Degree

Specialities

Religion and civic life, religion and law in the US, religion and human rights.

Interests

The intersection of religious and political narratives, particularly within contexts of social crisis; secularism and the separation of church and state in the US; religion and the 'culture wars' within the US; religion and the creation and propagation of international human rights.

Publications

"Sacred Institutions and Secular Law: The Dwindling Voice of Religion in the Courtroom Debate Over Same-Sex Marriage," forthcoming in Journal of Church and State.

"Political Myth and the Sacred Center of Human Rights: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Narrative of 'Inherent Human Dignity,'" Human Rights Review 12.2 (May 2011): 147-171.

"Radical Islam and Human Rights Values: A 'Religious-Minded' Critique of Secular Liberty, Equality and Brotherhood," Journal of the American Academy of Religion 78.2 (2010): 449-476.

"Rogue Agents, Religion, and the Rule of Law: The Limits of Legalism in the Face of Technologies of Mass Destruction," Implicit Religion 2.1 (2009).

"The 'Humanity' of Radical Jihad," ISIM Review (2006).

Dissertation

 "Making and Unmaking Political Myth in the Era of Human Rights," with Honors, University of California, Santa Barbara, 2007.

Distinctions

Consortium for Faculty Diversity Dissertation Fellowship at Vassar College (2006-2007).