Public Appearances

Come learn with me this year at the following live events. Mark your calendars for the events (updated as booked). Want to host a speaking engagement, workshop, or public lecture? Please reach out via my contact page. Scheduling, honoraria, and topics are tailored to bring the most impactful and effective engagement. Please note that, due to safety concerns related to COVID-19, all events for 2020 will be remote.

October 11, 2021

Myths “that the Dark Past has Taught Us” Beyond Liberation in Black Religion, Abrahamic Vernaculars

September 23, 2021

Class visit with Prof. Adele Reinhartz’s Theory and Method in the Study of Religion Course (virtual/private).

April 30, 2021

“The Publishing Academic in the Information Age,” Class Visit, Georgia State University (Virtual Private)

April 1, 2021

“Begin Again: Equity, Black Scholars Matter, and Reimagining the Field,”Class Visit, Florida State University (Virtual Private)

March 8, 2021

Quayle Bible Collection web banner featuring a page of the Talmud. — “The African American Bible: Bound in a Christian Nation,” Annual Quayle Bible Lecturer, Baker University

February 25, 2021

Web banner of the Centre for Religion and Pubic Life at the University of Leeds. — “The Anthropology of Scriptures: Reading Cultural Texts and Social Difference,” Centre of Religion and Public Life–University of Leeds

February 4, 2021

A picture of Jewish people supporting Black Lives Matter at a protest rally. — “Zakhor: Alex Haley’s Roots, Scriptures, and the Race for America,” Lecturer at The Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania.

January 23, 2021

Picture of Richard Newton smiling for an advertisement for SORAAAD Workshop on Representation and the Analytical Study of Religion, January 23, 2021, 5-7pm UTC. — “The Anthropology of Scriptures: Correcting for Progressivist Retrograde in the Study of Religion,” Lecturer, Society of Religion as an Analytical Discipline at the University of Regina.

January 14, 2021

“Twisted Roots and Growing Pains: Interfaith Studies and the Anthropology of Scriptures,” Panelist at the Typologies of Interfaith Education Conference at The Martin Marty Center for Public Understanding of Religion at the University of Chicago.

January 12, 2021

Poster for the lecture, Zipporah's Knife: A Jewish Reckoning with Race. There is an image of a protesters with arms raised and holding an Israeli flag. — Response to “Zipporah’s Knife: A Jewish Reckoning with Race with Elliot Ratzman,” Invited Respondent, New Directions in Jewish Studies Lecture Series, The University of California.

November 19, 2020

Image of Romare Bearden's Roots picture and the cover of Richard Newton's book, Identifying Roots: Alex Haley and the Anthropology of Scriptures, for a book event at Princeton. — “Scriptural Roots: How Alex Haley Read ‘America Great Again,” Lecture for the Department of Religion’s Race and Religion Series at Princeton University.

October 29, 2020

Class visit with Prof. Laura Nasrallah’s Letters of Paul Course at Yale University (virtual/private).

October 19, 2020

“The Anthropology of Scriptures: The Bible, Trump Cards, and the Roots of Discourse,” Seminar Lecture at the University of Sheffield’s Sheffield Institute for Interdisciplinary Biblical Studies

October 7, 2020

“Origin Stories: Religion, Race, and Nation in Alex Haley’s “Roots”
Public Conversation with the Students and Faculty of the Department of Religious Studies at Skidmore College, led by Dr. Bradlely Onishi

September 16, 2020

Class visit with Prof. Adele Reinhartz’s Theory and Method in the Study of Religion Course (virtual/private).

July 26, 2020

"I pledge allegiance to...?" An American flag and cross are laid on a Bible atop the red-letter words of Jesus.

“Re-reading the Scriptures with Alex Haley and Malcolm X,” Elizabethtown Church of the Brethren Sunday Morning Faith Formation Series, Elizabethtown, PA (virtual/public).

March 2, 2020

Elizabethtown College Civil Rights Site Visit and Guided Discussion, The National Memorial for Peace and Justice, Montgomery, AL (private).

November 24, 2019

“Graduate Student Workshop: Navigating the Politics of Academia,” North American Association for the Study of Religion, 1:10-2:10PM, Hilton Bayfront-Indigo 202B (Second Level–private).

November 7, 2019

On Thursday November 7, at 5:30 pm, in the Oklahoma Memorial Union Heritage Room, Dr. Richard Newton will present Scriptural Roots: How Alex Haley Read "America Great Again."
During the U. S. bicentennial, Alex Haley's Roots: A Saga of An American Family took American reading and viewing audiences by storm. The pre-internet social media event challenged a nation to rethink the terms on which one can identify as American. In this talk, Professor Newton will discuss the history, spectacle, and controversy behind an American Scripture and what it tells us about race and religion today.
Dr. Newton is assistant professor of Religious Studies at the University of Alabama and author of the forthcoming book, Identifying Roots: Alex Haley and the Anthropology of Scriptures (Equinox 2020). His research focues on the role of scriptures and the politics of identity formation. Newton is also creator of the online teaching-learning network, Sowing the Seed: Fruitful Conversations in Religion, Culture, and Teaching.

Scriptural Roots: How Alex Haley Read ‘America Great Again,'” The University of Oklahoma, 5:30OM, OMU Heritage Room (public).