Saturday, September 29, 2007

American Religion at Duke and UNC Chapel Hill

We have a new website devoted to the study of American Religion at Duke and UNC Chapel Hill. Please explore the site and let us know what you think:

The Study of American Religion at Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Sunday, September 23, 2007

Article on Eric Meyers in News and Observer

The following article appeared in Friday's News and Observer (excerpt below; for full article, click on the link):

The congregation's voice before God
As cantor on Yom Kippur, a Duke professor unites spiritual life and lifelong love
Yonat Shimron, Staff Writer
For nearly four decades, Duke University professor Eric Meyers has been known best as an archaeologist and teacher. But his passion is singing, and on the Jewish High Holiday he serves in the rarefied role of a cantor.

His commanding lyric baritone will fill the sanctuary tonight to mark the beginning of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, considered the holiest day of the Jewish year.

For Meyers, 67, the work of the cantor, or musical prayer leader, is not so much a sideline as a lifelong love. From the time he was 8, growing up in Norwich, Conn., Meyers has been singing -- first in his childhood synagogue's choir, and later in pulpits in Massachusetts and New York, and in concert halls across the Triangle. Through singing, he said, he has been able to connect with a spiritual side -- one his academic work can't fully touch.

"Music keeps one human," Meyers said. "It's a totally different experience in the brain and heart. It takes you to a different place." . . . .