Welcome new Scholars!
We are always grateful for new scholars joining our ranks. This year we welcomed a number of new contributors to our work!
Executive Assistant for Marketing and Events, Alexis Waggoner works closely with both Westar’s Marketing Committee and the Executive Director to advance the presence and value of Westar in our culture through social media and the use of digital media in public education. Alexis brings to Westar a unique blend of digital marketing and religious education experience. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism and a Master of Divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary.
We are always grateful for new scholars joining our ranks. This year we welcomed a number of new contributors to our work!
In part two of our Responsible Resurrection series, professor, author, and scholar Bruce Chilton talks about his quest to understand how resurrection worked in period prior to Jesus. What beliefs were prominent? What were the implications of a resurrection story? He concludes that what we are frequently told is the case, is not the case! [...]
We are excited to announce a screening of the new documentary, American Heretics: The Politics of the Gospel, at our Spring Meeting, which features the life and work of Westar scholars and members, among others. This film takes audiences into the Bible belt where a group of defiant ministers, scholars, congregations, and community leaders are challenging [...]
The more we make Jesus "special," the more we play into the hands of Empire. Westar Scholar Art Dewey walks us through how he suggests the Passion narrative came to be what it is -- and why we so often seek to find literal fact where there is none. This is Part I of our [...]
Are history and theology compatible? This is the question our Spring Meeting session with Jack Caputo and Brandon Scott seeks to answer. Here, Jack gives a preview of the discussion. Watch now.
Westar Institute fosters collaborative, cumulative research in religious studies and communicates the results of the scholarship to a broad, non-specialist public.
Help bring accessible religious scholarship into public conversation.