Faculty
Regular Faculty
Judith R. Baskin - Judaic Studies
Department Head, Knight Professor in Humanities
Biographical Information
Judith Baskin, Knight Professor of Humanities, is Department Head through June, 2008; she also directs the Harold Schnitzer Family Program in Judaic Studies.
Professor Baskin served as President of the Association for Jewish Studies from 2004 to the end of 2006. A recipient of the Ph.D. in Medieval Studies from Yale University in 1976, she taught at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst from 1976-88, and at the University at Albany, SUNY, where she was Chair of the Department of Judaic Studies from 1988-2000.
Dr. Baskin is the author of Midrashic Women: Formations of the Feminine in Rabbinic Literature (2002) and Pharaoh's Counsellors: Job, Jethro and Balaam in Rabbinic and Patristic Tradition (1983). Her edited volumes include Jewish Women in Historical Perspective, now in its second edition (1998), and Women of the Word: Jewish Women and Jewish Writing (1994). She is currently editing two volumes for Cambridge University Press and is also writing a feminist commentary on Tractate Megillah of the Babylonian Talmud. Dr. Baskin has been at the University of Oregon since 2000.
Professor Baskin will be teaching in the Northwest Consortium for Study Abroad program in Siena, Italy during Fall 2008 and she will be on sabbatical leave from the University for winter and spring terms, 2009.
Email:jbaskin@uoregon.edu
Phone: (541)346-5984
Office Address: 834 PLC
Office hours: Monday - 11:30-13:00 and Wednesday - 11:00-12:30
Erin M. Cline - Chinese Religions and Chinese Philosophy
Assistant Professor
Biographical Information
Ph.D., 2006, Baylor; M.A., 2003, Baylor; B.S., 2001, Belmont. (2006)
Professor Cline's primary interests lie in the classical Chinese tradition, and more particularly in classical Confucian and Daoist ethical thought, as well as comparative religious thought and philosophy of religion. Her current research, and the subject of the book she is working on, concerns the way in which the classical Confucian tradition might contribute to current discussions in moral psychology and political philosophy.
Professor Cline also researches and has published in the area of contemporary Daoism. Since 2001, she has conducted fieldwork in southeastern China, looking at the current ritual practices of Zhengyi Daoists and popular religion more generally. Professor Cline is especially interested in the relationship between classical texts such as the Daodejing and current religious activities and teachings in China.
Recent publications include Two Senses of Justice: Confucianism, Rawls, and Comparative Political Philosophy, forthcoming in Dao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy (Winter 2007), How to Fish Like a Daoist, forthcoming in Riding the Wind with Liezi: New Essays on the Daoist Classic; Augustine's Change of Aspect in Heythrop Journal (April 2005); Two Interpretations of De in the Daodejing in Journal of Chinese Philosophy (June 2004); Taishan's Tradition: The Quantification and Prioritization of Moral Wrongs in a Contemporary Daoist Religion (with Ronnie L. Littlejohn) in Dao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy (2002).
Email: ecline@uoregon.edu
Phone: (541)346-5546
Office Address: 329 PLC
Office hours: Tuesday - 16:00-18:00
Daniel K. Falk - Ancient Judaism and Biblical Studies
Associate Professor
Biographical Information
Ph.D., 1996, Cambridge; M.A., 1992, Regent; B.A., 1987, Providence. (1998)
Professor Falk's interests lie in the history and literature of ancient Judaism and the beginnings of Christianity, especially the development of prayer and liturgy, interpretation of scripture, and the formation of religious communities. His research focuses particularly on the Dead Sea Scrolls, which he is involved in translating and reconstructing. He is the author of Daily, Sabbath, and Festival Prayers in the Dead Sea Scrolls (Brill, 1998) and Parabiblical Texts: Strategies for Extending the Scriptures in the Dead Sea Scrolls (T&T Clark/Continuum, 2007). He is co-editor of several other books: Sapiential, Liturgical and Poetical Texts from Qumran (Brill, 2000) and a 3-volume series on the history of penitential prayer entitled Seeking the Favor of God (SBL/Brill, 2006, 2007, 2008). Among numerous articles on the Dead Sea Scrolls, he published the official editions of two manuscripts from Qumran, "4QWorks of God" and "4QCommunal Confession," (in Discoveries in the Judaean Desert 29; Oxford University Press, 1999).
