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Religion Professor Invited to Speak in Romania

Posted on Monday, September 11, 2006

Dr. Bryan Rennie, Westminster College associate professor of religion, has been invited to speak at a conference in Romania later this month.

The sixth conference of the European Association for the Study of Religion (EASR), combined with a special conference of the International Association for the History of Religion (IAHR) by the Romanian Association for the History of Religion (RAHR) will take place Sept. 20-23 in Bucharest.

"The conference in Bucharest, the original home of the famous historian of religion Mircea Eliade (1907-86), includes a special session on the legacy of Eliade," Rennie said. "Eliade taught at the University of Chicago for 30 years and was one of the most popular, influential, and widely known historians of religion. I have two books published on Eliade and another two currently in preparation with publishers."

Rennie will speak on "The Influence of Eastern Orthodox Christian Theology on Mircea Eliade's Understanding of Religion" at the special session on Eliade.

"I share the sentiment of many scholars that the influence of Eliade's Romanian Orthodox background was very significant in his understanding of religion," Rennie said. "In this paper I will inspect Eliade's personal history as the cause of this influence and indicate specific correlations between Eliade's analysis of religion and Orthodox theology as its result."

"It is always an honor to be invited to a conference, and doubly so to be financed entirely by the organizers," Rennie continued. "This particular conference promises to be the greatest meetings of Eliade scholars that has ever been held, and the combination of the EASR and the IAHR promises to make this a very significant conference on the history of religion in general. It will be a privilege to attend."

Rennie, who has been with Westminster College since 1994, is also the Vira I. Heinz Chair in Religion. He earned his undergraduate degree, master's and Ph.D. from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. Rennie has written four books and several articles about Eliade.

Contact Rennie at (724) 946-7151 or e-mail brennie@westminster.edu for more information. Visit the Website www.rahr.ro/RAHR/Conference 2006/index.htm for more information about the conference.

Dr. Bryan Rennie