Alumni

• BA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2001.
• MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2006.
• PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2012.
• Areas of Study at UCSB: East Asia-Chinese Religions, Religion and Culture, History of Religions, Anthropology of Religions, Philosophy of Religion, Technologies of the Self/Body, Sacred Space, Charisma.
• Title of Master’s Thesis: “Falun Gong: Transforming Tradition, Self, and Society.”
• Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “Transformers: Chinese Self-Cultivation Traditions in Taiwan’s Falun Gong.”
• Current Employment: Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Comparative Religion, Western Michigan University.

• BA, Business Administration, Clark University, 1998.
• MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2011.
• Areas of Study at UCSB: Islamic Studies, Medieval Middle East History.
• Current Studies: PhD student in UC Santa Barbara History Department

• Area:  Death ritual and grief; North American Religions; secularism and secular people; religion and science; ritual studies
• PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2023
• Dissertation: From Dust to Compost: Eco-Disposition Methods and a Changing Religious Landscape in the United States
• MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2019
• MA Thesis: Institutionalized Individuality: Death Practices and Afterlife Beliefs in Unity Church, Unitarian Universalism, and Spiritualism in Santa Barbara

• BA, Interdisciplinary Studies in Anthropology, Psychology, and Religious Studies, UC Berkeley, 2006.
• MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2010.
• PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2015.
• Areas of Study at UCSB: Indigenous Religious Traditions of the Americas and Tibet, Tibetan Buddhism, Chicano Religions, Indigenous Ontology, Healing Historical Trauma, Religiosity as Social Justice, Transnational Religiosity, Race and Religion.
• Title of Master’s Thesis: “Postcolonial Healing: Indigenous Concepts of Power and Strategies for Self-Determination.”
• Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “Interdependence as a Lifeway: Decolonization and Resistance in Transnational Native American and Tibetan Communities.”
• Current Employment: Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow, Ethnic Studies Department, University of Colorado at Boulder
• Transitioning to a tenure-track position in the same dept. next academic year (2020-21)

• BA, Religious Studies, Occidental College, 2004.
• MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2009.
• Areas of Study at UCSB: American Religion and Spirituality, Religious Experience, Contemporary Religious Change, Religion and the Media, Religion and Technology, Religion and Medicine/Healing, Religion and Pluralism, Secularism and the Sacred.
• Title of Master’s Thesis: “Treating Anomic Illness: Toward a Dialogue with Tibetan Buddhist Medicine, and a Mind-Body-World-Transcendent Approach.”

• BA, Religious Studies, Humboldt State University, 2005.
• MA, Religion/Islamic Studies, Duke University, 2006.
• PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2013.
• Areas of Study at UCSB: Islamic Studies, Sufism, Qur’anic Studies, Pluralism, Ethics, Mysticism, Identity, Pedagogy, Narratives, Arabic, Persian.
• Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “The Qur’an According to Ibn Taymiyya: Redefining Exegetical Authority in the Islamic Tradition.”
• Current Employment: Assistant Professor, Department of Religious Studies, LeMoyne College.

• BA, University of Vermont, 1991.
• MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1994.
• PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1999.
• Areas of Study at UCSB: South Asian Buddhism, Religions of India, Pali, Sanskrit, Critical Theory.
• Title of Master’s Thesis: “Reforming Tradition and Forming Identity in Twentieth-Century Sri Lankan Buddhism.”
• Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “The Ethics of Buddhist History: A Study of the Pali and Sinhala Thupavamsa-s.”
• Current Employment: Professor of Religious Studies, Missouri State University.

• BA, Religious Studies and English Literature, Smith College, 1991.
• MA, Religious Studies, Columbia University, 1995.
• PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2004.
• Areas of Study at UCSB: Islam in South Asia.
• Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “Sharing Saints, Shrines, and Stories: Practicing Pluralism in Punjab.”
• Current Employment: Associate Professor of Religion, North Carolina State University

• BA, Stanford University, 2002.
• MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2007.
• PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2012.
• Areas of Study at UCSB: History of Christian Thought, Religion and Modern Thought, Social and Critical Theories of Religion, Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Theory.
• Title of Master’s Thesis: “Hegel and the Love of the Concept.”
• Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “William of Ockham and the Opening of Phenomenology.”

• BA, Philosophy and Religion, Colgate University, 1992.
• MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2006.
• Areas of Study at USCB: Indian Religions, Yoga, Chinese Buddhism.
• Title of Master’s Thesis: “The Cessation of Cessation: Re-Envisioning Patañjali’s Definition of Yoga and Vyāsa’s Commentary on Sūtras I.2, I.3, and I.4.”
• Current Employment: Director of Therapy & Education, Healing Yoga Foundation,
  San Francisco.

