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World Religions

The MCLLC faculty in the World Religions cluster explore different religious traditions from various disciplinary approaches to the study of religion including religious studies, history, literary and cultural studies, folkloristics, archeology and anthropology.. MCLLC faculty teach many courses that count toward the World Religion minor, an expansive orientation to the diversity of human religious phenomena and the place these have in a complex, global society and its intellectual traditions.

Aiyub Palmer is currently working on a project to study early Islamic wisdom literature, particularly the Book of Wisdom by al-Hakim al-Tirmidhi (d. 912 CE). The study aims to place Islamic wisdom literature within the larger context of wisdom literature found in Syriac. 

Jeanmarie Rouhier-Willoughby is currently researching a project on vernacular religion and religious legends about three sacred springs in western Siberia located on the site of Stalin-era prison camps (GULAGs). Believers' interactions with these springs illustrate the complex strands of contemporary Siberian Russian identity. The project explores the legacy of the USSR and attitudes toward the Soviet past, the role of the springs within the community of believers over time, and the memory of GULAG victims.