Philosophy and Religious Studies

Chaplain Jane Ellen Nickell’s book We Shall Not Be Moved: Methodists Debate Race, Gender, and Homosexuality has just been published by Wipf and Stock Publishers.

Source: Academics, Publications & Research

By Nahla Bendefaa

A fascination with logic and a dream of becoming a cardiovascular surgeon is what brought Alexander Marrero ’18 to Allegheny College.

Alexander, from Hawley, Pa., enrolled at Allegheny to pursue his interests in pre-medicine and philosophy.

Alexander was introduced to Allegheny last spring during his senior-year overnight visit when he got the chance to tour the campus and talk to representatives from the admissions office. But what convinced him to attend the College was the “feeling” of the campus, where the student-to-faculty ratio is 11:1, says Alexander.

“I felt like I found a place where I can thrive emotionally and mentally, especially considering the relationship between professors and students,” he says. “I would not be able to have that had I been competing with 50,000 other students.”

During his first month on campus, Alexander immersed himself in the community — both on and off campus.

Alexander secured a seat on the Allegheny Student Government as a senator for the Class of 2018. He also instructs martial arts at the Tank Su Do Academy in downtown Meadville as part of the Dance and Movement Studies program. In addition to that, Alexander is collaborating with the YMCA in Meadville on a martial arts instruction program.

He says he would like to combat poverty and homelessness in Crawford County through the YMCA programs. “I want to provide the children in the area with a positive path to follow so they can grow and expand in their knowledge of what actually exists around them,” he says.

Not only is Alexander a social worker and budding leader, he is also an artist. He is a self-taught pianist, and you can find him on many days in Ford Chapel practicing on the concert Steinway piano for two to three hours.

Of his affinity for music, he says, “It’s my way of expressing myself — putting into music what I can’t put into words. I am not fitting my schedule around piano, I am fitting my schedule around something that is necessary for me to function. Not that I am taking music over my grades or anything.”

Source: Academics, Publications & Research

Professor of Philosophy Eric Palmer was elected president of the International Development Ethics Association (IDEA) at the 30th anniversary IDEA Congress in San Jose, Costa Rica, in July. At the meeting he presented the paper “Vulnerable due to hope: aspiration paradox as a cross-cultural concern.” Palmer engaged in library research in Europe using funds from a GLCA New Directions grant earlier this summer. He also presented at the 20th anniversary meetings of the International Society for the History of Philosophy of Science on work that is forthcoming as “Less Radical Enlightenment: A Christian Wing of the French Enlightenment,” in Steffen Ducheyne, ed., The Ashgate Research Companion to the Radical Enlightenment (UK: Ashgate, anticipated 2016). Working with Fred Gifford of Michigan State University, he has been awarded a federal grant to develop a National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute for College and University Teachers on Development Ethics and Global Justice: Gender, Economics and Environment. The four-week institute, which will occur in 2015 at Michigan State, follows upon a similar institute developed by the two directors for summer 2013. Palmer continues for a second year alongside Sirkku Hellsten as editor of Journal of Global Ethics.

Source: Academics, Publications & Research

Oxford University Press has accepted and will be publishing Professor of Religious Studies Carl Olson’s latest book, Indian Asceticism: Power, Violence, and Play, in the fall. Olson’s essay “The Conflicting Themes of Nonviolence and Violence in Ancient Indian Asceticism as Evident in the Practice of Fasting” has been published in the International Journal of Dharma Studies (2014, 2:1): 1-14. The essay is based on a paper delivered two years ago at the annual convention of the American Academy of Religion.

Source: Academics, Publications & Research

Professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies Eric Palmer guest-edited Issue 9.3 of Journal of Global Ethics in 2013. Last summer he took on the role of co-editor of the same journal, a Taylor & Francis / Routledge publication, for 2014 forward. He works alongside Sirkku Hellsten of the University of Dar es Salaam. Issue 10.1 is now published. Palmer will present at two conferences this summer and will pursue research in history and philosophy of science and in development ethics at various locales about Europe and within Costa Rica.

Source: Academics, Publications & Research

During the annual convention of the American Academy of Religion from November 23-26 in Baltimore, Professor of Religious Studies Carl Olson presented a paper titled “Violence, Power, the Demonic, and Indian Asceticism” for a panel on Religion and Violence. His essay “The Sacred Book” (pp. 19-38) was republished in “The Book: A Global History” (2013), edited by Michael Suarez, S.J., and H. R. Woudhuysen and published by Oxford University Press. This is a condensed version of a two-volume boxed set originally published in 2010.

Source: Academics, Publications & Research

Professor of Religious Studies Carl Olson’s essay “The Ludic Quality of Life: A Comparison of the Caitanya Caritamrta and the Zhuangzi” has been published in Brahman and Dao: Comparative Studies of Indian and Chinese Philosophy and Religion (edited by Ithamar Theodor and Zhihua Yao and published by Rowman & Littlefield.) This is the first book to compare Indian and Chinese thought instead of the usual western-eastern types of comparative work.

Source: Academics, Publications & Research