• BA, University of Rochester, 1993.
• MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1996.
• PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2003.
• Areas of Study at UCSB: Hinduism, Kashmir Shaivism, Mysticism, Hinduism in America, Psychology of Religion, Religion and Madness, Sanskrit, Yoga Traditions.
• Title of Master’s Thesis: “Two Reflections in the Mirror: Pratyabhijna and Lacanian Discourses on Specular Identity Construction.”
• Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “Possession, Immersion, and the Intoxicated Madnesses of Devotion in Hindu Traditions.”
• Current Employment: Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Religion, Davidson College.
• Founder and Instructor at Sanskrit Revolution: http://www.sanskritrevolution.com

• BA, Religious Studies and Philosophy, Connecticut College, 1990.
• MA, Folk Studies, Western Kentucky University, 1993.
• MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1995.
• PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2002.
• Areas of Study at UCSB: American Religious History, Folk and Popular Religion in the United States, Cultural History of Religion, Sociology of Religion.
• Title of Master’s Thesis: “‘No God in Common’: Religion, Culture, and Conflict in the Industrial Workers of the World.”
• Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “Working with Religion: Industrialization and Resistance in the Eastern Kentucky Coal Fields, 1910-1932.”
• Current Employment: Associate Professor, Dept. of Religious Studies, University of Missouri-Columbia.

• BA, Comparative Religion, and English and American Literature, Harvard University, 1986.
• MDiv, World Religions, Harvard Divinity School, 1989.
• PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1997.
• Areas of Study at UCSB: American Religion, History of Religions, Chicano/Latino Religions.
• Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “Saints and Social Bodies: Socioreligious Narratives of Mother Maria Luisa Josefa and the Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles.”
• Current Employment: Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Le Moyne College.

• BA, Religious Studies, California State University, Northridge, 1975.
• MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1977.
• PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1981.
• Areas of Study at UCSB: Religion and Culture, Christianity, North American Religion.
• Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “Word and Light: Perception and Symbolic Forms in the Augustinian Tradition.”
• Current Employment: Chair of Religious Studies and Director of the Institute for Comparative Religion in Southern Africa, University of Cape Town.

• BS, Political Science, Santa Clara University, 1992.
• MDiv, Princeton Theological Seminary, 1999.
• MSW, Rutgers University, Graduate School of Social Work, 2000.
• MTh, Eastern Orthodox Theology and History, St. Vladimir’s Seminary, 2002.
• MA, Systematic Theology, Boston College, 2005.
• PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2012.
• Areas of Study at UCSB: South Asian Religions, Hinduism, Christianity, Global Christianity, Inter-Religious Encounter, Methodology in Comparative Religion, History of Religions.
• Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “Between Christian and Hindu: Khrist Bhaktas, Catholics, Hindus, and the Negotiation of Devotion in the Banaras Region.”
• Current Employment: Assistant Professor, Department of Religion, University of Hawaii, Manoa.

• BA, Anthropology and Native American Studies, The Evergreen State College, 1994.
• MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2003.
• Areas of Study at USCB: Botanical Healing and American Spirituality, Religion and Ecology, Native American Religious Traditions, Religion in Western Civilization, Ancient European Religious and Medical Traditions, and Native American Linguistics.
• Title of Master’s Thesis: “The Reciprocal Homeland: Toward an Ecology of Health, Community, and Ethnographic Method among the Contemporary Chumash.”

• BA, English and Women’s Studies, Colorado State University, 1994.
• MA, Folklore and Women’s Studies, University of Oregon, 1999.
• PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2007.
• Areas of Study at USCB: Feminist Theory, Queer Theory, Performance Studies, Subjectivity, Embodiment, Political Belief, Contemporary American Religious Expression, Cultural Studies, Social Movements.
• Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “Performing Gender, Enacting Community: Women, Whiteness, and Belief in Contemporary Public Demonstrations.”
• Current Employment: Professor, Women’s and Gender Studies, Eastern Michigan University.

• BA, American Studies, Yale University, 1987.
• MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1994.
• PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1998.
• Areas of Study at UCSB: American Religious History, Religion and Science, Sociology of Religion.
• Title of Master’s Thesis: “A Phrenologist’s Millennium: Religion, Science, and Progress in the Thought of Orson Squire Fowler.”
• Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “Between the Enlightenment and Public Protestantism: Religion and the American Phrenological Movement.”
• Current Employment: Assistant Professor, Religious Studies, Hartwick College.

• BA, Political Science, Vassar College, 1998.
• MTS, Harvard University, 2001.
• PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2009.
• Areas of Study at USCB: Traditions of Islam, Religion and Politics, Colonialism in the Middle East, Religion and Nationalism, Philosophy of Religion.

• Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “Differentiating Islam: Colonialism, Sayyid Qutb, and Religious Transformation in Modern Egypt.”
• Current Employment: Assistant Professor, Departments of History and Religious Studies, Grinnell College.

• BA, Classics, St. John’s College, 2002.
• MA, Religious Studies, University of South Carolina, 2006.
• PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Babrara, 2012.
• Areas of Study at UCSB: Art and Religion, Asian American Religions, African American Religions, Indigenous Traditions, Spirituality, Popular culture, Sexuality, Poststructuralism, Ethnography of Religion.
• Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “Religious Silence in Japanese American Arts.”
• Current Employment: “Religion, Race, and Discrimination” Postdoctoral Teaching Associate, Central Michigan University.

