Professor Carl Ernst has devoted his academic life to translating Islam, linguistically and culturally. From his first book, Words of Ecstasy in Sufism (1985), to his most recent book, co-edited with Fabrizio Speziale, Perso-Indica: An Analytical Survey of Persian Works on Indian Learned Traditions (2017), he has focused on how Islamic concepts have traveled across […]

A talk by Amir Soltani, an Iranian-American writer, journalist, and human rights activist who has worked in business, media, nonprofits, and philanthropy. What is religious persecution? What forms does a modern inquisition take? Who enforces it and how? What is the role of language? What does it mean to be changed as a heretic, to […]

All students are invited to our undergraduate Course Fair on Tuesday, Nov. 7, 11:30am-1:00pm (Carolina Hall 124), where flyers for all our Spring 2018 courses (see below) will be available to browse around the room, and professors representing the different subfields in our department will be present to speak with students about specific courses. Our […]

This year, the Annual Meetings of the American Academy of Religion and the Society of Biblical Literature will be held in Boston, MA, from November 18-21. Numerous faculty and graduate students in UNC's Department of Religious Studies will be participating in a variety of capacities. For more information, see the descriptions on the AAR or […]

Sound, Architecture, and Islamic Reform: The Attenuation of Ritual Resonance in the Built Environment of Cairene Saint Veneration with Dr. Michael Frishkopf Dr. Michael Frishkopf is Professor of Ethnomusicology in the Department of Music and Adjunct Professor in both Religious Studies and the Division of Community Engagement, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry at the University […]

Spring 2018 classes begin for all students on January 10, 2018. For more information, see registrar.unc.edu.

The 15th Annual Duke-UNC Graduate Middle East and Islamic Studies Conference “Map, Territory,​ and​ Boundary​” The conference  will take place February 9-10, 2018 at Sanford Rubenstein Hall, 200 at Duke University. Geography and territoriality are not only the subjects of ongoing contestation, but also compelling paradigms to engage with broader interrelated questions pertaining to the modern makeup of […]

On Tuesday, Feb. 20 at 3:30 pm, at Bull's Head Lounge (3rd floor UNC Student Stores), Bart Ehrman, James A. Gray Distinguished Professor, will be reading from his just-published book, "The Triumph of Christianity: How a Forbidden Religion Swept the World." Shortly after Jesus’ death, a small group of his followers came to believe he had […]