About Religious Studies News
Religious Studies News (RSN), our online magazine, is a platform for students and professionals involved in the teaching and scholarship of religion. RSN communicates important events of the field and examines critical issues in education, pedagogy, research, publishing, and the public understanding of religion.
The Latest from RSN
RSN Articles
RSN Articles
RSN Articles
RSN Podcasts
Our podcast, hosted by Kristian Petersen, explores the latest in religious studies through interviews with award-winning authors.
RSN Podcast
The Roots of Reproductive Injustice with Elizabeth O’Brien
Elizabeth O’Brien, associate professor of history at UCLA and winner of the 2024 AAR Best First Book in the History of Religions Award, speaks to Kristian Petersen about her book, Surgery and Salvation: The Roots of Reproductive Injustice in Mexico, 1770–1940 (The University of North Carolina Press, 2023).
RSN Podcast
The Sovereignty of Hope: Scholarship, Precarity, and the Future of Academic Freedom
This panel — one of Leela Prasad’s presidential plenaries, held at the 2025 AAR Annual Meeting in Boston — explores hope not as naïve optimism, but as a form of sovereignty—a declaration of intellectual and ethical autonomy as well as accountability.
RSN Podcast
Androgynes and Eunuchs in Rabbinic Literature with Max K. Strassfeld
Max K. Strassfeld, associate professor of religion at the University of Southern California and winner of the 2023 AAR Book Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion: Textual Studies, speaks to Kristian Petersen about their book, Trans Talmud: Androgynes and Eunuchs in Rabbinic Literature (University of California Press, 2023).