Introduction and Dedication to Thomas Sizgorich

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Previous articleNext article FreeIntroduction and Dedication to Thomas SizgorichKimberly B. StrattonKimberly B. Stratton Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmailQR Code SectionsMoreThe articles in this special issue of History of Religions (HR) were originally presented in Rome, July 2009, at the international meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature, on a panel investigating Violence and Collective Identity in Ancient Religions. Due to emergency budget cuts in the University of California system following the financial collapse of 2008, Thomas Sizgorich was unable to attend in person, but sent his paper to be read in his absence. The panel, which also included Judith Perkins, engaged in some intense discussion and reflection on the role of violence in forming collective identities, and ruminated also on the role of historians of religion as social critics in the contemporary situation (at that time, the Iraq war). Not long after the panel, Matthew Kapstein, an editor for HR, approached me with the suggestion of publishing our papers in a special issue. Tragically, in January 2011, our colleague, friend, and conversation partner, Thomas Sizgorich, suddenly passed away from a stroke. According to his wife, Nancy McLoughlin, he was pleased to have finished his draft of the article for this volume the very day that he died. It was immediately clear to me, and to the other contributors to this volume, that we needed to make sure that his last piece of work made it to publication. A mutual friend and mensch of the highest order, Michael Pregill, volunteered to undertake the difficult task of completing Tom’s paper. He used notes and handouts from a conference paper he heard Tom give that included some of the same material; he also carefully and painstakingly followed rough notes and clues that Tom left in his draft to reconstruct the citations and footnotes that Tom probably intended. Owing to other unavoidable delays, this volume is finally seeing the light of day. I am pleased to dedicate the entire volume to Thomas Sizgorich, whose brilliant (I do not use that word often or lightly) career was tragically cut short, depriving us of his continuing collaboration and contribution to knowledge at this urgent moment in American history. Previous articleNext article DetailsFiguresReferencesCited by History of Religions Volume 57, Number 1August 2017 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/692314 Views: 560Total views on this site PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.