College of Arts and Sciences

Dr. Brian Clites, Archbishop Paul J. Hallinan Professor in Catholic Studies II, was quoted extensively in the article, Pam Bondi Unleashes On Alleged ‘Anti-Christian Bias’ — And A Christian Leader Has Thoughts (HuffPost, April 24, 2025), discussing the Trump administration’s latest task force. Dr. Clites states that Trump’s executive order “cites the First Amendment protection of religious liberty as its guiding principle, but in fact the order itself is a remarkable incursion against the separation of church and state.” He further observes, “By calling out the protection of women’s rights as ‘anti-Christian,’ the administration is uplifting the views of some Christians over and against the views of other Christians,” emphasizing that “American Christians hold diverse views about reproductive justice and Transgender rights”

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The world mourns following the Monday morning news, April 21, of the passing of Pope Francis, the first Latin American leader of the Roman Catholic Church.

Dr. Jonathan Tan, the Archbishop Paul J. Hallinan Professor of Catholic Studies, has been busy reflecting on the legacy of the inspirational late Pope and discussing what comes next. As one can imagine of such a groundbreaking individual, there is much to discuss. He was interviewed live by Singapore’s Channel News Asia (CNA), Ideastream’s Sound of Ideas, and BBC Newsday. He was quoted by USA Today and Time, and has written two op-ed’s for UCA News, “Conclave will reflect Church’s new-found global orientation: Pope Francis sowed the seeds for the internationalization of the papal office itself” (April 24, 2025) and “The future of Vatican-China relations beyond Pope Francis” (April 28, 2025).

Prior to these events, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, a papabile and one of the frontrunners for pope in the 2025 papal conclave, cited Dr. Tan’s work on mission theology and his paradigm of “missio inter gentes” — which is the subject of his second monograph — Christian Mission Among the Peoples of Asia (Orbis Books, 2014) in Cardinal Tagle’s keynote address on April 12, 2025, renewal in the Church through the mission (PIME Asia News, April 13, 2025), to the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (Pontificium Institutum pro Missionibus Exteris, PIME) on the occasion of the 175th anniversary of its foundation.

To learn more about his extensive work, this page will be updated as more events and information become available, so stay tuned!

In the spirit of reflection, catch up on Dr. Tan’s involvement with Pope Francis’s Southeast Asia tour this past Fall.

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Pawo Choyning Dorji, will be visiting CWRU from Wednesday, April 23rd through Friday, April 25th, to screen his films and deliver a talk titled, “Untying Knots of Light and Sculpting Time: Storytelling in Bhutan”. This talk will focus on the themes of interdependence, impermanence, and the motivation behind storytelling. Drawing from personal experiences, along with spiritual and cultural insights, filmmaker, screenwriter, and director Dorji explores how Bhutanese stories are deeply interwoven with Buddhist principles, reflecting Bhutan’s unique perspective on creativity, existence, and happiness.

This event is presented in partnership with the Departments of Religious Studies and English and the Asian Studies Program.

Pawo Choyning Dorji is a 2025 Hildegarde and Elbert Baker Visiting Scholar in the Humanities.

First two events are free and open to the public
Registration for each is requested.

Film Screening and Discussion: Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom
Wednesday, April 23rd; 7pm
Strosacker Auditorium

Untying Knots of Light and Sculpting Time: Storytelling in Bhutan 
Thursday, April 24th; 4pm
Eldred Hall Room 203

For “The Monk and the Gun,” get your ticket here

Film Screening and Discussion: The Monk and the Gun
Friday, April 25th; 7pm
Cinematheque at the Cleveland Institute of Art

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Adam J. Banks will be giving a talk on Thursday, March 20th at 2pm titled, “A Day in the Life of Al Green’s Internet, A Career of Studying It: Black Language, Culture and Technology – on Campus and in Community;” register below.

From texts to techne, from technological artifacts to discourses on science and technology, from participation and innovation to critique and resistance, from FUNK to the sermon and the need for a Black digital hermeneutic, we’ll explore how Black people in this society have engaged with the mutually constitutive relationships that endure between humans and their technologies.

