Click here to view the current schedule of Office Hours for Religion Department faculty.

Dewey Wallace
Department Chair, 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

Eyal Aviv
Assistant Professor
Areas of Interest: East Asian Religions, Buddhism

Eyal Aviv came to George Washington University after completing his Ph.D. in Religious Studies at Harvard. He received his BA and MA degrees from the East Asian Department of Hebrew University, Jerusalem. Eyal's research focus is Buddhist philosophy and intellectual history. He is particularly interested in the Yogacara School and the way it developed in China. In addition, he is interested in the prospects and challenges posed to religions in the modern period. He is currently working on a book manuscript that concerns the intellectual biography of Ouyang Jingwu (1871-1943), one of the most influential Buddhist thinkers in modern China. The book examines the role Buddhist scholasticism played in the formation of Chinese Buddhist and non-Buddhist intellectual
history in the modern period.

Office: 2106 G St NW, Room 201B
Phone: 202-994-1675
Email: aviv@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 B.A. at Yale University in 1983, and his Ph.D. 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 (State University of New York Press, 1995) and The Book of Job in Medieval Jewish Philosophy (Oxford University Press, 2004). A third book, The Peace and Violence of Judaism: A Study in Jewish Ethics from the Bible to Modern Zionism, is under review at Oxford University Press. He has also co-edited two volumes, Philosophers and the Jewish Bible (University of Maryland Press, 2008) with Charles Manekin, and Alternatives to War in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (Pilgrim Press, forthcoming) with Glen Stassen and Susan Thistlethwaite. Professor Eisen has also received a number of grants and awards to support his research, including a Fulbright Grant for research at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem in 1999-2000. He is also a recipient of a Bender award (2005), a prize given annually at George Washington University in recognition of outstanding teaching.

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 has worked with the United States Institute of Peace. He sits on the advisory board of the Center for World Religions, Diplomacy, and Conflict Resolution at George Mason University. He is also on the executive committee for the C-1 World initiative, an organization that grew out of the World Economic Forum and is devoted to improving the relationship between the West and the Islamic world.

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

Alf Hiltebeitel
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

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


Irene Oh
Assistant Professor
Areas of Interest: Ethics, Peace Studies

Irene Oh (Koukios) (C.V.)graduated from Swarthmore College with a major in Religion and minors in German and Philosophy. After earning an MA in Divinity from the University of Chicago, she received a PhD in Religious Studies from the University of Virginia. She is the author of The Rights of God: Islam, Human Rights, and Comparative Ethics (Georgetown 2007) and is currently working on a book about the ethics of motherhood. In 2009, she joined the Religion Department at GWU, where she teaches courses in ethics and directs the Peace Studies program. She has been elected to the board of the Society of Christian Ethics, is a founding member of the Society for the Study of Muslim Ethics, and serves on the steering committee for the Comparative Religious Ethics Group of the American Academy of Religion.

Office: 2106 G St NW, Room 201
Phone: 202-994-1675
E-mail: ireneoh@gwu.edu

Kelly Pemberton
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

Harry Yeide
Professor Emeritus
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

Ani Kunga Chodron
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

Muhammad H. Faghfoory
Professorial Lecturer
Areas of Interest: Islam, Shi'ism, Islamic Political Thought

Muhammad H. Faghfoory is professorial lecturer of religion in Islamic Studies. He received his Master’s degrees in history and Middle East studies from the University of Illinois, another Master’s degree in political science and a PhD and Middle East studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has taught at the University of Tehran and has been a visiting scholar at the University of California-Los Angeles, Islamic Manuscripts Specialist at Princeton University, and at the Library of Congress, and adjunct professor of Middle East History at Mary-Washington University in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Dr. Faghfoory has written, translated, and edited nine books, numerous book chapters, articles, and book reviews. His works have been published by the State University of New York Press, University Press of America, Oxford Encyclopedia of the Muslim World, International Journal of Middle East Studies, the Middle East Journal, and the International Journal of Shi‘i Studies. He has lectured extensively in the United States, Europe, and the Middle East, and participated in interfaith dialogue organized by American media. Currently, he is writing a monograph on “War and Peace in Shi‘ite Islam,” sponsored by Peace Research Institute of Norway to be published by Oxford University Press in 2011.

Office: 2106 G St NW, Room 303B
Phone: 202-994-8716
Email: faghfoor@gwu.edu

Edwin C. Hostetter
Professorial Lecturer
Areas of Interest: Judaism & Jewish Ethics, Interfaith Dialogue

Edwin C. Hostetter holds a Ph.D. in near eastern studies from Johns Hopkins University. His forthcoming publications include "Nations, Peoples and Empires", in Eerdmans Companion to the Bible and "Trust" in New Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible. He serves as a board member for the Central Maryland Ecumenical Council and a consultant for the Civilizations Exchange and Cooperation Foundation.


Email: edwinh@gwu.edu

Natalie K. Houghtby-Haddon
Professorial Lecturer
Areas of Interest: Biblical Studies, New Testament, Religion and Public Policy

Natalie K. Houghtby-Haddon (C.V.)teaches for the GW Religion Department, primarily in the area of biblical studies. In addition to the Introduction to the New Testament (REL 010) and World Religions: The West (REL 001), she has offered special topics courses in Luke-Acts, Women and Early Christianity, and Marx and Faith.

Natalie is also the Associate Director of The George Washington University Center for Excellence in Public Leadership (CEPL), and an Instructor in the GW College of Professional Studies. She teaches and designs curricula and educational programs in the areas of leadership, ethics, leading change, and non-profit management, as well as professional development. Before coming to GW, Dr. Houghtby-Haddon served as the President of the Immaculate Heart College Center. Natalie has also served as an adjunct faculty member in the Urban Ministries Program of the Claremont School of Theology in Claremont, CA.

Natalie is ordained in The United Methodist Church, and served local pastorates throughout the Los Angeles region for nearly 20 years. As a pastor, her focus was on urban transformation, working primarily with faith-based and community-based organizations to articulate and implement a vision for a just and sustainable society. She holds the Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Boston University, the Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry degrees from the Claremont School of Theology, and the Ph.D in the Human Sciences from The George Washington University.

Office: 2033 K St, Suite 240
Phone: 202-994-5304
E-mail: hsquared@gwu.edu

Prabhavati Reddy
Professorial Lecturer
Office: 2106 G Street NW, Room 303A
Email: pcreddy@gwu.edu