religious studies

Blueprints for Preservation

April 23, 2024

Lauren Leve and Jim Mahaney partner with Nepalese locals to bring religious heritage sites to life through interviews and digital tools.

The Layers Beneath the Church

October 31, 2022

Michelle Freeman uncovers how clergy and laity revered saints in the fourth to sixth centuries to improve cultural understanding today.

Powered by Libraries

April 6, 2022

UNC-Chapel Hill’s $1.16 billion research enterprise wouldn’t be possible without its 10 libraries and numerous librarians, archivists, and staff members. These resources are vital for the entire research lifecycle, from idea generation to data retrieval to digitization and access.

Spiritual Evolution

April 8, 2021

Through study of a “new” Japanese religion called Tenrikyo and centuries of Japanese history, PhD student Timothy Smith strives to understand how cultural shifts morph belief systems across generations.

Rukmini Deva

June 15, 2016

Senior Rukmini Deva is a SURF recipient and undergraduate researcher in the UNC College of Arts and Sciences majoring in biology, with a minor in religious studies. Her research focuses on monastic silence — a lifetime of voluntary commitment to silence and/or “stillness.” Last summer, she traveled to a Trappist monastery in South Carolina and a Yogoda ashram in India to explore why silence is used as a vehicle of deeper thought and spiritual experience.