Alf Hiltebeitel
Department Chair, Professor
Areas of Interest: Religions of India & History of Religions

Professor Hiltebeitel received his undergraduate degree from Haverford College with a major in Religion. He continued his education at the University of Chicago Divinity School, receiving his PhD in History of Religions. The focus of his research has since been the great epics of India (specifically the Sanskrit epics of Mahabharata and Ramayana), regional folk epics, and the cult of the goddess Draupadi. He has authored, edited, and translated many books and dozens of articles. Hiltebeitel has been the faculty director for the South India Term Abroad (SITA) program and is the former director of Human Sciences Program at GW.

Office: 2106 G Street NW
Phone: 202-994-1674
Email: beitel@gwu.edu

Paul Duff
Professor, Associate Dean of CCAS for Undergraduate Studies
Areas of Interest: Bible & Early Christianity

Paul Duff (C.V.) attended Miami University (Ohio) for his BA and MA in Religion. He received his PhD in Biblical literature from the University of Chicago. He has published articles on Greco-Roman religion, religion and violence and the New Testament writings of Matthew, Mark, Paul, and the Book of Revelation. In 2001, he published Who Rides the Beast? Prophetic Rivalry and the Rhetoric of Crisis in the Churches of the Apocalypse (Oxford University Press). He currently serves as Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies at CCAS and he is a member of the Journal of Biblical Literature Editorial Board.


Office: Phillips Hall 107
Phone: 202-994-6210
Email: duff@gwu.edu

Robert Eisen
Professor
Areas of Interest: Judaism, History of Jewish Thought, & Jewish Ethics

Robert Eisen is Professor of Religion and Director of the Judaic Studies Program at George Washington University in Washington D.C. He received his BA at Yale University in 1983, and his PhD in Jewish thought at Brandeis University in 1990. His areas of interest include medieval and modern Jewish philosophy, biblical interpretation, Jewish ethics, and comparative religion. He is author of two books, Gersonides on Providence, Covenant, and the Chosen People published by SUNY Press in 1995 and The Book of Job in Medieval Jewish Philosophy which was published by Oxford University Press in 2004. He is also currently editing a book for the University of Maryland Press on philosophers and the Bible. He is also composing a study on Jewish perspectives on violence and peace. Professor Eisen has been active in adult education initiatives. He serves on the Board of Directors for the Foundation for Jewish Studies which brings lecturers to Washington from academic institutions all over the world. He has also lectured and taught widely in the Jewish and non-Jewish communities in Washington and elsewhere.

Professor Eisen is also active as a consultant on issues of religion and international conflict with a particular interest in fostering better relations between the West and the Islamic world. He has participated in a number of high-level dialogues and consultations in Washington and abroad concerning this issue. He sits on the advisory board of the Center for World Religions, Diplomacy, and Conflict Resolution at George Mason University. He has also worked with such organizations as the United States Institute of Peace. He recently played a key role in arranging an unprecedented meeting between King Abdullah of Jordan and 80 American rabbis.

Office: 2106 G Street NW, Room 303B
Phone: 202-994-6327
Email: eisen@gwu.edu

Kelly Pemberton
On leave 2008-2009 Academic Year
Assistant Professor of Religion and Women's Studies
Areas of interest: Islam, Hinduism, Sufish,& Gender

After receiving a BA in French from Vassar College, Kelly Pemberton
completed an MA in international studies and religion at the University of Washington, and a PhD in religion at Columbia University. Her research covers mysticism, the landscape of religious authority and authorities, and Islamic reform movements in South Asia and the Middle East, especially as these relate to gender. She has co-edited a volume of essays, Shared Idioms Sacred Symbols and the Articulation of Identities in South Asia (Routledge 2008), and written a monograph, Women Mystics and Sufi Shrines in the Indian Subcontinent (forthcoming 2009). Her work has been published in academic journals, encyclopedias, and edited volumes. She has also consulted on projects focusing on women in the Middle East and Asia for non-profit organizations and government agencies.