Member, The International Team of Editors of the Dead Sea Scrolls; Editorial Board of the International Organization for Qumran Studies, Editorial Board of the Journal for the Study of the New Testament; the Society of Biblical Literature; Canadian Society of Biblical Studies.
Email:
Phone: (541)346-4980
Office Address: 814 PLC
Office hours: Wednesday - 13:00-15:00
Deborah A. Green - Hebrew Language & Literature
Greenberg Assistant Professor
Biographical Information
Ph.D., 2003, University of Chicago; M.A., 1997, University of Chicago; B.A., 1984, Brandeis University.
Professor Green's interests lie in the history, literature, and interpretation of the Hebrew Bible, particularly as it was adopted and interpreted by the rabbis of the early centuries of the Common Era.
Professor Green is currently working on a book that investigates ancient rabbinic literary images of scent, spices, incense, and perfume--specifically the curious triangulation of scent and images of sacrifice and the erotic. Her work also investigates the connections between metaphor and the everyday use of incense and perfume. Research for the book, the working title of which is, The Aroma of Righteousness, has raised a number of issues that Professor Green has presented at conferences and symposia. She plans to adapt and publish a selection of these as articles. In one such article, Abraham, the Midrashic Martyr, Green explores the rabbinic literary connections among the Biblical patriarch Abraham, myrrh, and martyrdom.
Professor Green is also the co-editor of two books, Commemorating the Dead: Texts and Artifacts in Context (Walter de Gruyter, forthcoming: May 2008) and Scriptural Exegesis: The Shapes of Culture and the Religious Imagination: Essays in honor of Michael Fishbane (Oxford University Press, forthcoming: December 2008)
Email: dagreen@uoregon.edu
Phone: (541)346-5974
Office Address: 832 PLC
Office hours: Not teaching this term
Tariq A. Jaffer -- Islamic Studies
Assistant Professor
Biographical Information
Ph.D., 2005, Yale; M.A., McGill, 1998, McGill; B.A., 1995, Toronto. (2006)
Professor Jaffer taught as Assistant Professor at Boston University (2005-2006) and as Lecturer at Harvard University (2004-2005) prior to joining the University of Oregon. His primary interest lies in the theological conversations and debates which took place in medieval Islam, and in the interface of Islamic theology with the philosophical and mystical traditions of Islam. He is especially interested in investigating the logical methods, the exegetical techniques, and the concepts and doctrines which the Muslim schoolmen formulated in their theological manuals.
Professor Jaffer is currently writing a monograph which examines the intellectual tensions and conflicts of the Islamic tradition as expressed in the works of Razi (d. 1210). The monograph lays bare the exegetical methods and techniques and the theological concepts and doctrines which Razi articulated as a means to resolve the intellectual problems of twelfth century Eastern Iran and Central Asia. (tjaffer at uoregon dot edu)
Email: tjaffer@uoregon.edu
Phone:(541) 346-5735
Office Address: 808 PLC
Office hours: Monday 10:00-13:00
David M. Reis
Visiting Assistant Professor
Biographical Information
David Reis holds degrees from Santa Clara University (B.A., History), Creighton University (M.A., History), and Claremont Graduate University (M.A., Ph.D., Religion). Before coming to the University of Oregon, he taught at the College of Santa Fe, Wells College, and West Virginia University.
His research interests center on the study of the social and cultural life of the ancient Mediterranean world, particularly the history of early Christianity (e.g. New Testament/Christian Origins, Gnosticism, and Patristics). Professor Reis has worked as an affiliate member of Harvard University's Pluralism Project and published articles in the Journal of Greco-Roman Christianity and Judaism, Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses, and The Journal of Higher Criticism. He is currently a research member of the Mimesis in Ancient Jewish and Christian Literature project and a fellow for the Committee for the Scientific Examination of Religion.
