Joint Projects (2026-2027)
Art and the Apocalypse
Principal Investigators: Susanna Berger (Department of Art and Archaeology, Columbia University); Christia Mercer (Department of Philosophy, Columbia University)
We have assembled an international group of experts to discuss how artists, philosophers, and theologians theorized and visualized the end of time in early modern periods. Papers will explore how the materiality and spatial arrangements of images reconfigure the Apocalypse to generate meanings in forms that the makers of these visual works believed yielded insights, far superior from those conveyed by earlier texts. A core concern is how clerical authors in Europe and the “new world” used the Apocalypse to frighten, cajole, or entice the European Christians and Indigenous people whom they hoped to convert to believe or behave in ways consistent with an expectation that the End was imminent. Our invited speakers include Columbia graduate students as well as an interdisciplinary group of faculty, from Columbia and beyond.
The Contemporary Rise of Religious “Maternity Homes”
Principal Investigators: Sarah Knuckey (Columbia Law School); Christine Ryan (Columbia Law School); Elizabeth Platt (Union Theological Seminary).
This project investigates the rapid post-Dobbs proliferation of faith-based "maternity homes", largely unregulated residential facilities for pregnant and postpartum people operated by anti-abortion Christian organizations across the United States. Often extensions of crisis pregnancy centers, these facilities have nearly tripled in number since Dobbs, yet remain largely unregulated and understudied. The research documents their geographic expansion, funding sources (public and private), and operational practices, including restrictions on movement, communication, and mandatory religious programming. The project also explores the evidence base for rights-respecting alternatives such as unconditional cash transfers and housing-first policies.