Faculty Listed by Course of Study

ARC: American Religious Cultures
CLR: Comparative Literature and Religion
ES: Ethics and Society
HB: Hebrew Bible
HS: Historical Studies
JRC: Jewish Religious Cultures
NT: New Testament
PCRL: Person, Community and Religious Life
TS: Theological Studies
WSAR: West and South Asian Religions
Note: Some associated faculty listed here may not appear in the faculty listing to the right.

 

AMERICAN RELIGIOUS CULTURES

  • Elizabeth Bounds (Ph.D., Union Theological Seminary in New York City, 1994) Associate Professor.  Christian ethics; feminist ethics; violence, conflict transformation and peacemaking.
  • Dianne M. Diakité (Ph.D., Union Theological Seminary in New York City, 1997) Associate Professor.  Theologies and religious practices of the African diaspora; Black/womanist theologies; African-derived religions.
  • Thomas Frank (Ph.D., Emory University, 1981) Professor.  History of mainstream Protestantism; church administration and congregational life; Methodist studies.
  • E. Brooks Holifield (Ph.D., Yale University, 1970) Charles Howard Candler Professor.  Seventeenth-century American thought; theology in America.
  • Gary Laderman (Ph.D., University of California, Santa Barbara, 1994) Associate professor.  American religious history and cultures.
  • Richard Martin (Ph.D., New York University, 1975) Professor.  Arabic and Islamic studies ; history of religions; Islamic theology; religion and social conflict; Islam in America.
  • Barbara Patterson (Ph.D., Harvard University, 1994) Senior Lecturer and Chair.  Spiritual practices; cultural studies; feminist theory.
  • Russell E. Richey (Ph.D., Princeton University, 1970) Professor.  American religious history; Methodism; comparative denominational studies; American civil or public religion.
  • Steven M. Tipton (Ph.D., Harvard University, 1979) Professor. Sociology of religion.

Associated Faculty

Sociology:

  • Tim Dowd

History:

  • Eric Goldstein
  • Jonathan Prude

Institute of the Liberal Arts:

  • Allen Tullos

 

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE AND RELIGION

  • Cathy Caruth (Ph.D., Yale University, 1988) Winship Distinguished Research Professor.  British and German romanticism; literary theory; psychoanalytic writing; trauma theory.
  • Pamela M. Hall (Ph.D., Vanderbilt University, 1987) Associate Professor. Ethics; moral psychology; feminist thought; tragedy and virtue ethics; saints and moral exemplars.
  • Claire Nouvet (Ph.D., Princeton University, 1981) Associate Professor.  Medieval French literature and culture.
  • Laurie Patton (Ph.D., University of Chicago, 1991) Winship Distinguished Research Professor.  Religion in ancient India; Vedic studies; history of religions.
  • Jill Robbins (Ph.D., Yale University, 1985) Professor.  Levinas; Blanchot; philosophical and biblical hermeneutics.

 

ETHICS AND SOCIETY

  • Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im (Ph.D., University of Edinburgh, 1976) Professor of Law.  Law and religion; Islamic law and ethics; human rights.
  • Elizabeth Bounds (Ph.D., Union Theological Seminary in New York City, 1994) Associate Professor and Chair.  Christian social ethics; feminist ethics; violence, conflict transformation and peacemaking.
  • Michael Berger (Ph.D., Columbia University, 1992) Associate Professor. Jewish ethics.
  • Timothy P. Jackson (Ph.D., Yale University, 1984) Professor. Christian ethics.
  • Jan Love (Ph.D., Ohio State University, 1983) Dean of Candler School of Theology and Professor. Christianity; World Politics.
  • Ellen Ott Marshall (Ph.D., Vanderbilt University, 2000) Associate Professor. Christian Ethics; Conflict Transformation.
  • Don Seeman (Ph.D., Harvard University, 1997) Assistant Professor.  Medical anthropology; anthropology of experience; Ethiopian-Israelis; anthropological approaches to the Hebrew Bible; Judaism and Hasidism; violence and extremism in Israel.
  • Steven M. Tipton (Ph.D., Harvard University, 1979) Professor. Sociology of religion, morality, and culture; American religious institutions, politics, and public life.

Associated Faculty

Theological Studies:

  • Noel Erskine: Theological ethics and Christology; Caribbean and Black theology
  • Pamela M. Hall: Philosophical ethics, moral psychology; literature and religion; women's studies.

