Welcome to BASH!
We are the student society for the study of the history of religion.
If you are interested in learning about the origin of ancient religions by comparing their texts, cultural contexts, and historical developments, we are the right society for you.
Our focus are the Abrahamic Religions (Judaism, Islam, Christianity), but we would like to expand even further in the future.
We are an inclusive and open community waiting for you to join us!
Events
We organise regular academic events like guest speaker presentations and reading groups.
During Term 1 2026/7, we are hosting the series "Unwrapping the Dead Sea Scrolls". Our aim is to explore a variety of themes from the scrolls while considering the context of their origin in Second Temple Judaism.
We usually meet on Tuesdays to start by 16:15 and finish at around 17:30 BST. These meetings are hybrid, you can join us in person on campus in KCG6 or online on Teams here:
"Unwrapping the Dead Sea Scrolls" with BASH | Meeting-Join | Microsoft Teams
Schedule
The following is our most current schedule for this term, we update it regularly and add events as we go.
Fri, 02.10. "Entering the Qumran Caves - an Introduction to the Treasure hidden for two Millennia in the Judean Desert", with Dr Jakub Zbrzezny
Fri, 09.10. Social Meeting
Wed, 28.10. "The Qumran Calendar: Sacred Time and Calendrical Debates in Second Temple Judaism" with Naomi Hadad, research student, Tel Aviv University
Tue, 17.11. "Where did Levi Go? Reading the Aramaic Levi Document and Related Texts" with Dr Shlomi Efrati, Senior Lecturer, Tel Aviv University
Tue, 01.12. "TBC" with Professor Joachim Schaper
Tue, 15.12. "Wisdom Compositions and 4QInstruction" with Professor Jonathan Ben-Dov, Tel Aviv University
Membership
In order to purchase a membership, simply log in with your University account and add the membership to your basket. A membership is not required in order to attend any of our events. However, memberships are a great way to support us because they enable our regular events and make potential special events in the future possible. Thank you for your support!
Joining
The best way to join us and stay connected with all our events is our WhatsApp society. There, we publish all information in the Announcements Channel and you can join our conversations and make your voice heard in the General Chat. You can join it here:
https://chat.whatsapp.com/D8JyMWvKLQeAYOW209zZxV
If WhatsApp is not an option for you, you can sign up to our email list in order to get regular updates via email here:
https://forms.gle/F3zT5kBxuT95MJwY9
Logo
The logo was created by Wilhelm Wildner in 2026 and includes a private photograph of artefact ABDUA:21602 UC.