Students enjoying time together at a monthly social event

Monthly Social

First Wednesday of every month from 12:00-1:30pm
Gilmore Hall, third floor atrium

All students are welcome to join us for pizza and conversation with fellows students, faculty, and staff.  We also serve a second (seasonal) lunch item, and in addition there are games and prizes. 

The department works to foster long-term community through a number of events. 

Information about these will be communicated via various social media platforms and will also be available here.

Upcoming events

Virtual Editorial Session with Mark Simpson-Vos promotional image

Virtual Editorial Session with Mark Simpson-Vos

Wednesday, December 3, 2025 12:00pm to 1:00pm
Virtual

Working on a book proposal? Starting to turn your dissertation into a book? Have questions about the academic publishing industry? Join us for one of two “ask-an-editor-anything” sessions with former Obermann Editor-in-Residence Mark Simpson-Vos.

Wednesday, December 3 from 12-1pm and 4-5pm (on Zoom).

Space is limited, RSVP required. RSVP here: https://obermann.uiowa.edu/MSV-virtual

Virtual Editorial Session with Mark Simpson-Vos promotional image

Virtual Editorial Session with Mark Simpson-Vos

Wednesday, December 3, 2025 4:00pm to 5:00pm
Virtual

Working on a book proposal? Starting to turn your dissertation into a book? Have questions about the academic publishing industry? Join us for one of two “ask-an-editor-anything” sessions with former Obermann Editor-in-Residence Mark Simpson-Vos.

Wednesday, December 3 from 12-1pm and 4-5pm (on Zoom).

Space is limited, RSVP required. RSVP here: https://obermann.uiowa.edu/MSV-virtual

View more events

Past events

Small Bites promotional image

Small Bites

Friday, November 14, 2025 3:00pm
Gilmore Hall
Bite-sized lectures about food and religion.
Cemetery Walk with Professor Brandon Dean promotional image

Cemetery Walk with Professor Brandon Dean

Saturday, November 1, 2025 1:45pm to 2:45pm
Oakland Cemetery
Learn how to "read" a cemetery, explore the porous boundaries between the living and the dead, meet the Black Angel, and more!
Monty Python and the Holy Grail promotional image

Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Wednesday, October 1, 2025 6:00pm to 9:00pm
Iowa Memorial Union (IMU)
The Department of Religious Studies presents Monty Python's "Holy Grail"
Sacred Spaces Walking Tour promotional image

Sacred Spaces Walking Tour

Saturday, September 6, 2025 1:00pm to 3:00pm
Congregational United Church of Christ
Professor Brandon Dean leads a walking tour of 5 beautiful sacred spaces in downtown Iowa City
Wide Lens: LISTENING promotional image

Wide Lens: LISTENING

Thursday, May 8, 2025 5:30pm
Voxman Music Building

In a world full of noise, we often try to listen—to conversations with colleagues and family, to music in our headphones, to videos blasting from our smartphones. We hear all these things daily, but what does it mean to truly listen? In what sense do devices also listen to us? What is the role of silence in listening? How has listening changed over time? Can political tensions be solved through listening? How is listening both an art and a science?

This Wide Lens event brings together researchers...

Our Roots: A Celebration of Jewish Heritage promotional image

Our Roots: A Celebration of Jewish Heritage

Friday, May 2, 2025 5:00pm to 6:00pm
University of Iowa Pentacrest
For Jewish American Heritage Month, join us on the Pentacrest, outside of Macbride Hall, as we celebrate Jewish stories through student speakers, music, and a reflection activity that pays homage to the Anne Frank Tree Sapling.
Webinar: Exploring Anne Frank & Difficult Life Stories promotional image

Webinar: Exploring Anne Frank & Difficult Life Stories

Friday, April 4, 2025 10:00am to 12:00pm
Virtual

Discover how Anne Frank’s story continues to shape conversations on empathy, education, and human rights in a compelling webinar featuring scholars from across the U.S.

Join the University  of Iowa (UI) Anne Frank Initiative, an International Programs affinity group, on Friday, April 4, 2025, at 10 a.m. (CDT) as they host an insightful and engaging webinar featuring several esteemed authors from the groundbreaking book, Exploring Anne Frank and Difficult Life Stories (Routledge, 2025).

Hear...

(Re)Defining the Autoerotic in Medieval Religious Enclosure promotional image

(Re)Defining the Autoerotic in Medieval Religious Enclosure

Friday, March 28, 2025 3:00pm to 4:30pm
English-Philosophy Building

Michelle Sauer is the Chester Fritz Distinguished Professor at the University of North Dakota and an expert on medieval women, sexuality and religiosity.

Discussion of Contraception and American Religion promotional image

Discussion of Contraception and American Religion

Wednesday, March 26, 2025 4:00pm to 5:00pm
Jefferson Building

Join the University of Iowa (UI) Jewish Studies Network, an International Programs affinity group, as they host Samira K. Mehta for a discussion on contraception and American religion.

Her forthcoming book, God Bless the Pill: Sexuality, Contraception, and American Religion, examines the role of Jewish, Catholic, and Protestant voices in competing moral logics of contraception, population control, and eugenics from the mid-20h century to the present.

This reading is co-sponsored by the Jewish...

Authoritarianism and Christian Nationalism in Viktor Orban’s Hungary promotional image

Authoritarianism and Christian Nationalism in Viktor Orban’s Hungary

Friday, November 1, 2024 6:00pm to 7:30pm
Old Capitol Museum

Since 2010, Viktor Orban has consolidated power as prime minister of Hungary, a central European country whose democratic institutions he has weakened primarily through a form of governance he terms "illiberal democracy" as well as through the nationwide advancement of Christian nationalism. Dr. Ben Novak will discuss the intersections of modern Hungarian politics and religion, how the people there are impacted by Orban's autocratic policies, and why some here view Orban's leadership and the...

View more events