Person, Community and Religious Life:

  • John Snarey: Moral development and moral psychology

Philosophy:

  • Nicholas G. Fotion: Ethical theory; biomedical ethics; military ethics; philosophy of language.

Law:

  • John Witte (Director, Center for the Study of Law and Religion) Religious liberty; religion and human rights; church-state relations; marriage and family law; legal history.

Center for Ethics:

  • Paul Root Wolpe (Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Bioethics; Director , Center for Ethics) Bioethics in general; ethics of neuroscience, mental health, and the brain; ethics of biotechnologies; religious and cultural elements of bioethical beliefs; ethical issues in genetics, reproduction, death and dying; ethics education; ethics in extreme environments (bioethics consultant to NASA); sociology of medicine, knowledge, and ideology.

HEBREW BIBLE

  • William K. Gilders (Ph.D., Brown University, 2001) Associate Professor and Associate Director of the Graduate Division of Religion.
  • Joel M. LeMon (Ph.D., Emory University, 2007) Assistant Professor.
  • Carol A. Newsom (Ph.D., Harvard University, 1982) Charles Howard Candler Professor and Chair.
  • David L. Petersen (Ph.D., Yale University, 1972) Professor.
  • Brent A. Strawn (Ph.D., Princeton Theological Seminary, 2001) Associate Professor.
  • Jacob Wright (DrTheol, Georg-August-Universitat, Gottingen, 2003) Assistant Professor.

Associated Faculty

Middle Eastern and South Asian Studies:

  • Oded Borowski (Ph.D., University of Michigan, 1979) Professor.
  • Billie Jean Collins (Ph.D. Yale University, 1989) Instructor.

    • Art History:

      Gay Robins (Ph.D., University of Oxford, 1981) Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor.

     

    HISTORICAL STUDIES IN THEOLOGY AND RELIGION

    • Lewis Ayres (D.Phil., Merton College, Oxford University, 1994) Associate Professor.  Greek and Latin Trinitarian theology; Christology; and theology of Scripture in the fourth and fifth centuries.
    • E. Brooks Holifield (Ph.D., Yale University, 1970) Charles Howard Candler Professor and Chair.  Seventeenth-century American thought; theology in America.
    • Gary M. Laderman (Ph.D., University of California, Santa Barbara, 1994) Associate Professor. American religious history and culture.
    • Deborah Lipstadt (Ph.D., Brandeis University, 1976) Dorot Professor.  Modern Jewish studies; history of the Holocaust; women in Judaism.
    • Gordon Newby (Ph.D., Brandeis University, 1966) Professor.  Islam and Judaism.
    • David S. Pacini (Ph.D., Harvard University, 1979) Associate Professor.  Modern European religious thought; history of philosophical theology; semio-critical literary and social theory.
    • Eric Reinders (Ph.D., University of California, Santa Barbara, 1997) Associate Professor. &nb sp;Chinese religion; discourses and practices of the body.
    • Philip L. Reynolds (Ph.D., University of Toronto, 1986) Aquinas Associate Professor.  Medieva l theology and philosophy; scholasticism.
    • Russell E. Richey (Ph.D., Princeton University, 1970) Professor.  American religious history; Methodism; comparative denominational studies; American civil or public religion.
    • Jonathan Strom (Ph.D., University of Chicago, 1996) Associate Professor.  History of Christianity; Reformation; Pietism.

     

