Religion Faculty
Cameron C. Afzal
Courses: The Hebrew Bible, Readings in Christian Mysticism: Late Antiquity
B.A., Grinnell College. M.A., McGill University. M.Div., Yale University. Ph.D., Columbia University. Active member of the Society of Biblical Literature and the American Academy of Religion, as well as the Catholic Biblical Association; has written on the Apocalypse of John and has taught broadly in the fields of New Testament and Early Christianity, Judaism in the Second Temple Period, the Hebrew Bible, and Late Antique Christian Mysticism. SLC, 1992-
Glenn Dynner
on leave spring semester
Courses: Jewish Life in Eastern Europe, The Holocaust
B.A., Brandeis University. M.A., McGill University. Ph.D., Brandeis University. Scholar of East European Jewry with a focus on the social history of Hasidism and the Haskalah (Jewish Enlightenment). Author of the book Men of Silk: The Hasidic Conquest of Polish Jewish Society, which received a Koret Publication Award and was a finalist for the National Jewish Book Awards. Received textual training in several Israeli yeshivas and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Additional interests include Polish-Jewish relations, Jewish economic history, and popular religion. Recipient of the Fulbright Award. SLC, 2004-
T. Griffith Foulk
on leave fall semester
Courses: Chan (Zen) Buddhism in China
B.A., Williams College. M.A., Ph.D., University of Michigan. Trained in Zen monasteries in Japan; active in Buddhist studies, with research interest in philosophical, literary, social, and historical aspects of East Asian Buddhism, especially the Ch’an/Zen tradition; co-editor in chief, Soto Zen Text Project (Tokyo); American Academy of Religion Buddhism Section steering committee, 1987-1994, 2003-; board member, Kuroda Institute for the Study of Buddhism and Human Values; recipient of Fulbright, Eiheiji, and Japan Foundation fellowships and grants from the American Council of Learned Societies and the National Endowment for the Humanities. SLC, 1995-
Sarah Horton
Courses: Japanese Religion and Culture
B.A., Illinois College. M.A., M.Phil., Ph.D., Yale University. Special interest in the visual and material culture of religion in both historical and modern East Asia, especially Japan; conducted research over several years at numerous temples in Kyoto. Author of Living Buddhist Statues in Early Medieval and Modern Japan; “Mukaeko: Practice for the Deathbed,” in Death and the Afterlife in Japanese Buddhism; and several articles and translations. Recipient of research fellowships for the Social Science Research Council, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, and the Japan Foundation. SLC, 2008-
Kristin Zahra Sands
Courses: Introduction to Muslim Thought and Cultures, Reaching Out to God: The History of Sufi Thought and Practice
B.A., New School for Social Research. M.A., Ph.D., New York University. Special interests include Sufism, Qur’anic exegesis, religion and media, and political theology. Author of Sufi Commentaries on the Qur’an in Classical Islam (Routledge, 2005). Taught in and directed the Arabic Language Program at New York University. SLC, 2003-