New Books Network The Religion Department: An Online Learning Platform with Andrew Mark Henry and Andrew Ali Aghapour
May 4, 2026
Andrew Ali Aghapour, scholar of religion and science and storyteller, and Andrew Mark Henry, late Roman religion scholar and creator of Religion for Breakfast, discuss building The Religion Department. They describe the platform’s course formats, user-funded model that pays scholars, community of adult learners, and upcoming guided readings and language offerings.
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From Grad Student Blog To Longrunning YouTube Channel
- Andrew Mark Henry started Religion for Breakfast as a WordPress blog during his PhD and moved it to YouTube to reach a larger educational-audience in 2014–2015.
- Growth was slow and steady; he treated it as entrepreneurial risk, comparing YouTube fame odds to getting a tenure-track job and kept producing over years.
How A Conference Panel Led To A Partnership
- Andrew Ali Aghapour described moving from writing for Religion Dispatches and museum work to collaborating with Andrew Henry after sharing a conference panel in 2018.
- He became managing editor and helped expand Religion for Breakfast projects, leading into cofounding the Religion Department to showcase many expert teachers.
Course Catalog Model Recreates University Wonder
- The Religion Department is designed like a course catalog: a user-funded, creator-owned platform offering diverse seminars, guest lectures, and guided readings to recreate that university-course excitement.
- Membership gives access to cross-disciplinary content so learners often discover unexpected topics that reshape their interests and skills.
