EDUCATION
PhD, Boston University, January 2012, Religion and Society.
MTS, Harvard Divinity School, 2005 (Program in Religion and Secondary Education)
BA, Hampshire College, 2002 (concentration in comparative
religion)
AREAS OF CONCENTRATION
Religion in North America, American
Catholicism, Sociology of Religion
SCHOLARLY AWARDS
National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Scholar for the Study
of Religion, 2011.
Angela J. and James J Rallis Memorial Award/Alice M. Brennan
Humanities Award, Boston University Humanities Foundation, 2011.
Invited lecturer, Hampshire College, April 3-4, 2011.
Boston University Department of Religion and Theological Studies,
Travel Grants, 2009, 2010.
The Pluralism Project, Student Research Grant, 2003.
TEACHING AWARD
Outstanding Teaching Fellow in Religious and Theological
Studies, Boston University, 2011.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
TEACHING
Fall 2011 Adjunct
Instructor, Piedmont Virginia Community College
Courses:
World Religion, Old Testament
Fall 2010 Lecturer,
Tufts Experimental College
Courses: Vampires in
Civilization
2009-2011 Teaching
Fellow, Boston University
Courses: Introduction to Religion, Religion and Culture, Death and
Immortality, Buddhism
2006-2008
Teacher, Open Campus High
School, Atlanta, GA
Courses: US History, World History
2005-2006 Teacher, Indianapolis Metropolitan
Career
Academy, Indianapolis, IN
Courses: Full curriculum for the state of Indiana
Licensed to teach social studies in MA, IN, and GA.
RESEARCH
2005 Research
manager for Harvard Study on Teaching About Religion in the Schools (HSTARS),
2005.
2003-2004
Grant research assistant for
the Center for the Study of World Religions at Harvard Divinity School.
PUBLICATIONS
DISSERTATION
ÒThe Church and the Seer: Veronica Lueken and the Two Faces of
Catholicism in Post-Conciliar America.Ó
Defended December 14, 2011.
BOOKS AND BOOK
CHAPTERS
ÒCrossing the Spiritual Wasteland in ÔPriestÕÓ in John W. Morehead
and Kim Paffenroth, eds., Theology and the Undead. Eugene, Oregon: Pickwick
Publications, Forthcoming.
ÒVampires as an
Ascriptive Identity Group: Analyzing Causes and Effects of an Introspective
Survey by the Vampire Community,Ó in Adam Possamai, ed., Handbook
of Hyper-Real Religions.
Boston: Brill, 2012, pp. 141-163.
Vampires Today:
The Truth About Modern Vampirism. Westport: Praeger, 2009.
SCHOLARLY ARTICLES
"Where Do They Get These Ideas? Changing
Ideas of Cults and the Mirror of Popular Culture," Journal of the
American Academy of Religion.
In press.
ÒÕNice Little Things Like That:Õ Oom the Omnipotent and the
Marketing of Yoga to the American Public,Ó Journal of Religion and American
Culture. In press.
ÒÕWe Are Spirits of Another SortÕ: Ontological Rebellion and
Religious Dimensions of the Otherkin Community,Ó Nova Religio. In press.
ÒLevitating
the Pentagon: Exorcism as Politics, Politics as Exorcism,Ó Implicit Religion
14:3 (2011): 295-318.
ÒCarnal Knowledge: The Epistemology of Sexual Trauma in WitchesÕ
Sabbath, Satanic Ritual Abuse, and Alien Abduction Narratives,Ó Preternature 1:1 (2012): 100-129.
ÒReview Essay: Paranormal
Belief: A New Frontier?,Ó Nova Religio 15:5 (2011): 92-97.
ÒConversion by
Infection: The Sociophobic of Cults in The Omega Man,Ó The International Journal for the Study of New
Religions, 1:2 (2011):
261-278.
ÒÕReducing the Ornaments of Fable to the Standard of Truth:Ó
Tylor, Vampires, and the Anthropology of Religion.Ó Arc, The
Journal of the Faculty of Religious Studies, McGill University, 28 (2010): 115-139.
ÒMyth Sells:
MattelÕs Commission of the Masters of the Universe Bible,Ó The Journal of Religion and
Popular Culture, 22:2
(Summer 2010).
ÒVampires as an Ascriptive Identity
Group: Analyzing Causes and Effects of an Introspective Survey by the Vampire
Community,Ó Nova
Religio, 14:1 (2010):
4-23.
ÒFrom Parasite to Symbiote: The Genealogy of the Psychic Vampire,Ó
Proteus: A Journal of Ideas. 26:2 (2009): 25-31.
ÒGodÕs Last, Best
Gift to Mankind: Gnostic Science and the Eschaton in the Vision of John Murray
Spear,Ó Aries
10:1 (2009): 63-83.
ÒThe Folk Piety
of William Peter Blatty: ÔThe ExorcistÕ in the Context of Secularization,Ó Interdisciplinary Journal of
Research on Religion,
Vol 5 (2009).