• BA, Religion, Syracuse University, 1988.
• MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1993.
• PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2000.
• Areas of Study at UCSB: American Religious History, Early New England Studies, Religion and the Body, Gender and Religion.
• Title of Master’s Thesis: “‘Bringing Down the Bodie’: Fast and Thanksgiving in Early New England.”
• Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “Corporality and Orthodoxy in Early New England: Plymouth Colony, 1620-1692.”
• Current Employment: Associate Professor, Department of Religious Studies, Missouri State University.

• BA, Philosophy, University of Notre Dame, 1994.
• MA, Graduate Theological Union, 1997.
• PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2004.
• Areas of Study at UCSB: Religion in America, Ethnicity, Immigration and Religion, Death and Dying.
• Title of Master’s Thesis: “Humans in Nature.”
• Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “Crossing the Ethnic Divide.”
• Current Employment: Associate Professor, Religious Studies, Marymount University.

• BA, Liberal Arts, University of Texas at Austin, 1999.
• MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2003.
• PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2005.
• Areas of Study at UCSB: History of Religions, Religion and Science, Religion and Art, History of Science.
• Title of Master’s Thesis: “Signaling Static: Artistic, Religious, and Scientific Truths in a Relational Ontology.”
• Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “The Cultural History of Religions and the Ethics of Progress: Building the Human in 20th Century Religion, Science, and Art.”
• Current Employment: Professor of Religious Studies, Manhattan College.

• BA, Religion, University of Rochester, 2002.
• MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2006.
• PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2009.
• Areas of Study at UCSB: Sikhism.
• Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “Growing the Banyan Tree: Early Sikh Tradition in the Works of Bhai Gurdas Balla.”
• Current Employment: Assistant Professor of Religion, California Lutheran University.

• BA, Religious Studies and Women’s Studies, Western Michigan University, 2000.
• MA, Religious Studies, University of Colorado, Boulder, 2004.
• PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2012.
• Areas of Study at UCSB: Religion, Politics, and the Law; Gender, Race, and Religion in the United States.
• Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “Negotiating Authority: The Criminalization of Religious Practice in the United States.”
• Current Employment: Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, Middle Tennessee State University.

• BA, English, University of Oklahoma, 2006.
• MEd, University of Oklahoma, 2008.
• MTS, Vanderbilt University, 2010.
• MA, History, UC Santa Barbara, 2012.
• Areas of Study at UCSB: History of Christianity, Early Modern Catholicism.

• AB, English & Education, Rutgers University, 1970.
• EdM, Urban Education & English, Rutgers University, 1971.
• MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1980.
• PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1983.
• MA, TESL, Northern Arizona University, 1990.
• Subject of Master’s Thesis: Ancient Indic & Ancient Mediterranean Traditions.
• Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “Canon and Community: Authority in the History of Religions.”
• Current Employment: ESL Instructor at the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse.

• BA, The Johns Hopkins University, 1995.
• MTS, Harvard Divinity School, 2000.
• Certificate, Center for Arabic Studies Abroad, American University in Cairo, 2002.
• PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2007.
• Areas of Study at UCSB: Judaism, Islam, Modern Islamic Political Movements, Middle Eastern Politics, Non-violence, Conflict Resolution and Transformation, Languages (Biblical Hebrew, Modern Hebrew, Modern Standard Arabic, Egyptian Colloquial Arabic).
• Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “From Gaza to the Golan: Religious Nonviolence, Power, and the Politics of Interpretation.”
• Current Employment: Mae and Benjamin Swig Assistant Professor of Judaic Studies, Director of Jewish Studies and Social Justice program, Theology & Religious Studies Department, University of San Francisco; Co-Executive Director and Founder, Abraham’s Vision

• BA, Islamic and Asian Studies, University of Toronto, 1974.
• MA, South Asian History, University of Toronto, 1984.
• MA, Religious Studies, Loyola University New Orleans, 1990.
• PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1996.
• Areas of Study at UCSB: Early South and Southeast Asian Religious History, Theravada Buddhism, Theories of Comparative Religious Studies, Psychology of Religion.
• Title of Master’s Thesis (University of Toronto): “A Consideration of Some Theological and Psychological Theories of the ‘Image of God’ in the Human Psyche and Their Implications for the Understanding of the Christian Doctrine of the Communication of Grace.”
• Title of Master’s Thesis (Loyola University): “The Unification of Nepal, 1740-1820.”
• Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “The Blending of Chinese, Indian, and Indigenous Religious Traditions in Eastern Mainland Southeast Asia from the Earliest Times to 1500 CE: Some New Perspectives on Religious Interaction.”
• Current Employment: Lecturer, Department of Religious Studies, California State University, Long Beach.

• BA, Religious Studies and Cultural Anthropology, UC Santa Barbara, 2006.
• MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2010.
• PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2014.
• Areas of Study at UCSB: Religion and Popular Culture, Sport and Religion, American Religious History, Sociology of American Religion.
• Title of Master’s Thesis: “Re-examining Feng Shui in America as Metaphysical Religiosity.”

• PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2023
• Dissertation:  John of Patmos and the New Jerusalem of the Book of Revelation: A Midrashic Approach
• MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2000
• MA Thesis:  Wissenschaft des Judentums and the Search for the Historical Jesus: The Debate between David Friedrich Strauss, Heinrich Graetz, and Abraham Geiger in the Nineteenth Century

• BA, Religious Studies, Brown University, 2000.
• MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2006.
• PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2013.
• Areas of Study at UCSB: History and Sociology of Religion in the United States; Religion and the Body, Illness, and Disability; Religion, Healing, and Medicine(s); Religion and Gender; Metaphysical/Esoteric Religion; Pentecostalism.
• Title of Master’s Thesis: “Selfless Desires: H. Emilie Cady and the Victorian New Thought Woman.”
• Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “Shadows of Perfection: Illness, Disability, and Sin in American Religious Healing, from the Civil War to World War I.”

• BA, Sociology and Anthropology, Kalamazoo College, 2004.
• MA, Humanities and Social Thought, New York University, 2006.
• Areas of Study at UCSB: History of Religions, Modern Judaism, Religion and Diaspora, Religion and Nationalism, Theories of Ritual, Constructions of Jewish Peoplehood, Sociology of Religion, American Jewish Communities

PhD, UC Santa Barbara, 2022

• BA, Political Science, Rutgers College, 1983.
• MA, American Religious History/European Intellectual History, George Washington University, 1990.
• PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1997.
• Areas of Study at UCSB: American Religion, Religion and Society, Evangelicalism and Fundamentalism.
• Title of Master’s Theses: “Train Up a Child: A Study of Evangelical Views on Education.”
• Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “Engendered Conflict: Feminism and Traditionalism in Late Twentieth-century Conservative Protestantism.”
• Current Employment: Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Religions Studies Program Coordinator, Department of Philosophy, University of North Florida.

• BA, Music, Fontbonne University, 1991.
• MDiv, Pacific School of Religion, 2003.
• PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2007.
• Areas of Study at UCSB: Race and Religion, Music and Religion, African American Religion.
• Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “One More Valiant Soldier Here: Music, Masculinity, and Manhood in the Black Religious Imaginary.”
• Current Employment: Assistant Professor, Department of African American Studies, University of Illinois, Chicago.

• BA, Western Philosophy, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1996.
• MA, Languages and Cultures of Asia, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2000.
• PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2008.
• Areas of Study at UCSB: Buddhist Violence, Thai Buddhism, Mongolian Buddhism, Performance Studies, Race Studies, Global Religions.
• Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “Sacred Fury, Sacred Duty: Buddhist Monks in Southern Thailand.”
• Current Employment: Assistant Professor, Youngstown State University.

• BA, Liberal Studies and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Delaware, 2011.
• MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2014.
• Areas of Study at UCSB: Islamic Studies, Women’s Studies, Feminist Theory, Contemporary Iran, Sexuality and Religion.

• BA, Anthropology, California State University, Fresno, 1996.
• MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2001.
• PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2007.
• Areas of Study at USCB: Religion and Identity, Religion and the Subaltern Experience, American Indian Religious Traditions, Sociology of American Religious History, Myth and Symbol Theory.
• Title of Master’s Thesis: “The World is a Canoe: Tradition, Identity, and Symbolism in the Reprise of Chumash Religious Orientation.”
• Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “Religion in Contemporary Native North America: Traditional Practices, Modern Identities.”

• BA, Religious Studies and English, UC Santa Barbara, 1990.
• MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1992.
• MA, Theology, St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary, 1996.
• PhD, History, Brandeis University, 2002.
• Areas of Study at UCSB: History of Religion, Early Christianity.
• Title of Master’s Thesis: “Justin Martyr’s Use of the Pauline Epistles.”
• Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “The Revival of Monasticism in Modern Russia: The Trinity-Sergius Lavra, 1825-1921.”
• Current Employment: Associate Professor, Department of Comparative Religion, Miami University (Ohio).

• Area: Korean/Tibetan Buddhism; Influence of Mongol-Yuan Empire in the late Koryo Buddhism
• MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2023
• BA, Buddhist Studies, University of Toronto

Adam’s dissertation focuses on The Seven Siddhiḥ Texts, an early corpus of Vajrayāna Buddhist texts that came to be known in Nepāl and Tibet as part of a larger canon of Indian works on ‘the great seal’ or mahāmudrā. In addition to providing text-critical historical analyses of these works, his dissertation focuses on larger issues such as a revaluation of demonology as an analytic paradigm for critical historical research in South Asian religions, inter-sectarian dynamics in the formulation of the Vajrayāna, and practical canonicity and curriculum in tantric Buddhist textual communities. His recently published work is titled “Pakpa’s Verses on Governance in Advice to Prince Jibik Temür: A Jewel Rosary,” published in a special issue of Cahiers d’Extrême-Asie on Kingship, Ritual, and Narrative in Tibet and the Surrounding Cultural Area by The French Institute of Asian Studies (École française d’Extrême-Orient). He has received two U.S. State Department research grants through the Fulbright-Nehru Student Research Fellowship program and the Council of American Overseas Research Centers, and is currently a lecturer in Religious Studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

