Statement:

I was trained as a historian of religions under the influence of Mircea Eliade through my teacher at UCLA Kees W. Bolle. I have become increasingly interested in the deep contextualization of religion in its lived environments and most centrally the intersections of religion, politics, and culture. My work is comparative and multidisciplinary, both of which are essential, in my opinion, to the larger study of religion.

Recent Publications:

• "The Bodies of Nations: A Comparative Study of Religious Violence in Jerusalem and Ayodhya" with Roger Friedland (History of Religions, 1998).
• "Changing Places: Jerusalem's Holy Places in Comparative Perspective" with Roger Friedland (Israel Affairs, 1999).
• To Rule Jerusalem with Roger Friedland (2nd Revised Edition, 2000).
• “Sacred Urbanism: Jerusalem’s Sacrality, Urban Sociology, and the History of Religions” with Roger Friedland, Conference on “Jerusalem Across the Disciplines,” Arizona State University, Tempe
  19-21 February, 2007

Current/Planned Research/Projects:

I continue to work with Roger Friedland on the politics of space or the spatialization of religion in our book Jerusalem: The Profane Politics of a Sacred Space, and with Linda Ekstrom on a book-length study of religion and contemporary art tentatively titled Saved from Matter: The Religious Cultures of Contemporary Art.

Courses Taught:

I regularly teach courses in the area of Judaism, including advanced Hebrew text courses which span ancient Israel and the Hebrew Bible, rabbinic Judaism, and medieval and modern Jewish thought; courses in the area of religion, politics, and culture; and a graduate seminar in the history of religions (Religious Studies 250) which takes up the work of central figures in the history and contemporary practice of religious studies (in recent years the seminar has read extensively in the work of Sigmund Freud and Walter Benjamin).

Undergraduate:

• GLOBL 102: Global Religion (with Mark Juergensmeyer, Global and International Studies)
• RS 110C: Religion and Contemporary Art (with Linda Ekstrom)
• RS 113: Religion and Film
• RS 131D: Judaism in Modern Times
• RS/SOC 131H: Religion and Politics in the City: The Case of Jerusalem
• RS 132: The Contemplative Life (with B. Alan Wallace)
• RS 134: Religion and Violence
• RS 155: Religion and the Impact of Vietnam

Graduate:

• RS 250: Seminar in the History of Religons