ÒMothman:
Monster, Disaster, and Community,Ó Fieldwork in Religion 3: 1 (2008): 70-86.
REFERENCE MATERIALS
ÒCults,Ó Encyclopedia of Religion and Politics in America (ABC-CLIO), forthcoming.
ÒCatholicism,Ó Encyclopedia of Religion and Politics in America (ABC-CLIO), forthcoming.
ÒReligion in Schools.Ó In Ruth
Chadwick, ed., Encyclopedia of Applied Ethics Volume 3. San Diego:
Academic Press, 2012: 757-765.
BOOK REVIEWS
Terry Eagleton, On Evil (New Haven: Yale
University Press, 2010). In Symposia, Vol 3 (2011).
SELECTED INTERNET PUBLICATIONS
ÒWebs of
Significance: The Real Life Superhero Movement as a Model for Reality,Ó Nomos Journal, January 1, 2012.
ÒDefining ÔCult,Õ
Defining ÔChristianÕ,Ó Religion Dispatches, October 12, 2011.
ÒAustrian Court
Okays Head-Colander in DriverÕs License: Is Pastafarianism Becoming a Religion?,Ó Religion Dispatches, July 18, 2011.
ÒThinking About ÔJudasÕ or How I Became a Lady Gaga
Conspiracy Theorist,Ó The Gaily, 29 May, 2011.
ÒMaryÕs Late
Arrival to the United States,Ó Sightings, 31 March, 2011.
ÒBook Review:
Kristen Swenson, Bible Babel,Ó TheReligiousLeft.org, 9 March, 2011.
ÒFilm review:
Tron: Legacy,Ó Journal of Religion and Film, 15:1 (2011).
ÒWhat If ItÕs
real?: Live-record horror and Popular Belief in the Supernatural,Ó Ol2Media, 4.9 (January 2011).
ÒRomaniaÕs
ÔWitch TaxÕ: Magic Meets Bureaucracy,Ó Religion Dispatches, January 26, 2011.
ÒThe Gospel
According to Biff: Pedagogical Uses of Satire,Ó World Religions Educator Network
(WREN) Magazine, 1.1.
Winter/Spring 2011.
ÒWhy Did Vandals
Try to Destroy a Holy Tree?,Ó Religion Dispatches, December 13, 2010.
ÒControversial
Mary Statue Weeps Because ÔWeÕre Killing This WorldÕÓ Religion Dispatches, November 14, 2010.
ÒMuslims, Middle
Schoolers, and Lawsuits,Ó Sightings, October 14, 2010.
ÒStrippers
versus Church: Cosmic Battle with Civic Consequences,Ó Religion Dispatches, August 25, 2010.
ÒVampire Bible:
Will Smith and The Legend of Cain,Ó Religion Dispatches, July 26, 2010.
ÒModern Exorcism:
Trading Autonomy for Demonology,Ó Sightings, July 8, 2010.
ÒMagic v.
Science: Doctor Who Part III,Ó Religion Dispatches, May 28, 2010.
ÒÕMiraclesÕ
Rejects Disenchantment, Not Science,Ó Religion Dispatches, May 19, 2010.
ÒYour Hatred
Will Make Me Famous: Making Sense of a Republican Vampire,Ó Religion Dispatches, April 11, 2010.
ÒBattling the
Antichrist by Outlawing Microchips,Ó Religion Dispatches, March 16, 2010.
ÒThe Religious
Struggle over Cryptozoology,Ó Religion and Science Today, February 18, 2010.
ÒThe PandoraÕs
Box of James Cameron,Ó Sightings, January 28, 2010.
ÒVampires,
Communion, Redemption,Ó Religion Dispatches, January 27, 2010.
ÒAnswers: Why Do
Vampires Fear Crosses?Ó Religion
and Science Today,
December 2, 2009.
ÒPenitents
Compete,Ó Sightings, November 19, 2009.
ÒFilm review:
JenniferÕs Body,Ó
Journal of Religion and Film, 13:2 (2009).
(with Thomas Fabisiak) ÒThe Conservative
Bible Project: Searching for Conservative Diamonds in a Liberal Dung-Hill.Ó Religion Dispatches, October 21, 2009.
ÒUnderstanding
the Open Carry Celebration,Ó Sightings, July 9, 2009.
ÒTen Commandment
of the Antichrist: The Georgia Guidestones,Ó Religion Dispatches, June 30, 2009.
ÒTrue Blood:
When Marketing Goes for the JugularÓ Religion Dispatches. May 10, 2009.
ÒMexicoÕs War on
Saint Death,Ó Religion
Dispatches. May 6,
2009.
ÒHyper-Muscular
ChristianityÓ Sightings,
February 19, 2009.
ÒFilm review:
WALL-E,Ó Journal
of Religion and Film, 13:1
(2009).
