Teaching Religion in Canada (TRiC)
The CSRS launched the new Teaching Religion in Canada (TriC) initiative in September 2025. At the heart of the initiative is the desire to create a space where Canadian scholars of religion can come together to discuss the topic that binds all of us across our various research interests: teaching about religion. Sessions related to pedagogy at the annual Canadian Society for the Study of Religion revealed the intense interest and widespread need for further dialogue and mutual encouragement as—together—we hone the craft and practice of teaching about religion and religious people. We are pleased to be able to support this community of scholars and their passion for teaching by offering opportunities for further learning, interaction and community building.
In this inaugural year we kick things off with a series of four hybrid coffee talks that address themes related to the teaching about religion by Canadians and/or in Canada. These workshops will take place on Sept 26, 2025, Nov 19, 2025, Jan 28, 2026, and March 11, 2026. We will also create a resource list and run a blog on teaching about religion (stay tuned). If you are interested in attending or being added to our TRiC listserv, please reach out to us at csrs@uvic.ca.
Click here to access the video of Ken Derry’s CSRS Lecture “Religion 101: How do we introduce students to the study of religion?”
Directors
Paul Bramadat is Professor of History and Director Emeritus of the Centre for Studies in Religion and Society at the University of Victoria. Paul is interested in the ways we imagine religion and spirituality when we talk about health, diversity, security and civil society. Most of his work concerns religion, spirituality, and secularity in North America and Western Europe, although his attention is increasingly turning to the relationships between these societies and global forces. His most recent research and teaching interests revolve around modern postural yoga in North America.
Rachel Brown is Director of the Centre for Studies in Religion and Society and Assistant Teaching Professor in Anthropology and Religion, Culture and Society at the University of Victoria. Rachel’s research looks at food and migration/minorities, Muslim integration, religious minorities in the Pacific Northwest, lived religion, scholar-practitioner debates, and research positionality and knowledge production.
Ken Derry is Professor of Historical Studies (Teaching Stream) at the University of Toronto, Mississauga. His academic work focuses on the ways in which modern cultural products relate to more “traditional” religious beliefs and practices. What might the Bible tell us about Iron Man, for example – and vice versa? He has examined a range of topics including Christian symbolism, ghosts, Hong Kong film, superheroes, and Disney stories, and has drawn on research in such areas as colonialism, gender, hermeneutics, history, myth, narrative, politics, and ritual studies. His approach to pedagogy emphasizes the importance of student experience, creativity, and critical engagement.
Michel Desjardins is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Religion and Culture at Wilfred Laurier University. Michel taught variously at the University of Toronto and Wilfrid Laurier University from 1984 to 2024. Starting in the early 1990s he advised and published on pedagogical matters relating to the academic study of religion. In 1993-94 he was an AAR Lilly Teaching Fellow and in 2001 he was named a 3M Teaching Fellow. His current research looks at the role of food in people’s spiritual lives.