Ph.D. in Religious Studies
University of California,

Santa Barbara

Email: vbiondo--@--csufresno.edu

(remove the dashes and include a specific subject line)

Statement:

In 1963 the Supreme Court of the United States in Abington v. Schempp recognized that understanding the world’s cultures and the role of religion in them is vital to national interests.  Justices Goldberg and Harlan clarified how this would occur when they wrote that there is a clear difference between teaching religion and teaching about religion.  As a professor of Western Religions at a public university I am committed to increasing knowledge and understanding about Judaism, Christianity, and Islam without indoctrinating students into a particular faith or ideology.  I do this using a History of Religions methodology that is comparative and multidisciplinary and examines how religious phenomena interact with their historical and political contexts.  Mircea Eliade popularized this approach in the United States and influenced a generation of scholars including my teacher at UCSB Richard D. Hecht.  Another important scholar in this field was Ninian Smart who argued that scholarship pursued with empathy and epoche, or bracketing one’s own judgment, makes it possible to apply the leading social scientific methods of the twentieth century to increasing our understanding and appreciation of religion and its role in the world.  At the undergraduate level, an exploration of the richness and complexities of the world’s religions effectively sharpens critical thinking and communication skills.

Recent Publications:

Co-editor, Religion in the Practice of Daily Life, 3 Volumes, expected 2008.

“Between Tribalism and Pluralism in the U.S. and Britain,” The Muslim World, Hartford Seminary, from 2007 CIR Conference at Yale University, expected April 2008.

“Islam in Los Angeles,” Encyclopedia of Islam in the United States, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard University, Jocelyne Cesari, ed., Greenwood Press, 2007.

“The Architecture of Mosques in the U.S. and Britain,” Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, Volume 26, Issue 3, December 2006, pp. 399-420.

“Islam and Public Space in the U.S. and Britain,” Doctoral Dissertation, Department of Religious Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara, December 2005.

Courses Taught:

Philosophy 165T - Judaism, Philosophy 10 - Religion and Society, Philosophy 132 - Religion and the Margin, Philosophy 165T - Islam, Philosophy 2 - Exploring Religious Meaning, Philosophy 192 - Religion in Public Life, Religion 1300 – World Religions, Religion 3936 – Islam in the U.S., Religious Studies 104 – Theory and Methods in the Study of Religion

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Resources for CSU Fresno Students:

Take Stephen Prothero's Religious Literacy Quiz on page 4 of Bostonia, Spring 2007

Russell McCutcheon's two-page introduction to "What is Religious Studies?"

Learn about the Religious Studies Option from the Department of Philosophy

Learn about the new U.S. Department of Education minor program in Middle East Studies and our inaugural conference October 16-18, 2008

Learn how to Study Abroad or apply for a Fulbright

UNC Writing Center on Religious Studies classes, thesis statements, and how to footnote Chicago-style

List of graduate programs in Religious Studies and the American Academy of Religion

Books:

A bibliography can be found at the end of each entry in your library's Encyclopedia of Religion

Due to library construction you currently need to request books online from the Henry Madden Library website.  They are then made available for pick-up at the circulation desk, usually within 24 hours.  There is a new database called Link+ where you can search many California libraries at once and order the same way.  Oxford University Press publishes textbooks in Religious Studies.

If you find an essential book in the University of California Library system or in Google Books then you can request it via Interlibrary Loan

Journal Articles:

Academic Search Premier and JSTOR have the most religion related journal articles for free download in Adobe's .pdf format.  (You may need to be within the campus computer network.  Journals that are "peer-reviewed" are more likely to be academic.)

Newspapers:

The Fresno Bee, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, and Newsweek/Washington Post each have weekly religion sections.

You can also search for religion-related news stories at The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, PBS Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly, Religion Dispatches, and Trinity College Religion in the News

From within the campus computer network you can search most of the nation's newspapers at LexisNexis or ProQuest

The First Amendment Center's Religious Liberty in Public Life page introduces issues of national concern.

Research Centers:

UC Santa Barbara Capps Center, Boston College Boisi Center, Harvard Pluralism Project, Carnegie Council, Social Science Research Council, Brookings Institution, Congressional Research Service, Columbia Earth Institute

Other Resources:

British Library Sacred Texts Online Gallery, Gifford Lectures, MacArthur Fellows, Nobel Foundation, American Academy, New York Review of Books

Internet Search Engines:

When you are searching for something specific then Google and Wikipedia can be convenient ways to find links to relevant websites.  When conducting research, however, please keep in mind that these services provide popular, not authoritative sources.  It is still your job to evaluate the authority of the source.  If the names of the publisher and individual author are difficult to find, then you may not be able to evaluate their qualifications.  Here is a guide from Cal library on how to evaluate websites.