Menchik Appointed Director of CURA: The Institute on Culture, Religion, and World Affairs
Jeremy Menchik has been named the new director of CURA: The Institute for Culture, Religion and World Affairs at Boston University. Established in 1985, CURA is the oldest center for the study of religion and world affairs in the United States. Supported by an endowment and grants from funders such as the Henry Luce Foundation and the Templeton Foundation, CURA has sponsored over 140 research projects on five continents that have led to the publication of over 145 books. Menchik is the fourth director of CURA, succeeding Tim Longman, Robert Hefner, and the eminent sociologist Peter Berger.
“As a scholar of religion, there is no higher honor than to be named director of the CURA, the oldest and most prominent center on religion and world affairs in the country. I am humbled for this opportunity to help lead an institution that has done so much to advance knowledge and has published the field’s leading scholars. I am grateful to my predecessors, Tim Longman and Robert Hefner for being spectacular stewards of this great institution.”
“Under my leadership, I will make sure that CURA remains not just the oldest, but also the most influential center on religion and world affairs. Next year we’ll be pushing the field in new and exciting directions and I can’t wait to welcome our spectacular new crop of CURA fellows, and speakers like Melanie McAlister and Cemil Aydin to CURA.”
Scott Taylor, Dean of the Pardee School and Professor of International Relations, welcomed Menchik into the role stating, “Jeremy is an expert in the cultural and religious politics of Indonesia, but his knowledge of political-religious issues extends far beyond the Indonesian archipelago. Indeed, his interests are truly global, with areas of expertise that extend regionally in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, as well as to the US and beyond. As the issues of culture, religion and world affairs are genuinely global, cross-cutting themes, Jeremy Menchik is exceedingly well suited to lead CURA at this time. I look forward to seeing him take the Center to new heights.”
The former Director of CURA and current Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor of International Relations and Political Science, Professor Timothy Longman, wanted to welcome the new Director as well; “Jeremy has worked closely with CURA for years, and he has great ideas for how to expand our programs and raise CURA’s profile as a research center. He is going to bring lots of energy and excitement, so I urge people to look for great things coming from CURA over the next few years.”
Upon hearing the news, Professor Robert Hefner, Professor of Anthropology and International Relations and Director of the Center for the Study of Asia, remarked, “Years ago I was involved in the effort to recruit Jeremy to BU. When he arrived on campus he immediately established himself as one of the most active researchers at BU involved with CURA, which at the time I was directing. What made him a leading figure at CURA from the start of his career at BU is his deep intellectual appreciation of two things: the cultural complexity of religious affairs, and the hard-nosed political realities with which even the most sublime religious traditions inevitably become involved. Those trademarks of Jeremy’s scholarship are also what makes his appointment as CURA director both timely and welcome.”
Elizabeth Shakman Hurd, Professor of Political Science and Religious Studies at Northwestern University, commented, “CURA is lucky to have Jeremy Menchik at the helm. I look forward to more top-notch programming, exciting new initiatives, and lots of effective community-building in the years to come.”
Daniel Philpott, Professor of Political Science at the University of Notre Dame, expressed, “Jeremy Menchik’s trajectory and commitments make him ideal for the directorship of CURA. He is a leading scholar of religion and global politics but also, far less commonly, he possesses the wisdom to understand why politics must protect religion and how religion can invigorate politics.”
Jeremy Menchik is Associate Professor of International Relations and Political Science at Boston University’s Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies. His first book, Islam and Democracy in Indonesia: Tolerance without Liberalism (Cambridge University Press, 2016) explains the meaning of tolerance to the world’s largest Islamic organizations and was the winner of the 2017 International Studies Association award for the best book on religion and international relations. He has received numerous awards and fellowships for teaching and research, and his work has appeared in the academic journals Comparative Studies in Society and History, Comparative Politics, International Studies Review, Asian Studies Review, Politics and Religion, Party Politics, and South East Asia Research as well as in edited volumes and popular media such as The New York Times, The New York Review of Books, The Washington Post, Christian Science Monitor, The Wall Street Journal, and USA Today. His recent research focuses on the missionary impulse in world politics.
To read more, see CURA ‘s website, Jeremy Menchik’s personal website, or follow him on Twitter.