The DSR's 50th Anniversary

Held in the historic Seeley Hall at Trinity College, the occasion was a landmark conversation with two distinguished alumni of the Department for the Study of Religion.

Our first guest was the eminent scholar of the Qur'an and Muslim-Christian relations, Jane McAuliffe, who completed her MA and PhD at the DSR, and also holds an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Toronto. Professor McAuliffe served as chair of the DSR from 1992 to 1998, before becoming dean of Georgetown College at Georgetown University and then president of Bryn Mawr College. She also served as President of the American Academy of Religion in 2004.

In conversation with Professor McAuliffe was Professor Amir Hussain, DSR MA and PhD alumnus, also a leading scholar of religion specializing in the study of Islam. A professor in the Department of Theological Studies at Loyola Marymount University, Professor Hussain also served as the President of the American Academy of Religion in 2022, after a long run as the editor of the flagship Journal of the American Academy of Religion.

The event was moderated by DSR professor Amira Mittermaier, an expert in the anthropology of religion and Islamic studies, whose work brings together textual analysis and ethnographic fieldwork. 

We were delighted to have Professor McAuliffe and Professor Hussain return to the University of Toronto to commence our 50th anniversary celebrations.

Friday, September 26. 2025 • 4:00-6:00 pm • JHB 100, Jackman Humanities Building, 170 St George Street, Toronto ON M5R 2M8

Co-sponsored by the Department for the Study of Religion, Robert H. N. Ho Centre for Buddhist Studies and Government of Japan Agency of Cultural Affairs.

Fabio Rambelli is the Distinguished Professor of Japanese Religions and Cultural History and International Shinto Foundation Chair in Shinto Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His research interests span several cultural dimensions of religious discourses in Japan, such as theories and practices of representation, materiality and the cultural meanings of objects, political thought, economics, and geopolitical constructs. He is currently working on an intellectual history of Gagaku.

Maestro Shinryu Ono is director of the Tennōji Gakuso Garyōkai Ensemble,  based at Shitennoji Buddhist Temple in Osaka. Maestro Ono Shinryu began training at Shitennoji Buddhist Temple as a child and became a member of the Tennōji Gakuso Garyōkai in 1993 before assuming the role of director. Maestro Ono received his doctorate in literature from Kyoto University and is currently a visiting professor at Kansai University.

Saturday, September 27, 2025 • 7:30 pm to 9:00 pm • Walter Hall, Edward Johnson Building, 80 Queen's Park, Toronto ON M5S 2C5

Co-sponsored by the Department for the Study of Religion, Robert H. N. Ho Centre for Buddhist Studies, Government of Japan Agency of Cultural Affairs and the Faculty of Music.

This special, free presentation featured traditional Gagaku music and Bugaku dance, art forms that have been performed for over a thousand years in Japanese Buddhist temples, Shinto shrines, and in the Japanese Imperial Court. 

The Tennōji Gakuso Garyōkai Ensemble is based at Shitennoji Buddhist Temple in Osaka. It is one of the three major Gagaku troupes to have carried the tradition of Japanese court music since the Heian period, and is currently directed by Maestro Ono Shinryu, who began training at Shitennoji Buddhist Temple as a child and became a member of the Tennōji Gakuso Garyōkai in 1993 before assuming the role of director. Maestro Ono received his doctorate in literature from Kyoto University and is currently a visiting professor at Kansai University.

Garyōkai preserves music and dance traditions first developed in Japan in the 9th century, and this is the first time in 60 years that they have performed in North America.