Office: 2106 G St. NW
Phone: 202-994-6363
Email: kpembert@gwu.edu

Dewey Wallace
Professor
Areas of Interest: Christianity & Religion in America

After receiving his undergraduate degree from Whitworth College, Dewey Wallace attended the Princeton Theological Seminary where he earned a B.D. and Princeton University where he received PhD in the History of Christianity. Most of his research has involved English Christianity during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and American Congregationalism in the nineteenth century. He has authored several books and many articles. He is currently focusing on past Calvinist religious figures and their influence on modern theology. Once that project is finished, he plans to look into how modern American Congregational clergy shaped the Puritan heritage for their own uses.


Office: 2106 G Street, Room 202
Phone: 202-994-6326
Email: dwallace@gwu.edu

Harry Yeide
Professor
Areas of Interest: Ethics & Sociology of Religion

Harry Yeide attended Williams College where he received his undergraduate degree and then earned his B.D. from the Union Theological Seminary (NYC). He obtained his PhD from Harvard University. His areas of interest include the sociology and philosophy of religion, ethics, and peace studies. In addition to his teaching, Yeide has contributed many years to the administration of the Columbian School and of the Department of Religion. He served as Assistant Dean for the Columbian School for more than 10 years then followed that position with over 10 years as chair of the Religion Department. He has played a major role in the establishment of various interdisciplinary study programs including most recently in the fields of bio-ethics and peace studies. He has written a number of articles on religion and ethics and has recently published a book on classical Pietism.

Office: 2106 G Street NW, Room 101
Phone: 202-994-3967
Email: yeide@gwu.edu

Seyyed Hossein Nasr
University Professor
Areas of Interest: Islamic Studies & Perennial Philosophy

Seyyed Hossein Nasr (C.V.) graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology with an undergraduate degree in Physics and Mathematics. He went on to Harvard University where he studied Geology and Geophysics, and then completed a PhD in the History of Science and Philosophy. He is a world renown scholar on Islam and is currently a University Professor at GW. He has published over twenty books and hundreds of articles in numerous languages and translations.


Office: 2130 H Street NW, Gelman, Room 709R
Phone: 202-994-5704
Email: msirat@gwu.edu

Ani Kunga Chodron
Assistant Professorial Lecturer
Areas of Interest: Buddhism

Reverend Ani Kunga Chodron received her undergraduate degree from the University of Minnesota University without Walls, and her master?s and doctoral degrees from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She has been a nun for twenty years, and has received many teachings from Buddhist masters, including His Holiness the Dalai Lama and His Holiness the Sakya Trizin. She is co-founder of a temple in upstate New York that is the U.S. headquarters of the Sakya Order of Tibetan Buddhism. She also serves as president of the Sakya Center for Tibetan Buddhist Studies and Meditation, in Silver Spring Maryland. Ani Kunga speaks and reads the Tibetan language, and has co-translated a number of books on Buddhist philosophy, prayers, and rituals. She has recently completed a translation of the Mahayana Buddhist classic Bodhisattvacharavatara by Shantideva, together with a thirteenth-century Tibetan commentary on that work.

Email: sakya@sakyatemple.org

Edwin C. Hostetter
Assistant Professorial Lecturer
Areas of Interest: Judaism & Jewish Ethics

Edwin C. Hostetter holds a PhD in near eastern studies from Johns Hopkins University. Some of his forthcoming publications include, "Buddhism" and "Christianity" in Encyclopedia of Crime and Punishment, as well as "Habbakkuk" in IVP Women's Bible Commentary. He is preparing a presentation on religious discrimination in hiring for a religion & criminal justice conference. Service to the community includes involvement with the Interfaith Action for Racial Justice.


Email: edhostetter@earthlink.net

Steven Glazer
Assistant Professorial Lecturer
Areas of Interest: Judaism & Jewish Ethics

Steven M. Glazer holds a BS from Columbia University, a BHL, MHL and rabbinic ordination from The Jewish Theological Seminary, and a DHL from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. He also has been awarded a DD honoris causa by the Seminary. His most recent article appears in the Winter 2001 issue of "Conservative Judaism."


Office: 2106 G Street NW, Room 301
Email: rsteve@bethemeth.org