion in culture and society;
- Promoting excellence in undergraduate research related to the study of religion;
- Establishing an international scholar-in-residence program;
- Offering support for faculty on engaging the topic of religion in academic settings.
News and Events
- Gatti presents two papers at the International Medieval Studies Congress, chairs panels, and serves as president of EPS
Evan A. Gatti, associate professor of art history and associate director of the Elon Core Curriculum, presented "Drawn in Ink With Love: Desire in Looking at and Looking Back” and "Re-Presentation and a Theology of Images" at the International Medieval Studies Congress in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
- ‘On the Edge of Apocalypse’ Symposium papers published
Papers from the inaugural scholarly meeting held by the Center for the Study of Religion Culture and Society in 2017 were recently published in CrossCurrents journal.
- Annual awards luncheon recognizes Elon faculty, staff for excellence
Members of Elon’s faculty and staff, along with retiring employees, were honored May 15 for excellence and service to Elon.
- Amy Allocco presents invited lecture at the University of Helsinki
Allocco’s invited talk at the University of Helsinki is the last of five she has presented about her current project, "Domesticating the Dead: Invitation and Installation Rites in Tamil South India," this academic year.
- Ariela Marcus-Sells publishes article in journal History of Religions
The article by the assistant professor of religious studies examines an Arabic text written by a Sufi Muslim scholar named Sīdi Muḥammad al-Kuntī, who lived in the Sahara Desert in the 19th century. The article argues that this scholar based his family's claim to social authority on their control over powerful practices that they called "the sciences of the unseen."