Race, Religion, Gender, and Multidisciplinary Studies

Dr. Betsy Perabo, Interim Chair/Professor of Religious Studies

Betsy Perabo

B.A., Northwestern University; M.Div., Harvard Divinity School; Ph.D., Yale University
Coordinator, Department of Race, Religion, Gender, and Multidisciplinary Studies
Program Coordinator, African American Studies, Religious Studies, and Women’s Studies

Dr. Perabo joined the Department in 2005.

Contact Info

Office: Morgan Hall 232C
Phone: (309) 298-2214
E-mail: BC-Perabo@wiu.edu

Office Hours: Please contact Dr. Perabo for the current semester's office hours.

Courses

  • LAS 195 - Introduction to Liberal Arts and Sciences
  • LAS 495 - Liberal Arts and Sciences Senior Capstone
  • REL 101 - Religion and Popular Culture
  • REL 111 - Introduction to Western Religions
  • REL 300 - Religion, Ethics, and Law
  • REL 301 - Religion in America
  • REL 303 - Women in Religion
  • REL 456 - Religion and War
  • REL 494 - Religion and African American Culture
  • WS 190 - Introduction to Women’s Studies

Areas of Specialization

Religious Ethics; Religion and War; Women and Religion

Selected Publications

Russian Orthodoxy and the Russo-Japanese War (London: Bloomsbury Press, 2017).

“What People are For: Agrarianism and Religion in the Heartland.” In Tom Sadler, ed., Local Food Systems and Activism in the Heartland: An Interdisciplinary Perspective (Common Ground Publishing, 2013): 146-161.

"How Soldiers, Too, Can Be Saved: Allegiance and Idolatry in the U.S. Military." Political Theology 11:2 (2010): 247-270.

"The Proportionate Treatment of Enemy Subjects: A Reformulation of the Principle of Discrimination." Journal of Military Ethics 7:2 (2008): 136-156.

Selected Conference Presentations

Refereed:

“Clergy, Protest, and Rebellion: Russia’s 1905 Revolution.” Society of Christian Ethics, Louisville, Kentucky, January 3-6, 2019.

“The Novel as Sacred Text:  Teaching Station Eleven.” Teaching Religion Section and SBL Academic Teaching and Biblical Studies Section, American Academy of Religion, San Antonio, Texas, November 19-22, 2016.

“The Christ-Loving Military: War, Empire, and Political Theology in Russia." Society of Christian Ethics, Toronto, Ontario, January 8-10, 2016.

“Christ-Loving Soldiers of a Christian Nation?  Religion and the Military in Late Imperial Russia.” Sixth Biennial Conference of the Association for the Study of Eastern Christian History and Culture, Memphis, Tennessee, September 17-19, 2015.

“Churches at War: The Conflict between Protestant and Orthodox Missions in the Russo-Japanese War.” Ecclesiological Investigations Group, American Academy of Religion, San Diego, CA, November 21-24, 2014.

“Political Theology in Time of War: Nikolai of Japan on Patriotism and Orthodoxy.” Religion and Politics Section, American Academy of Religion, Baltimore, MD, November 22-25, 2013.

Organizational Memberships/Affiliations

American Academy of Religion; Society of Christian Ethics; Association for the Study of Eastern Christian History and Culture