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Visiting Associate Professor of Religious Studies Brent Plate gave invited public lectures at two of the top-ranked universities in Asia – National University Singapore and Seoul National University, Korea. At each, he was invited to present on his recently published book, A History of Religion in 5½ Objects.

WAMC/Northeast Public Radio will feature a reading by Visiting Associate Professor of Religious Studies S. Brent Plate on Monday, March 17, as part of the station’s Academic Minute. Plate’s piece is titled “An object lesson in religious history” and relates to the topics explored in his new book, A History of Religion in 5 ½ Objects. In a related essay, "A History of Religion in 11 Objects," Plate offered 11 images with his text to illustrate his Huffington Post piece.

On the eve of its release, A History of Religion in 5 ½ Objects, written by Visiting Associate Professor of Religious Studies S. Brent Plate, was given a starred review by the Library Journal. The publication described Plate’s work as “an elegant and sensitive book … highly recommended to general readers open to a different perspective on religious practice.”

Visiting Associate Professor of Religious Studies Brent Plate was elected president of the Association for Religion and Intellectual Life (ARIL)/CrossCurrents during a recent meeting of the board of directors in New York City.

Ivan Gaskell, professor of cultural history and museum studies at the Bard Graduate Center, New York City, will discuss the display of objects in museum spaces in a lecture on Thursday, Feb. 20, at 6 p.m., in the Overlook in the Wellin Museum. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Visiting Associate Professor of Religious Studies S. Brent Plate discussed the disappearance of churches in Upstate New York and across the nation with alumnus David Chanatry ’80 during Chanatry’s report, “Another Church Shuttered In MohawkValley,” broadcast on public radio station WAMC on Feb. 12. Plate was quoted earlier this week in a Washington Times article titled “Hollywood films a testament to renewed interest in Bible stories.”

Abhishek Amar, assistant professor of religious studies, published a chapter titled "The Buddhaksetra of Bodhgaya: Sangha, Exchanges and Trade-Networks," in the volume titled Religions and Trade: Religious Formation, Transformation and Cross-Cultural Exchange between East and West, Leiden: Brill, 2013.

Professor of History Thomas Wilson spoke about Confucian philosophy has influenced modern Chinese cuisine and how “…Confucius has become a brand in a sense," in an article in the Chicago Tribune. In “Philosophy influenced Chinese cuisine,” published on Jan. 10, Wilson summarized the trend.  "It's marketable, and Confucius is the friendly face of civility that kind of replaces the scary face of Mao in past days."

Visiting Associate Professor of Religious Studies S. Brent Plate was featured in an article in the Deseret News National Edition  titled “How religious art makes secular museums into sacred spaces,” published on Jan. 3. Two sacred objects from the Wellin Museum of Art, an Austrian Schwaz Nativity and a pre-Columbian seated funerary urn, were also displayed prominently in the article.

S. Brent Plate, visiting associate professor of religious studies, wrote an essay published on Dec. 12 on the Religion Dispatches site titled “Religion without God: ‘Cults,’ Pious Atheists, and Our Own Human Bodies.”