    JEWISH RELIGIOUS CULTURES

    • David Blumenthal (Ph.D., Columbia University, 1974) Jay and Leslie Cohen Professor.  Constructive Jewish theology; medieval Judaism; Jewish mysticism; Holocaust studies.
    • Michael Berger (Ph.D., Columbia University, 1992) Associate Pro fessor and Chair.  Rabbinics; modern Jewish thought; Jewish ethics.
    • William K. Gilders (Ph.D., Brown University, 2001) Associate Professor and Associate Director of the Graduate Division of Religion.  Hebrew Bible and ancient Israel; pre-modern Jewish biblical interpretation; ritual theory.
    • Eric Goldstein (Ph.D., University of Michigan, 2000) Associate Professor.  American Jewish history and culture; modern Jewish history; American social and cultural history.
    • Deborah Lipstadt (Ph.D., Brandeis University, 1976) Dorot Professor.  Holocaust history, memoirs.
    • Gordon Newby (Ph.D., Brandeis University, 1966) Professor.  Early Islam; Judeo-Arabic languages and cultures.
    • Marina Rustow (Ph.D., Columbia University, 2004) Assistant Professor.  Medieval Jewish and Near Eastern history; Karaism; heresy; Judeo-Arabic language and culture.
    • Don Seeman (Ph.D., Harvard University, 1997) Assistant Professor.  Medical anthropology; anthropology of experience; Ethiopian-Israelis; anthropologi cal approaches to the Hebrew Bible; Judaism and Hasidism; violence and extremism in Israel.
    • Jacob Wright (DrTheol, Georg-August-Universitat, Gottingen, 2003) Assistant Professor.  Hebrew Bible; Second Temple Judaism.

    Associated Faculty

    Middle Eastern and South Asian Studies:

    • Oded Borowski: Archaeology; daily life in ancient Israel
    • Benjamin Hary: linguistics; Judaic languages

    Law:

    • Michael Broyde: Je wish Law

     

    NEW TESTAMENT

    • Michael Joseph Brown (Ph.D., University of Chicago, 1998) Associate Professor and Director of the Graduate Division of Religion.  The Gospel of Matthew; Greco-Roman culture; Christianity in North Africa; early Christian ritual and liturgical practices.
    • Carl R. Holladay (Ph.D., University of Cambridge, 1975) Charles Howard Candler Professor.  Hellenistic Judaism; Luke-Acts; New Testament Introduction; Christology.
    • Luke T. Johnson (Ph.D., Yale University, 1976) Robert W. Woodruff Professor. Christian origins and development; Luke-Acts and Paul; James; and Greco-Roman religion and moral philosophy.
    • Gail R. O'Day (Ph.D., Emory University, 1983) Almar H. Shatford Professor.  The Gospel of John; Revelation and apocalyptic literature; history of biblical interpretation; Bible and preaching.
    • Vernon K. Robbins (Ph.D., University of Chicago, 1969) Winship Distinguished Research Professor.  Socio-rhetorical interpretation; Canonical and Extracanonical Gospels, Acts, and Apocalypses; Modern and Postmodern biblical interpretation; Comparative sacred texts (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam).
    • Walter T. Wilson (Ph.D., University of Chicago, 1990) Associate Professor and Chair.  Philo of Alexandria; Hellenistic Jewish wisdom literature; Pauline letters.

     

    PERSON, COMMUNITY, AND RELIGIOUS LIFE

    • Teresa L. Fry Brown (Ph.D., Iliff School of Theology and University of Denver, 1996) Associate Professor.  Homiletics, with an emphasis in African American and womanist styles; womanist ethics, sociology, and history focusing on African American spiritual values.
    • Carol Lakey Hess (Ph.D., Princeton Theological Seminary, 1990) Associate Professor.  Practical Theology; Theology and Literature; Feminist Approach to Human Development; Philosophy of Education.
    • Emmanuel Y. Lartey (Ph.D., The University of Birmingham, 1984) Professor.  Pastoral care, counseling, and theology in different cultural contexts; theological implications and practical effects of pastoral care in a diversity of cultures.
    • Thomas G. Long (Ph.D., Princeton Theological Seminary, 1980) Bandy Professor and Chair.  Homiletical theory; biblical preaching; worship and Christian practices.
    • L. Edward Philllips (Ph.D., University of Notre Dame, 1992) Associate Professor. Worship and liturgical theology.
    • Karen D. Scheib (Ph.D., Vanderbilt University, 1994) Associate Professor.  Pastoral care and counseling; practical theology; aging, identity and otherness.
    • John Snarey (Ed.D., Harvard University, 1982) Professor.  Psychology of human development; moral education; psychology of religion; William James.
    • Theophus H. Smith (Ph.D., Graduate Theological Union, 1987) Associate Professor.  Philosophy of religion; African American religious studies; religion and violence; liberation theology.

