Reading Religion Salon

Examining and Reviewing Books on Religion

The Reading Religion Salon explores scholarly perspectives on religious pluralism, tolerance, conflict, and discrimination across geographies and disciplines. Salon scholars collectively read and discuss books related to religious pluralism and religion as they intersect public life. They also engage in professional development training.

In the Spring of 2026, the Boniuk Institute expanded the Reading Religion Salon to include public participation, welcoming scholars, professionals, and lifelong learners into conversations about some of the most important new scholarship on religious discrimination and religious pluralism. Building on that success, the Institute will continue to welcome new public audiences for thoughtful discussion.

The Reading Religion Salon will take place in the Spring of 2027, and meets on Thursdays from 11:30-1:00pm CST.

2026 Schedule

January 29, 2026
Religion and the American University, by James Fraser

February 5, 2026
The Limits of Diversity, by Esther Chan

February 19, 2026
Religious Activism on Campuses in Togo and Benin: Christian and Muslim Students Navigating Authoritarianism and Laïcité, 1970-2023, Frédérick Madore

February 26, 2026
Provoking Religion: Sex, Art, and the Culture Wars, by Anthony Petro

March 5, 2026
Religion for Realists: Why We All Need the Scientific Study of Religion, by Samuel Perry

March 12, 2026
Decolonizing Religion and Peacebuilding, by Atalia Omer

March 26, 2026
Black Religion in the Madhouse: Race and Psychiatry in Slavery's Wake, by Judith Weisenfeld

April 2, 2026
Religious Plurality in Africa, by Janson et al.

April 9, 2026
Radical Romanticism: Democracy, Religion, and the Environmental Imagination, by Mark Cladis

April 23, 3036
Animals, Robots, Gods: Adventures in the Moral Imagination, by Webb Keane

Faculty Facilitators
Prof. Elaine Howard Ecklund
Director, Boniuk Institute
Herbert S. Autrey Chair in Social Sciences
Professor of Sociology

Asst. Prof. Judith E. Brunton
Assistant Professor of Religion
Boniuk Institute Faculty Fellow

READ SALON BOOK REVIEWS