In a column on May 1, 2012, journalist Mark Oppenheimer argued that, in the American media scene, comedian Jon Stewart is a religion teacher extraordinaire. Much can be said about this judgment on Stewart (which has predictably raised some strong reactions on both sides), but what is perhaps universally agreed upon is Oppenheim’s appraisal that it is difficult “to find good writing about religion” and “harder still to find good television about religion.” By examining several case studies plucked from recent headlines, Dean Mitchell will engage the question of the proper role of the academic study of religion in relation to contemporary media coverage.

Margaret M. Mitchell is Dean of the Divinity School and Shailer Mathews Professor of New Testament and Early Christian Literature at the School.  Her most recent book, published in 2011, is titled Paul, the Corinthians and the Birth of Christian Hermeneutics 

$20/person; $10/young alumni (College graduates of the past 10 years and professional school graduates of the past five years)

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