     

    THEOLOGICAL STUDIES

    • David R. Blumenthal (Ph.D., Columbia University, 1966) Jay and Leslie Cohen Professor.  Constructive Jewish thought; problem of evil; ethics; and obedience.
    • Noel L. Erskine (Ph.D., Union Theological Seminary in New York City, 1978) Associate Professor.  Black theology; theologies of liberation.
    • Wendy Lee Farley (Ph.D., Vanderbilt University, 1988) Associate Professor.  Philosophical and systematic theology; comparative theology.
    • Joy Ann McDougall (Ph.D., University of Chicago, 1998) Associate Professor.  Trinitarian theology; theological anthropology; doctrinal issues in feminist theology.
    • Ian A. McFarland (Ph.D., Yale University, 1995) Associate Professor.  Theological method; Trinity; Christology; theological anthropology.
    • Theophus H. Smith (Ph.D., Graduate Theological Union, 1987) Associate Professor.  Philosophy of religion; African American religious studies; religion and violence.

     

     

    WEST AND SOUTH ASIAN RELIGIONS

    • Abdullahi An-Na'im (Ph.D., University of Edinburgh, 1976) Professor and Fellow in the Law and Religion Program.  Islamic law and human rights.
    • Vincent Cornell (Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles, 1989) Asa Griggs Candler Professor.  Sufism; Islamic philosophy; and Islamic law.
    • Paul B. Courtright (Ph.D., Princeton University, 1974) Professor.  Hinduism; religion; and colonial culture.
    • John Dunne (Ph.D., Harvard University) Associate Professor.  Buddhist philosophy and practice; epistemology; philosophy of language; and contemplative practice.
    • Joyce Burkhalter Flueckiger (Ph.D., University of Wisconsin, 1984) Professor. Popular religion in South Asia; religion; ethnography; and performance.
    • Ruby Lal (D.Phil., Oxford University) Associte Professor.  South Asian studies; South Asian historiography and premodern history; Mughal history; Islam, gender, and sexuality.
    • Richard Martin (Ph.D., New York University, 1975) Professor.  Arabic and Islamic studies; history of religions; Islamic theology, religion and social conflict.
    • Sara L. McClintock (Ph.D., Harvard University) Assistant Professor.  Philosophical traditions of Indian and Tibetan Buddhism, with a special interest in the rhetorical nature of Buddhist conceptions of reason.
    • Gordon Newby (Ph.D., Brandeis University, 1966) Professor.  Early Islam; Muslim-non-Muslim relations.
    • David S. Pacini (Ph.D., Harvard University, 1979) Associate Professor.  Nineteenth century intellectual history; ideologies of colonialism; comparative religious interpretation.
    • Laurie L. Patton (Ph.D., University of Chicago, 1991) Winship Distinguished Research Professor and Chair.  Religion in ancient India; Vedic studies; history of religions.
    • Eric Reinders (Ph.D., University of California, Santa Barbara, 1997) Associate Professor.  Chinese religion; discourses and practices of the body.
    • Vernon K. Robbins (Ph.D., University of Chicago, 1969) Professor.  Religions of Hellenistic Mediterranean; comparative study of sacred texts.
    • Devin Stewart (Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania, 1991) Associate Professor.  Arabic and Islamic studies; Persian literature; Shi'ism.

     

    Associated Faculty

    Anthropology:

    • Robert A. Paul: Himalayan religion; religion and psychoanalysis
    • Michael G. Peletz (Ph.D., University of Michigan, 1983) Social and cultural theory, gender, sexuality, kinship, law, religion (especially Islam); anthropology of Southeast Asia, particularly Malaysia and Indonesia.

    History:

    • Gyanendra Pandey (D.Phil., Oxford University, 1975) South Asian and postcolonial history; violence, citizenship and marginality.

    Middle Eastern and South Asian Studies:

    • Rkia Cornell: Arabic
    • Robert Greeley: Arabic
    • Benjamin Hary: Judeo-Arabic language and literature
    • Rakesh Ranjan: Hindi
    • Hossein Samei: Persian
    • Rima Semaan: Arabic
    • Manojbala Tiwari: Hindi

    Political Science:

    • Carrie Wickham: Islam and Politics in the Middle East

    Department of Religion:

    • Geshe Lobsang Negi: Tibetan Buddhism
    • Tara Doyle (Ph.D., Harvard University) Senior Lecturer and Director of Tibetan Studies Program in India.  Buddhist and Hindu pilgrimage; ex-untouchable Buddhist converts; contemplative practices; Buddhism in America, and socially engaged Buddhism.

     

    Faculty Listed Alphabetically