ÒThe Creation
Museum,Ó Sightings, March 13, 2008.
ÒBuying Virtue,Ó Sightings, May 17, 2007.
ÒReligious
Diversity in Austin, TX: Come for the Economy, Stay for the AttitudeÓ The Pluralism Project, November 6, 2003.
PAPERS AND PRESENTATIONS
ÒThe Pope is an Imposter!: Subversive Marian Devotion in the Wake of Vatican II,Ó American Catholic Historical Association Annual Meeting, Chicago, Illinois, January 5, 2012.
ÒThe Case of the Vampires: New Religious Movements, The Sacralization of Pop Culture, and Practical Strategies for Chaplaincy,Ó Didactic seminar, University of Virginia Chaplaincy Services and Pastoral Education, November 28, 2011.
ÒVampires are Real,Ó Flash Seminar, University of Virginia, October 25, 2011.
ÒVampires Today: The Truth About Modern Vampirism,Ó Invited lecture at Hampshire College, April 4, 2011.
ÒWhere Do They Get These Ideas?: Changing Ideas of ÒCultsÓ in Popular Culture,Ó American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, Atlanta Georgia, October 31, 2010.
ÒFrom Esoteric to Exoteric: Pierre Bernard and the Arrival of Tantra to the West,Ó American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, Atlanta, Georgia, October 31, 2010.
ÒVampires from Slavic Folklore to Edward Cullen,Ó Invited lecture at Boston University Academy, September 16, 2010.
ÒOut Demons Out: A Durkheimian Reading of the 1967 Exorcism of the Pentagon,Ó Association for the Sociology of Religion Annual Meeting, Atlanta, Georgia, August 12, 2010.
ÒCarnal Knowledge: The Epistemology of Sexual Trauma in WitchÕs Sabbath, Satanic Ritual Abuse, and Alien Abduction Narratives,Ó Poetics of Pain Conference, CUNY, February 26, 2010.
ÒGodÕs Last, Best Gift to Mankind: Gnostic Science and the Eschaton in the Vision of John Murray Spear,Ó ÒLunch and LearnÓ lecture, University of Michigan, December 22, 2009.
ÒConversion by Infection: The Sociophobic of Cults in Omega Man,Ó
Mid-Atlantic Popular/American Culture Association annual meeting, Boston,
Massachusetts, November 7, 2009.
ÒOntological Rebellion: The Otherkin Community and the Struggle
for Reality,Ó Association for the Sociology of Religion annual meeting, San
Francisco, California, August 8, 2009.
ÒMyth Sells: MattelÕs Commission of the He-Man Bible,Ó National
Popular Culture Association annual meeting, New Orleans, Louisiana, April 7,
2009.
ÒNice Little Things Like ThatÕ Oom the Omnipotent and the
Marketing of Yoga to the American Public,Ó Engaging Particularities VII
Conference, Boston College, March 28, 2009.
Panel
Respondent, Ethics, Religion and Teaching: From Teaching to Practice,
Southeastern Commission for the Study of Religion annual meeting, Chapel Hill,
North Carolina, March 13, 2009.
ÒThe Gospel According to Biff: Pedagogical Uses of Satire,Ó
Southeastern Commission for the Study of Religion annual meeting, Chapel Hill,
North Carolina, March 15, 2009.
ÒThe Real Vampire Community: Identity and Modernity,Ó Social
Science and Religion Network lecture, Boston University, February 9, 2009.
ÒVampires Today: The Truth About Modern Vampires,Ó ÒLunch
and LearnÓ lecture, University of Michigan, December 22, 2008.
ÒPsychic Vampirism: a Genealogy of an American Metaphysical
System,Ó Association for the Study of Esotericism annual meeting, Charleston,
North Carolina, May 30, 2008.
ÒTeaching Islam in Georgia Public Schools in Theory and Practice,Ó
Southeastern Commission for the Study of Religion annual meeting, Atlanta,
Georgia, March 8, 2008.
ÒGathering
Data with the Vampire: Analyzing Causes and Effects of an Introspective Survey
by the Vampire Community,Ó American Academy of Religion annual meeting, San
Diego, California, November, 2008.
ÒMothman and Durkheim: a 21st Century TotemÓ (Poster
session), American Academy of Religion annual meeting, Washington, District of
Columbia, November 2006.
ÒWorld Religion in Secondary Schools: Contending Schools of
Thought,Ó Religious Studies in Secondary Schools annual meeting, San Antonio,
Texas, November 2004.
ÒMapping Religious Diversity in Austin, TX,Ó Pluralism Project
Fall Research Conference, Cambridge, Massachusetts, October 15, 2003.
SERVICE
Associate Editor for NeoAmericanist 5:2 (Fall/Winter 2011-2012)
Peer review service for Nova Religio, The Journal of Religion and
Popular Culture, and The
Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion.
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS
- The American Academy of Religion
- American Sociological Association
- Association for the Sociology of Religion