Dr. Bryan Rennie, Westminster College associate professor and Vira I. Heinz chair in religion, was the keynote speaker at the biennial conference of the Association for the Study of Eastern Christian History and Culture held Oct. 5 at Ohio State University.

Rennie's presentation was "Eastern Orthodox Thought and Mircea Eliade's Understanding of Religion."

Rennie has conducted extensive research into the life of Eliade, a leading historian of religion who taught for many years at the University of Chicago and came from a Romanian Orthodox background. Rennie compared Eliade's thought with the theology of the Eastern Orthodox Church to understand that church's influence on Eliade's understanding of religion.

"It was a particular honor to be invited to give this talk, since this is an association of particularly high academic standards," Rennie said. "It was a little daunting to be lecturing professors from Ohio State, Harvard, Columbia, and other major schools from all over the country. However, they were a wonderful audience and the discussion after the talk was lively and stimulating."

Rennie has published four books and several articles about Eliade.

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

Contact Rennie at (724) 946-7151 or e-mail brennie@westminster.edu for additional information. 

Dr. Bryan Rennie at Ohio State