Why can a rhetorical approach be an interdisciplinary hub for humanistic inquiry into technology and tech issues? Exactly what is a “Black digital rhetoric”? How do Black engagements with digital technologies illuminate—and trouble—tensions between liberatory possibilities and ongoing oppressions?

In his talk, Adam Banks, Bass Fellow in Undergraduate Education, and Professor of Education and African and African American Studies (by courtesy) at Stanford University, will use these questions, explorations, and provocations to share reflections on scholarship, teaching and pedagogy and his efforts to take intellectual work off campus and into local communities.

Thursday, March 20th at 2pm

Clark Hall Room 206

Registration requested

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Dr. Howard Chiang of the University of California at Santa Barbara, the Lai Ho & Wu Cho-Liu Endowed Chair in Tawan Studies and Professor of East Asian Languages and Cultural Studies, will deliver his talk on Thursday, March 6th at CWRU. This talk uses the concept of “transtopia” in order to develop a new model of transness. Through three historical examples from the Sinophone Pacific—eunuchs, renyao, and adju — it challenges the assumption that gender nonconforming figures did not exist historically and the idea that the Western category of transgender delivers the best framework for understanding their experience.

Co-sponsored by the Baker-Nord Center for the Humanities and the Departments of History and Religious Studies.

Thursday, March 6th 

12pm – 1:30pm

Mather 100

Light lunch will be served

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Dr. Jonathan Tan presents his talk, “Beyond a Eurocentric Catholic Church: Insights and Reflections from Asian Catholicism,” Wednesday, February 5th at 8pm EST.
The presentation with a following discussion will be hosted via Zoom.
Scan the QR code in the flyer to participate.

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At the invitation of Reed College, Professor Sarma departs for Portland, Oregon to present their lecture “Epistemic Doubt: A Dream We Dreamed One Afternoon Long Ago.” Sarma has wondered if experiences are real or not and if perceptions are merely projections on an underlying undifferentiated and real substrate. Their own congenital epistemic confusion, compounded by a TBI in 1995, led to reflections about mysticism, consciousness and psychedelics. Sarma writes and researches about psychedelics, Cultural Theory, philosophy, post-colonial studies, museology, the Grateful Dead, “Hinduism,” contemporary Hinduism, bioethics, and Madhva Vedanta. Verily, their job is to shed light and not to master.

The lecture takes place January 29th, 2025

https://www.reed.edu/religion/events/

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Dr. Deepak Sarma will be a panelist at the upcoming 2025 PULSE Conference, “Sacred Rights: Psychedelics, Law, and Spirituality,” at Harvard University.

“Scientific and commercial interest in psychedelics is exploding. In the flood of news about drug companies, clinical trials, and state and federal regulation, one might overlook the spiritual use of psychedelics. However, spiritual use long predates Western scientific applications and is seemingly expanding. The trend raises difficult questions for lawyers, ethicists, and religious practitioners. This in-person conference at Harvard Law School emphasizes the spiritual aspects of psychedelic experience. Speakers will explore the complex relationships between psychedelics, religious communities, courts, Congress, and federal agencies. They will discuss how psychedelic law previously impacted spiritual practice and how it should in the future.”

Dr. Sarma’s panel will discuss how constitutional doctrine, drug law, and bioethics affect the spiritual use of psychedelics.

The Conference takes place on February 14th, 2025 from 1-5pm

Registration is free and open to the public.

Following the event, a recording will be made available on the Petrie-Flom Center YouTube channel

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Dr. Jue Liang published a short reflection with the Conversation (US) on a new course she taught in Fall 2024, titiled Ghosts, Zombies, and Monsters: What We Fear and Loathe in Religions. This course was supported by a Flash Grant from the Baker-Nord Center for the Humanities, and explored these fearsome and “other-than-human” beings as embodiment of the issues, concerns, hopes, and fears that have shaped our lives.

Read the reflection here

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