World-class scholar and former Fulbright recipient Greg Alles received the Mircea Eliade Jubilee medal from the President of Romania, Traian Basescu, at a Sept. 20 ceremonial dinner in Bucharest. Alumnus Davíd Carrasco ’67, professor of the Study of Latin America at Harvard University with a joint appointment to the Harvard Divinity School and the Department of Anthropology, was also among the 16 recipients.

Awards Ceremony Alles, a professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies at McDaniel College, was given the award while attending the European Congress of the History of Religions, an annual scholarly conference. Carrasco was given his award in absentia.

“It was really quite memorable and totally unexpected,” Alles says. “You pinch yourself and say ‘Is it really me up here?’”

The Mircea Eliade award, named for the preeminent Romanian-born interpreter of world religions, was given as a sign of appreciation for contributions in the study of history of religion.

“No one in the field of comparative religions has left a greater legacy than Mircea Eliade,” says McDaniel Provost Tom Falkner. “He defined concepts and approaches that became foundational for later generations of scholars. It is highly appropriate that Greg Alles, whose own research and thinking were forged in the traditions of Eliade at the University of Chicago, should receive the Eliade Jubilee Medal. Greg's prolific scholarship, his passion for the discipline, and his humanity are a standard and an example to others.”

Basescu told the professors that religious discussion across nations is critical to lessen tension that could lead to war. He urged them to advise politicians to support dialogue and freedom to practice any religion anywhere in the world.

“I believe that you who deal with the history of religions are capable to offer the arguments of the past to prevent the errors of the future,” Basescu told the gathered crowd of scholars. “Each person's freedom stops where the other's belief is affected.”

While attending the conference Sept. 20-23, Alles presented his paper “Reception of Asian Religions in Early 20th-Century Germany.”

Alles has been teaching at McDaniel College since 1987. He currently teaches “Buddhism,” “Religion and Critical Thought,” and “New Religious Movements.” He received his Ph.D. from The Divinity School at the University of Chicago in 1986, where Eliade was his professor until his death, also in 1986.