• BA, Art History and Religion, Swarthmore College, 1998.
• MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2001.
• PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2007.
• Areas of Study at UCSB: Early Christianity and Ancient Mediterranean Traditional Religions.
• Title of Master’s Thesis: “From Pagan Body to Christian Flesh: Clement of Alexandria’s Paidagogos.”
• Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “The Ritual Construction of Rome: Processions, Subjectivities, and the City of Rome from the Late Republic to Late Antiquity.”
• Current Employment: Assistant Professor of History, University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

• BTh, Lund University, Sweden, 1983.
• MDiv, Church of Sweden Pastoral Institute (Lutheran), Lund, Sweden, 1984.
• MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1986.
• MTh, Church History, Lund University, Sweden, 1986.
• PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1987.
• ThD, Church History, Lund University, Sweden, 1988.
• Areas of Study at UCSB: Religion and Politics in the U.S., the New Christian Right Movement, Civil Religion, Religious Rhetoric by U.S. Presidents.
• Title of Master’s Thesis: “In God We Trust.”
• Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “One Nation Under God?”
• Current Employment: Professor and Chair, Religious Studies; Director of Research, Cultural Sciences Division; Linköping University, Sweden.

• BS, Math, Caltech, 1972.
• MS, Computer Science, Caltech, 1981.
• PhD, Electrical and Computer Engineering, UC Santa Barbara, 1995.
• MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2005.
• Areas of Study at UCSB: Ancient Judaism, Hebrew, Psychoanalysis in Relation to Religion.
• Current Employment: Self-employed contractor, hardware and software.

• BA, Religious Studies, Northern Arizona University, 2001.
• MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2005.
• PhD, Religious Studies, UCS Santa Barbara, 2010.
• Areas of Study at USCB:  Indian and Tibetan Buddhism, Experimental Cognitive Science of Religion, Sacred Space, Contemplative Traditions, Monasticism, Asceticism, Mysticism, Comparative Study of Religion.
• Title of Master’s Thesis: “Beyond Wind and Breath: Reassessing Translations of Prana from Hindu Traditions.”
• Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “Paths to Luminosity:  A Comparative Study of Ascetic and Contemplative Practices in Select Tibetan Buddhist and Greek Christian Traditions.”
• Current Employer: Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, Warren Wilson College.

• BA, Religion, North Carolina State University, 2004.
• MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2007.
• PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2013.
• Areas of Study at UCSB: Religion in North America, Religion and Race, Religious Social Movements, Evangelical Christianity in the U.S., Religion and Politics, Religion and Discourse, Feminist Studies, Gender and Sexuality.
• Title of Master’s Thesis: “A Sojourn in Feminism: Evangelical Feminism and Women’s Reproductive Rights in Post-American and Sojourners.”
• Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “Reframing a Pandemic: HIV/AIDS and Conservative Evangelical Discourse in the United States.”

• BA, Honors History, Portland State University, 1988.
• MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1990.
• PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1992.
• Areas of Study at UCSB: Religion in America, Sociology of Religion, Christian Origins, World Religions, Method and Theory in Religious Studies.
• Title of Master’s Thesis: “The New Age Movement and the Pentecostal/Charismatic Revival: Distinct Yet Parallel Phases of a Fourth Great Awakening?”
• Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “From New Age Millennium to Orthodox Restoration: The Religious Odyssey of a Postmodern Monastic Movement.”
• Current Employment: Professor of Religious Studies, Stetson University.

• BA, Religion, Western Michigan University, 1974.
• MA, Education, Western Michigan University, 1977.
• MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1983.
• PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1988.
• Areas of Study at UCSB: Philosophy of Religion, Indian Philosophy, Western Religious Thought, Religion in America.
• Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “Religious Pluralism and the Question of Truth: An Inquiry into the Philosophy of Religious Worldviews.”
• Current Employment: Core Faculty and Associate Chair, Mythological Studies Program, Pacifica Graduate Institute.

• BA, Journalism, San Francisco State University, 1983.
• MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2000.
• Areas of Study at UCSB: Religion in America, Metaphysical Religious Traditions, Women and Religion, Liberation Theology.
• Current Employment: Director of Marketing, Seattle Humane Society.

• BA, International Christian University, 1975.
• MA, Religious Studies, Yale University, 1979.
• PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1985.
• Areas of Study at UCSB: Discourses of Religion, History of Human Sciences, Modern European Intellectual History.
• Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “The Haunted House of Meaning: Tradition, or the Management of the Sacred Past in Durkheim, Habermas, Benjamin.”
• Current Employment: Professor of History and Comparative Literature, University of Michigan.

• BA, Philosophy, University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1965.
• MA, Philosophy, University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1971.
• MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1984.
• PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1991.
• Areas of Study at UCSB: Indian Buddhist Philosophy, Philosophies and Religions of India.
• Title of Master’s Thesis: “On the Circularity of Descartes’ Argument for the Existence of God.”
• Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “Nāgārjuna Then and Now.”
• Retired, Department of Philosophy, University of Delaware. Deceased, 2013.

