51ĀŅĀ×

51ĀŅĀ× faculty member since 2013.

Education

University of Chicago, Ph.D. in History of Religions (2010); University of Chicago, M.A. in History of Religions (2003); North Carolina State University, B.A. in Religious Studies and B.A. in Psychology, (2001)

Specializations

• Hinduism
• Buddhism
• Comparative Mythology
• Intellectual History of Religious Studies
• Religion, the Paranormal, and the Occult

Courses Taught

• CARS 2400 Introduction to the Study of Religion
• CARS 2410 The Global Occult: Ghosts, Demonology, and the Paranormal in World Religions
• CARS 2430 The History of Yoga: From Ancient Discipline to Modern Movement
• CARS 3100 Hinduism
• CARS 3110 Buddhism
• CARS 3130 Indian Epic: Mahābhārata and Rāmayāį¹‡a
• CARS 3260 Myth, Ritual, and Symbolism
• CARS 4000 Magic, Sorcery and Witchcraft in Classical Civilizations and the World's Religions
• CARS 4900 Religious Traditions of India (Study Abroad Course)

Selected Publications

ā€œ.ā€ Religious Studies Review Vol. 47, No.1 (Mar. 2021).

ā€œ.ā€ In Visions and Revisions. Edited by Raj Balkaran and McComas Taylor. Canberra: Australian National University Press, 2023.

ā€œParaśurāma, Droį¹‡a, and Aśvatthāman: A Comparative Study of Brahmin Warriors in the Mahābhārata.ā€ In NOMEN NVMEN: Espressioni del sacro tra storia delle religioni, linguistica e archeologia, Atti del convegno UniversitĆ  degli Studi della Campania ā€œVanvitelliā€, Santa Maria Capua Vetere ā€“ 15-16 Aprile 2019. Edited by Marcello do Martino and Claudia Santi, 177-192. Lugano: Agora & Co, 2021

ā€œMyth.ā€ In The Encyclopedia of Religious Ethics: Volume 1-Moral Inquiry. Edited by William Schweiker, Maria Antonaccio, Elizabeth Bucar, and David Clairmont. Hoboken: Wiley-Blackwell, 2022.

ā€œM“Ē²Ō²õ³Ł±š°ł²õ, Masala, and Materiality: Close Encounters with Hindi Horror Movie Ephemera.ā€ In Bollywood Horrors: Religion, Violence, and Cinematic Fears in India. Edited by Ellen Goldberg, Aditi Sen, and Brian Collins, 21-43. London: Bloomsbury Academic 2021.

ā€œVampire Man Varma: The Untold Story of the ā€˜Hindu Mysticā€™ Who Decolonized Dracula.ā€ In Bollywood Horrors: Religion, Violence, and Cinematic Fears in India. Edited by Ellen Goldberg, Aditi Sen, and Brian Collins, 44-65. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2021.

The Other Rāma: Matricide and Genocide in the Mythology of Paraśurāma. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2020.

ā€œA Very Square Peg: A Podcast About Austrian Polymath Robert Eisler.ā€ Podcast. June 2020. New Books Network.

The Magic of the Combinatory Mind: The Forgotten Life of 20th Century Austrian Polymath Robert Eisler. London: Palgrave Pivot, 2020.

ā€œUn pezzo troppo quadrato: la vita e lā€™opera di Robert Eislerā€ [ā€œA Very Square Peg: The Life and Work of Robert Eislerā€]. In Uomo diventa lupo: unā€™interpretazione antropologica di sadism, masochismo e licantropia [Man into Wolf: An Anthropological Interpretation of Sadism, Masochism, and Lycanthropy] by Robert Eisler, 323-391. Translated by Raul Montanari. Milan: Adelphi Edizioni, 2019.

With Kristen Tobey. ā€œ.ā€ Religious Studies Review Vol. 44, No. 2 (Jun. 2018), 173-182.

ā€œBy Post or by Ghost: Ruminations on Visions and Epistolary Archives.ā€ Jewish Quarterly Review Vol. 107, No. 3 (Summer 2017), 393-404.

ā€œThe Eastern Revolution: From the Vedas to Buddhism, Jainism, and the Upanishads.ā€ In The Handbook of Mimetic Theory and Religion. Edited by James Alison and Wolfgang Palaver, 111-117. London: Palgrave MacMillan, 2017.

ā€œBurning Desires, Burning Corpses: Girardian Reflections on Fire in Hinduism and Buddhism.ā€ In RenĆ© Girard and World Religions. Edited by Wolfgang Palaver and Richard Schenk, 303-317. East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University Press, 2017.

The Head Beneath the Altar: Hindu Mythology and the Critique of Sacrifice. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 2014.