Our researchers
Department of Classics and Religion researchers are involved with a broad variety of research interests.
Current researchers
Wendi Adamek
Research interests
Medieval Chinese Buddhism, East Asian Buddhism, Chinese religions
James Apple
Research interests
Sanskrit, Tibetan, Indian and Tibetan Buddhism, Mahayana Buddhism
Lesley Bolton
Research interests
Ancient Technology, Epigraphy and Curse Tablets, Romano-British Archaeology, particularly Hadrian's Wall area, Ancient Medicine, Medical Manuscripts
Christopher Framarin
Research interests
Philosophy of Religion, Ethics, Indian Philosophy (esp.Ethics and Metaphysics), Buddhist Philosophy
Craig Ginn
Research interests
Religion and Music, Historical/Comparative study of Religion, Christianity, Near-Death Experiences
Harjeet Grewal
Research interests
Sikh Traditions, Sufi Traditions, Middle Eastern & Asian Religions, Continental & Intercultural Philosophy, Critical Religion & Theory of Religions, Race, Class, and Religion, Colonialism & Decolonization, Post-humanism & Social Practice, Diasporic Religions, Literary Theory & Narratology, Visual Culture
Irving Hexham
Research interests
National Socialism and political extremism, New Religious Movements, Religion and Politics, Methods and Theory in the Study of Religion, Christian Fundamentalism, Dutch neo-Calvinism, Political Religions, Afrikaner Nationalism, Nationalism and Religion
Lisa Hughes
Research interests
Special interest: non-elite representations of the early Roman empire, Roman art and archaeology, Roman social history
Noreen Humble
Research interests
Plutarch, Reception of ancient authors in Byzantium and in the Renaissance, Sparta, Ancient Biography, Xenophon
James Rutherford Hume
Research interests
Ancient Greek and Roman religion, Latin language, Greek language, Classical mythology
Laura Jurgens
Research interests
Western Religions, Gender and Sexuality, Women and Religion, Radical Reformation Studies, Christianity
Craig Maynes
Research interests
Latin language, Latin literature (esp. elegy and comedy), Roman social history, Roman domestic architecture, Latin textual criticism, Reception studies
Carolyn Muessig
Research Interests
Medieval religious culture, female spirituality, preaching and sermons, devotion and liturgy, monastic and mendicant education, heresy and reform, religious literature and readership, reception of miracles (e.g., stigmata), sanctity (e.g., Catherine of Siena, Hildegard of Bingen, Francis of Assisi)
Joy Palacios
Research interests
History of Christianity, French Counter-Reformation (seminary foundations, priestly training, spiritual literature, l’École française de spiritualité, age of Louis XIV), religion and performance (liturgy, preaching, antitheatricality, the relationship between church and theater), performance theory, ritual theory
Amber Porter
Research interests
History of the Emotions, Cultural History of Medicine, Ancient Medicine, Art and architecture in ancient Greece, Women in the ancient world
Elizabeth Rohlman
Research interests
Hinduism, Puranas, Regionally-produced Sanskrit literature, Regional and sectarian religious movements, South Asian religious history, Religious geography
Tinu Ruparell
Research interests
Idealism and Indian Philosophy, Religious Pluralism and interreligious dialogue, Comparative Philosophy, Science and Religion, Hermeneutics
Hanne Sigismund Nielsen
Research interests
Roman Children, Latin epigraphy, Roman Women, Roman Family, Roman social history
Rachel Schmidt
Research interests
Cervantes, Pilgrimage and the Camino de Santiago, Reception of ancient novel in early-modern Spain, Religion in early-modern Spain and Latin America, Twentieth-century Spanish intellectuals Miguel de Unamuno and José Ortega y Gasset, Hermeneutics and theories of narrative, Book illustration
Peter Toohey
Research interests
Cultural History of Medicine, History of Madness, Greek and Roman Epic Poetry, History of the Emotions, Gender and Sexuality
Virginia Tumasz
Research interests
Process theologies, Science and Religion, The philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead
Professors Emeritus
Martin Cropp
Research Interests
Ancient Greek language and literature
Ancient Greek theatre and drama, especially tragedy
Ancient Greek dramatic texts, transmission and editing
Classical mythology
Morny Joy
Research interests
Religion and Culture, Philosophy of Religion, Hermeneutics, Women and Religion, Comparative Philosophy, Hinduism, Continental Philosophy, Methods and Theory in the Study of Religion, Postcolonial Theory, Political Religions
Wayne McCready
Research interests
Religion and Place Studies, Origins of Christianity, Second Temple Judaism
Ron Neufeldt
Research interests
History of Indian Religions, Methodology, New Religious Movements, Religion in Modern India
Douglas Shantz
Research interests
Radical Reformation Studies, German Pietism, Christian Apocalyptic
John Vanderspoel
Research interests
Late Roman History, Intellectual History of the Roman Imperial Period, Roman Imperial History, Roman Republican History, Roman social history
View our research interests
View a summary of all of our research interests and experts in those fields