• BA, Harvard University, 1982.
• MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1995.
• PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1999.
• Areas of Study at UCSB: Hinduism, Judaism, Comparative Study of Religion, Religion and Literature.
• Title of Master’s Thesis: “Interpreting the Agnicayana: An Assessment of Current Vedic Ritual Studies.”
• Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “In the Matter of Sacrifice: A Polythetic Approach to Sacrificial Ritual.”
• Current Employment: Professor and Chair, Department of Religious Studies, Georgia State University.

• BA, Religious Studies, Duke University, 2003.
• MA, Comparative Religion, Miami University, 2006.
• PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2013.
• Areas of Study at UCSB: Sacred Space and Spatial Theory, American Religious History, Religion in the American West, Late 20^th Century Evangelicalism.
• Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “Geographies of Prayer: Place and Religion in Modern America.”
• Current Employment: Adjunct Instructor, Chapman University; private tutor.

• BA, Religious Studies and Physics, Franklin and Marshall College, 2003.
• MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2006.
• PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2013.
• Areas of Study at UCSB: South Asian Religions, Buddhism.
• Title of Master’s Thesis: “Brahmā Worship in Thailand: The Ērāwan Shrine in its Social and Historical Context.”
• Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “Buddhists, Brahmans, and Buddhist Brahmans: Negotiating Identities in Indian Antiquity.”
• Current Employment: Blakemore Fellow at the International Chinese Language Program, Taipei, Taiwan.

• BA, Philosophy and Psychology, Kent State University, 1987.
• MA, Religious Studies, Florida State University, 1991.
• PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1998.
• Areas of Study at UCSB: Buddhism in South Asia, Mahayana Buddhist Literature.
• Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “Empty Vision: Ocular Metaphor and Visionary Imagery in South Asian Mahayana Buddhism.”
• Current Employment: Professor, Religious Studies, Franklin & Marshall College.

• BA, Political Science and Latin American Studies, Bowdoin College, 1992.
• MEd, Secondary Education, John Carroll University, 1994.
• MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2002.
• PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2007.
• Areas of Study at UCSB: South Asian Religions, Ancient India, Material Culture, Archaeology.
• Title of Master’s Thesis: “Mapping the World: The Mahabharata and the Hermeneutics of Place.”
• Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “Material Matters: Archaeology, Numismatics, and Religion in Early Historic Punjab.”
• Current Employment: Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, Claremont McKenna College.

• BA, Religious Studies, Princeton University, 1993.
• MA, Comparative Religion, Miami University (Ohio), 1996.
• PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2003.
• Areas of Study at UCSB: American Religious History, American Literature, Cultural History of Religion.
• Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “Specters of Moby-Dick: A Particular History of Cultural Metaphysics in America.”
• Current Employment: Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Franklin and Marshall College.

PhD, UC Santa Barbara, 2022

• AB, English-Creative Writing, Stanford, 1971.
• MA, Theology, Pacific School of Religion, 1975.
• PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1987.
• Areas of Study at UCSB: American Religious History.
• Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “Liberal Protestant Campus Ministry: The Dilemma of Modernity.”
• Current Employment: Professor, Department of Religious Studies, Occidental College.

• BA, History of Religion, UC Santa Cruz, 1993.
• MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2002.
• Areas of Study at UCSB: Chinese Religions; Chinese Religious Geography.
• Title of Master’s Thesis: “Auspicious Lights of the Golden Summit: Transforming the Religious Identity of a Sacred Mountain in Southwest China.”
• Current Employment: Chief Representative of the University of Virginia China Office

• Area:  Buddhist Studies
• MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara 2023
• Juris Doctorate, UC Los Angeles

• BA, English and French Literature, Rutgers University, 2008.
• MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2011.
• PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2015.
• Primary faculty advisor: Barbara Holdrege
• Areas of Study at UCSB: South Asian Religions, Religions in North America, Religion and Culture.
• Title of Master’s Thesis: “Sacrifices Gone Wild: Eschatology in the Sauptikaparvan of the Mahabharata.”
• Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “Here Comes The Yogiman: Tales of Enlightenment and (Super)power with Particular Reference to the Life and Work of Paramahansa Yogananda”
• Current Employment (as of 10/1/2015): Lecturer in the Religious Studies Program, Department of Philosophy, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo

• BA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1991.
• MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1995.
• PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2001.
• Areas of Study at UCSB: Religions of South Asia.
• Title of Master’s Thesis: “From Battle Queen to Mother: The Rise of Daksina Kalika in Bengal.”
• Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “Sojourn Through Saffron: The Life of Sadhvi Uma Shri Bharati and the Rise of Hindutva Religion and Politics in India.”
• Current Employment: Director, Shruti Institute for Vedic Arts.

• BA, Religious Studies, University of Oregon, Eugene, 1977.
• MDiv, Pacific School of Religion/Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, California, 1981.
• MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1985.
• PhD, Religion, Ethics & Society, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, 1996.
• Areas of Study at UCSB: Religion in America, Sociology of Religion.
• Title of Master’s Thesis: “Religious Studies and Educational Reform in the 1980s: A Critical Analysis of Five National Commissioned Reports on Higher Education.”
• Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “‘The Wisdom of the Owl at Dusk’: Cultural Conflict and Moral Disagreement Over the Oregon Forests.”

