Westminster Religion Professor's Research Published in Encyclopedia and a Variety of Edited Volumes

Dr. Bryan Rennie, Vira I. Heinz professor of religion at Westminster College, recently had his research, "Eliade (Further Considerations,)" added to the second edition of the Macmillan Encyclopedia of Religion.

 "I consider this a particularly significant achievement since the Macmillan Encyclopedia is the standard reference work in the field and is almost universally consulted," Rennie said.  "The first edition was edited by Eliade himself, and I consider it a mark of the respect with which my work is regarded that I was invited to contribute this entry.  The second edition has already been advertised as forthcoming this year, and my entry is listed in the table of contents."

 Rennie completed an article "Heterophenomenology and Self-Knowledge" which will be included in the anthology, Rethinking Religion 101: Praxis, Pedagogy and the Future of Religious Studies, which will be published by the Cambridge University Press.  He also completed the manuscript for an edited volume titled, The International Eliade, forthcoming from the State University of New York Press.  This volume contains essays from scholars of religion all over the world assessing the work of the Romanian-American historian of religion, Mircea Eliade.

 In July, he presented a paper, "Collaborative Research Communities: The Case of Zoroastrian Studies," to the second International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities in Prato, near Florence, Italy.

 "I have continued to work with my fellow editor, Philip Tite, currently at Cambridge University, United Kingdom, on the anthology Underlying Terror: Religious Studies Perspectives on the War on Terrorism," Rennie said.  "I am also organizing a panel in response to this volume at the 19th International Congress of the International Association for the History of Religions to be held in Tokyo in March, 2005.  At the same conference I am also organizing and presenting on a panel of international scholars on the potential contribution of the philosophy of science to the study of religion."

 "However, my main research at the moment concentrates on Mircea Eliade: A Critical Reader," Rennie continues.  "It is extensive, and, I believe, an important project that will concentrate on all of the issues surrounding the life and work of Mircea Eliade in a single volume."

 Rennie, who has been with Westminster College since 1994, earned his undergraduate, master's and Ph.D. from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland.

 For more information, contact Rennie at (724) 946-7151 or e-mail brennie@westminster.edu.

Dr. Bryan Rennie