Ohio University 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 Rāmayāṇa
- 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
“ Of Demons and Disciplines: Old Thiess, a Livonian Werewolf: A Classic Case in Comparative Perspective by Carlo Ginzburg and Bruce Lincoln and Daemons Are Forever: Contacts and Exchanges in the Eurasian Pandemonium by David Gordon White .” Religious Studies Review Vol. 47, No.1 (Mar. 2021).
“ The Ambopākhyāna Reconsidered: Reading Ambā’s Story as Part of the Rāma Jāmadagnya Myth Cycle .” In Visions and Revisions. Edited by Raj Balkaran and McComas Taylor. Canberra: Australian National University Press, 2023.
“Paraśurāma, Droṇa, and Aśvatthāman: A Comparative Study of Brahmin Warriors in the Mahābhārata.” In NOMEN NVMEN: Espressioni del sacro tra storia delle religioni, linguistica e archeologia , Atti del convegno Università degli Studi della Campania “Vanvitelli”, Santa Maria Capua Vetere – 15-16 Aprile 2019. Edited by Marcello do Martino and Claudia Santi, 177-192. Lugano: Agora & Co, 2021
“Myth.” 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.
“Monsters, Masala , and Materiality: Close Encounters with Hindi Horror Movie Ephemera.” 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.
“Vampire Man Varma: The Untold Story of the ‘Hindu Mystic’ Who Decolonized Dracula.” 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.
“A Very Square Peg: A Podcast About Austrian Polymath Robert Eisler.” Podcast. June 2020. New Books Network. https://newbooksnetwork.com/category/nbn-special-series/very-square-peg/
The Magic of the Combinatory Mind: The Forgotten Life of 20th Century Austrian Polymath Robert Eisler . London: Palgrave Pivot, 2020.
“Un pezzo troppo quadrato: la vita e l’opera di Robert Eisler” [“A Very Square Peg: The Life and Work of Robert Eisler”]. In Uomo diventa lupo: un’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. “ From Middlemarch to The Da Vinci Code : Portrayals of Religious Studies in Popular Culture .” Religious Studies Review Vol. 44, No. 2 (Jun. 2018), 173-182.
“By Post or by Ghost: Ruminations on Visions and Epistolary Archives.” Jewish Quarterly Review Vol. 107, No. 3 (Summer 2017), 393-404.
“The Eastern Revolution: From the Vedas to Buddhism, Jainism, and the Upanishads.” In The Handbook of Mimetic Theory and Religion . Edited by James Alison and Wolfgang Palaver, 111-117. London: Palgrave MacMillan, 2017.
“Burning Desires, Burning Corpses: Girardian Reflections on Fire in Hinduism and Buddhism.” In René 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.