Current Employment: Staff Interviewer, University of Oregon Survey Research Laboratory; Research Associate, Policy Interactive

• BA, Philosophy, Pomona College, 1998.
• MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2005.
• PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2011.
• Areas of Study at UCSB: South Asia, Tibetan studies, Anthropology of Religion.
• Title of Master’s Thesis: “Celibate Women, Empty Gompas: Leadership, History, Education, and the Status of Buddhist Nunneries in Nepal.”
• Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “Death, Gender, and Extraordinary Knowing: The Delog (‘das log) Tradition in Nepal and Eastern Tibet.”
• Current Employment: Lecturer, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.

• BA, History, Boise State University, 2000.
• MA, History, Boise State University, 2005.
• PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2012.
• Areas of Study at USCB: Early Christianity, Imperial and Late Antique Roman Empire, Martyrdom, Philosophy of Religion.
• Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “Imitiatio Christi: Reading Early Christian Martyrdom as Self-Formation.”

• AB, St. John’s College, California.
• MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1968.
• PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1974.
• Areas of Study at UCSB: Comparative Symbolism, History of Religions.
• Title of Master’s Thesis: “The Act of Belief: An Analytical Study in Methodological Continuity.”
• Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “The Sacred Tree: A Phenomenological Study.”
• Current Employment: Chancellor Emeritus, University System of New Hampshire.

• Area: Buddhist Studies, Medieval Chinese Religions, Sensory Studies, Composition and Rhetoric
• PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2022
• Dissertation: Sacred Smells and Strange Scents: Olfactory Imagination in Medieval Chinese Religions
• MA, Religious Studies, Columbia University, 2005
• BA, Religious Studies, Rutgers University, 2003

• BA, Religious Studies, University of Arizona, 1997.
• MA, Middle East Studies, Univ. of Texas at Austin, 1999.
• MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2004.
• Areas of Study at UCSB: Islam in America, Literature by Muslims in America.
• Current Employment: Poet; English Teacher, Moorpark High School.

• BA, Philosophy, Northeastern University, 2007.
• MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2014.
• Areas of Study at UCSB: Political Islamic Movements, Politicization of Gender and Sexuality, Religious Conceptions of the Body, Religion and Law, Religion and Violence, Contemporary Issues Facing Muslim Communities in the U.S. and Europe, Islam in the Media.

• BA, Film Studies, Wesleyan University, 1990.
• MFA, Directing, American Film Institute, 1992.
• MA, Buddhist Studies, Naropa University, 2005.
• MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2009.
• Areas of Study at UCSB: Buddhist Studies in Sanskrit and Tibetan.
• Title of Master’s Thesis: “A Preliminary Study of the Meaning of Yoga in Saṅgharakṣa’s Yogācārabhūmi.”
• Current Studies: Doctoral Candidate in Oriental Studies at Oxford University.

• BA, Political Theory/Psychology, Reed College, 1967.
• PhD, Clinical Psychology, CSPP, 1976.
• MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2000.
• Areas of Study at UCSB: Buddhism.
• Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “Some Steps Toward a Conceptual Framework for Psychotherapy Based on Buddhism.”
• Current Employment: Self-employed Clinical Psychologist.

• BA, Comparative Religion, Harvard University, 1992.
• MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1998.
• PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2003.
• Areas of Study at UCSB: American Religious History, Religion and Culture, Chinese Religion.
• Title of Master’s Thesis: “Marketing Lazaris: A Rational Choice Theory of Channeling.”
• Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “The Tao of America: The History and Practice of Daoism in North America.”
• Current Employment: Associate Professor of American Religion, College of Charleston.

• BA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1982.
• MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1984.
• PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1987.
• Areas of Study at UCSB: Religion in America, Sociology of Religion, Religion and Culture.
• Title of Master’s Thesis: “Christian Science and American Culture.”
• Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “The Ascension of Annie Rix Militz and the Home(s) of Truth: Perfection Meets Paradise in Early 20th Century Los Angeles.”
• Current Employment: Professor of Religious Studies and Chair, Department of Philosophy & Religious Studies, Western Illinois University.

• BA, Religious Studies, Michigan State University, 2007.
• MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2009.
• PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2015.
• Areas of Study at UCSB: American Religious History, Sexuality & Religion, Women & Religion, Global Christianities.
• Title of Master’s Thesis: “‘Do Everything’ but Prostitute: The History of Frances Willard and Fallen Women.”

• BA, Philosophy, Central Connecticut State University, 2002.
• MA, Religious Studies, Columbia University, 2004.
• Areas of Study at UCSB: Religion and the State, Religion and Violence, Martyrdom, Early Christianity, Theories of Religion.

• BA, Religious Studies, UC Berkeley, 1998.
• MTS, Harvard Divinity School, 2001.
• PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2008.
• Areas of Study at UCSB: History of Religions and Jewish Studies, Women and Religion, Iranian Jewish History.
• Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “From the Shahs to Los Angeles: Three Generations of Iranian Jewish Women Between Religion and Culture.”
• Current Employment: Assistant Director, Jewish Studies Program, Loyola Marymount University.

