CURRICULUM VITAE

Nathan Baruch Rein, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Philosophy & Religion
Ursinus College, Collegeville, PA
Email nrein@ursinus.edu; Tel. 610-409-3000 x2571
Home: 110 3rd Ave., Phoenixville, PA 19460, tel. 610-933-4686

EDUCATION
Ph.D., Harvard University (Study of Religion), November, 2002.
B.A., magna cum laude, Columbia College, New York City (Religion), June, 1992.

DISSERTATION
The Chancery of God: Protestant Propaganda against the Empire, Magdeburg,
1546-1551. Supervisor: Steven E. Ozment (History). Readers: David Hall
(Divinity School), Carter Lindberg (Theology, Boston University).

SELECTED HONORS & AWARDS

Deutsche Akademische Austauschdienst research grant (1998-1999).
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft fellowship (1999-2000).
Harvard Graduate Society Dissertation Grant (2000).
Harvard University, Certificate of Distinction in Teaching (2000).
Summer Research Grant, Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology
and Religion, funded by the Lilly Endowment, Inc. (2004)

REFEREED PUBLICATIONS
The Chancery of God: Protestant Print, Polemic and Propaganda against the
Empire, Magdeburg 1546-1551 (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2008; St. Andrews
Studies in Reformation History).
"From the history of religions to the history of 'religion': the late Reformation and
the challenge to sui generis religion," in Randolph C. Head and Daniel
Christensen, eds., Orthodoxies and Heterodoxies in Early Modern German
Culture: Order and Creativity 1550-1750 (Leiden: Brill, 2007; Studies in
Central European Histories, 42), 25-44.
"Faith and Empire: Conflicting Visions of Religion in a Late-Reformation
Controversy. The Augsburg Interim and its Opponents, 1548-1550." Journal
of the American Academy of Religion 71 (2003), 45-74.

INVITED PUBLIC ATIONS

"Enemy Brothers: Gary Lease and the Study of Religion," Method and Theory in
the Study of Religion (forthcoming).
" History and Vulnerability: A Response to Levene and Furey," Method and
Theory in the Study of Religion 20/4 (2008): 399-406.

IN PREPARATION
Faith: A Reader (London: Equinox Press, under contract).
"Theology of Revolution Revisited: Civic Identity and Apocalyptic Thought in
Magdeburg, 1548-1551," in W. Bradford Smith, ed., "For the Gospel and the
Liberty of the German Nation": The Schmalkaldic War and Europe (edited
essay collection in preparation, to be submitted to Ashgate).
"Teaching What Can't Be Taught: The Aporetic Moment in the Religious Studies
Classroom" (article for submission to Teaching Theology and Religion).

SELECTED BOOK REVIEWS

Derek Peterson and Darren Walhof, eds., The Invention of Religion (New
Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 2002), in: Journal of the
American Academy of Religion 72 (2004): 275-278.
Oliver K. Olson, Matthias Flacius and the Survival of Luther's Reform
(Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2002), in: H-German, H-Net Reviews, July, 2003.
Russell T. McCutcheon, Religion and the Domestication of Dissent: Or, How to
Live in a Less Than Perfect Nation (London: Equinox, 2005), in Religion 37/4
(Dec. 2007): 342-344.
Deutsche Einblattholzschnitte 1500 bis 1700 (CD-ROM; Berlin: Directmedia
GmbH, 2003), in: H-German, H-Net Multimedia Reviews, August, 2005.
James L. Heft, ed., Beyond Violence: Religious Sources of Social Transformation
in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (Ashland, Oh.: Fordham UP, 2004), in:
Dialogue and Alliance 19/1 (2005): 105-108.

SELECTED PRESENTATIONS
"Adiaphora and the invention of 'religion' in the Interim controversy, 1548–
1552." Sixteenth Century Studies Conference, October 2005 (Atlanta, GA).
"From the history of religions to the history of 'religion': the late Reformation and
the challenge to sui generis religion." Frühe Neuzeit Interdisziplinär, Duke
Univ. (April 2005).
"'For our confession rests as much on the small things as on the great': Sui
Generis vs. Naturalistic Views of Religion, circa 1548." North American
Association for the Study of Religion (November 2004).
"Union and Resistance: 'Religion' and the Failure of Protestant-Catholic
Ecumenism in Germany, 1540-1551." American Academy of Religion
(November 2003).
"Theology of Revolution Revisited: Civic Identity and Apocalyptic Thought in
Magdeburg, 1548-1551." Sixteenth Century Studies Conference (October
2002).
"Our Lord God's Chancery: Images of the Holy City in Magdeburg's Propaganda
Campaign, 1546-1551." AAR (November 2000).
"The Rhetoric of Resistance in Magdeburg's Pamphlet Propaganda, 1546-1548."
SCSC (November 2000).
"Flugschriften gegen das Interim, 1548-1551." Graduiertenkolleg "Kirche und
Gesellschaft" (Göttingen, Germany, June 2000).

TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Ursinus College, Fall 2002 to present. Assistant Professor, Department of
Philosophy and Religious Studies.
Courses taught: World Religions; Common Intellectual Experience I and II
(first-year liberal studies seminar); The Christian Religious Tradition; The
Protestant Reformation; Religion and Violence; Islam: An Introduction;
Religious Diversity in Southeastern Pennsylvania
Harvard University, 1995-2002. Tutor and Teaching Fellow, Committee on the
Study of Religion and Harvard Divinity School.

OTHER PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

C0-chair, History of Christianity Section, American Academy of Religion (since
2006; steering committee member 2002-2006).
Fellow, Graduiertenkolleg "Kirche und Gesellschaft im Heiligen Römischen Reich
im 15. und 16. Jahrhundert", Georg-Augusta-Universität Göttingen
(Germany) under Prof. Bernd Moeller (1998-2000).
Invited participant, "Das Interim 1548/50: Herrschaftskrise und
Glaubenskonflikt," Verein für Reformationsgeschichte conference
(Wittenberg, Germany, October 2001).
Invited participant, "Arbeitstagung: Interimskrise und Obrigkeitskritik," Univ. of
Frankfurt-sponsored conference (Erfurt, Germany, July 2004).
Fellow, 2003-04 Workshop on Teaching and Learning for Pre-Tenure Religion
Faculty at Colleges and Universities, Wabash Center for Teaching and
Learning in Theology and Religion (Crawfordsville, IN, 2003-2004).
Selected participant, "Teaching About Islam and Middle Eastern Culture,"
American Center of Oriental Research, Amman, Jordan (State Department-
funded seminar, January 3-24, 2004),
Organizer, Mellon Faculty Retreat on "Teaching Religious Texts in the Liberal
Arts," Ursinus College, Collegeville, PA (May 2003).
Senior Teaching Fellow and Graduate Writing Fellow, Harvard University, Derek
Bok Center for Teaching and Learning (2001-2002).
Fellow, Dudley House, Harvard University (1996-1998 and 2000-2002).

L ANGUAGES
German (modern, early modern): fluent.
French, Latin and Greek (classical, Homeric, koiné): basic reading and writing.

AFFILIATIONS
American Academy of Religion
American Historical Association (quondam)
Sixteenth Century Studies Association
American Society of Church History