• BA, University of Arkansas, 1999.
• MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2002.
• Areas of Study at UCSB: Indian Hagiography, History of India, Religious Nationalism, Historiography, Languages (Hindi, Persian, Sanskrit).
• Title of Master’s Thesis: “The Saint as Model for Community: An Historical Analysis of the Hagiography of Mirabai.”

MA, UC Santa Barbara, 2022

• BA, Religion, Istanbul University, 2004.
• MA, Islamic Law, Marmara University, 2007.
• Areas of Study at UCSB: Islamic Studies, Islamic Law and Legal Theory, Qur’anic Studies, Hadith, Islamic Philosophy and Theology, Islamic History, Religious Identity and Secularism, State and Religion, Human Rights and Religion.

PhD, UC Santa Barbara, 2022

• BA, Religious Studies and Anthropology, University of Colorado, 1979.
• MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1982.
• DPhil, Social Anthropology, University of Oxford, 1988.
• Areas of Study at UCSB: Sociology and Anthropology of Religion, Native American Traditions.
• Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “Hinduism and Social Change in Village Trinidad.”
• Current Employment: Director at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity, Göttingen; Honorary Joint Professor of Sociology and Ethnology, University of Göttingen.

• BS, Political Studies, Sociology, and Religious Studies, University of Cape Town, 1990.
• MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1994.
• PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2000.
• Areas of Study at UCSB: History of Religion, Chinese Religions, Buddhism.
• Title of Master’s Thesis: “A Tale of Many Cities: Disruptions of the Sacred in Eighth Century Chang’an.”
• Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “Profiting the Treasure House: Monasteries and Land in Thirteenth Century China.”
• Current Employment: Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Religion, Vassar College.

• BA, Religious Studies & Theatre Studies, Wellesley College, 1999.
• MA, Religious Studies, University of Colorado, Boulder, 2001.
• PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2007.
• Areas of Study at UCSB: American Religious History, Childhood & Religion, Gender & Religion, New Religious Movements.
• Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “Hands, Hearts, and Heads: Childhood and Esotericism in American Waldorf Education.”
• Current Employment: Instructor, Department of Theology and Religious History, Cherry Hill Seminary.

• BA, Medical Microbiology, Stanford University, 1982.
• MA, Hispanic Studies, Monterey Institute of International Studies, 1989.
• MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1991.
• PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1996.
• Areas of Study at UCSB: History of Religions, American Religious History.
• Title of Master’s Thesis: “Heavenly Jerusalem in the Ascetical-Mystical Works of Renaissance Spain.”
• Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “The New World’s Jerusalems: Franciscans, Puritans, and Sacred Space in the Colonial Americas, 1519-1820.”
• Current Employment: Professor of Comparative Religion, Western Michigan University.

• BA, Theater History and Dramatic Criticism, Whittier College, 1996.
• MDiv, Claremont School of Theology, 2001.
• PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2010.
• Areas of Study at UCSB: Christian Thought, Theology.
• Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “The Horizon of Birth.”
• Current Employment: Assistant Professor of Religion, California Lutheran University.

I am a PhD student in the German Programme in the Department of European Languages and Studies at the University of California, Irvine. I also hold an M.A. in Religious Studies from UC Santa Barbara, an M.A. in Theology, Philosophy, and Literature from the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom, and a B.A. with a concentration in Theology and Philosophy.

My current research focuses generally on modern Jewish thought and European history, thought, and culture – particularly 19th and 20th century Europe in relation to contemporary trends in continental philosophy and medieval and renaissance mysticism. My most recent publication, entitled Broken Mirrors, Distorted Reflections: Anthropomorphism and the Recovery of the Concrétude of Human Being in Rosenzweig, Heidegger, and Adorno (Forthcoming, Mohr Siebeck),*  examines divergences vis-à-vis the concept of anthropomorphism amongst three thinkers otherwise collectively known for, amongst other things, tarrying with the finitude of human being in contrast to certain allegedly reductive tendencies of German idealism and Romanticism.

*See: Lucas Scott Wright. “Broken Mirrors, Distorted Reflections: Anthropomorphism and the Recovery of the Concrétude of Human Being in Rosenzweig, Heidegger, and Adorno.” Humanity: An Endangered Idea? Ed. Ingolf Dalferth and Marlene Bloch. Claremont Studies in the Philosophy of Religion. (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, Forthcoming).

• BA, Social Sciences, International Christian University/Tokyo, 1974.
• MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1977.
• PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1983.
• Areas of Study at UCSB: Religious Anthropology, Philosophy of Religion, History and Philosophy of Buddhism, Christian Medieval Thinkers, Mysticism, Philosophy of Language, Upanishads, Indian Religious Traditions.
• Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “Persona originalis: ‘Jinkaku’ and ‘Personne’ according to the Philosophies of Nishida Kitarō and Jacques Maritain.”
• Current Employment: Professor of Japanese and East Asian Studies, Department of Modern & Classical Languages and Center for East Asian Studies, Western Washington University.