Email: dreis@uoregon.edu
Phone: (541) 346-4998
Office Address: 813 PLC
Office hours: Tuesday 14:15-15:30 and Thursday 14:15-15:30
Stephen J. Shoemaker - History of Christianity
Associate Professor
Biographical Information
Stephen Shoemaker (Ph.D. '97, Duke University) teaches courses on the Christian traditions. His primary interests lie in the ancient and early medieval Christian traditions, and more specifically in early Byzantine and Near Eastern Christianity. His research focuses on early devotion to the Virgin Mary, Christian apocryphal literature, and the relations between Near Eastern Christianity and formative Islam.
He is the author of a number of studies on early Christian traditions about Mary (especially in apocrypha), including The Ancient Traditions of the Virgin Mary's Dormition and Assumption (Oxford University Press, 2002), a study of the earliest traditions of the end of Mary's life that combines archaeological, liturgical, and literary evidence. This volume also includes critical translations of many of the earliest narratives of Mary's Dormition and Assumption, made from Ethiopic, Syriac, Georgian, Coptic, and Greek. Prof. Shoemaker has recently completed a series of articles on the earliest Life of the Virgin, which survives only in a Georgian translation. He is presently working on two monographs, one investigating the conflicting reports regarding the date of Muhammad's death in Christian and Islamic sources and another on the veneration of the Virgin Mary in the ancient church. He is also preparing a new critical edition of the early Syriac Dormition narratives.
Prof. Shoemaker has been awarded research fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the American Council of Learned Societies, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Curriculum Vitae
Personal Site
Email: shoemak@uoregon.edu
Phone:(541) 346-4998
Office Address: 813 PLC
Office hours: Not teaching this term
Michael R. Slater
Associate Instructor
Biographical Information
Ph.D., Brown (2005); M.A., Florida State (2000); B.A., Georgia State (1998).
Michael Slater's teaching and research interests lie mainly in the areas of philosophy of religion, religious ethics, and American philosophy and religious thought. He is also broadly interested, however, in the history of modern Western religious thought and in theoretical and methodological issues in the study of religion, particularly theories of religion. Some of the courses that he has taught at the University of Oregon include REL 323: History of Christianity, REL 399: Religious Experience, and PHIL 320: Philosophy of Religion.
Email: mslater@uoregon.edu
Phone: (541) 346-4998
Office Address: 813 PLC
Office hours: Wednesday 10:15-11:30 and Friday 10:15-11:30
Mark T. Unno - East Asian Religions, Japanese Buddhism
Associate Professor
Biographical Information
Ph.D., 1994, Stanford; M.A., 1991, Stanford; B.A. Oberlin, 1987. (2000)
Professor Unno's interests lie in Medieval Japanese Buddhism, specifically in the relation between intellectual history and social practices. He also researches and has published in the areas of modern Japanese religious thought, comparative religion, and Buddhism and psychotherpay. He is the author of Shingon Refractions: Myoe and the Mantra of Light, an study and translation of the medieval Japanese ritual practice of the Mantra of Light. He is also the translator of Hayao Kawai, The Buddhist Priest Myoe-A Life of Dreams (Lapis Press, 1992) and author of over a dozen articles in English and Japanese including: "Questions in the Making - A Review Essay on Zen Buddhist Ethics in the Context of Buddhist and Comparative Ethics," Journal of Religious Ethics (Fall 1999); "Myoe Koben and the Komyo Shingon dosha kanjinki: The Ritual of Sand and the Mantra of Light," study and translation, in Re-visioning "Kamakura" Buddhism, edited by Richard Payne (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1998); and "Divine Madness-Exploring the Boundaries of Modern Japanese Religion," Zen Buddhism Today 10.
Member, Executive Board, Society for Buddhist-Christian Studies; Editorial Board, Journal of Religious Ethics; former Executive Board member, ASIANetwork. Member, Association for Asian Studies, American Academy of Religion, Society for Asian and Comparative Philosophy, International Association of Shin Buddhist Studies.
Email:munno@uoregon.edu
Phone:(541) 346-4973
Office Address: 812 PLC
Office hours: Not teaching this term
Participating Faculty
Mary-Lyon Dolezal
James W. Earl
Andrew E. Goble
Marion Sherman Goldman
Charles H. Lachman
Kenneth B. Liberman
Jack P. Maddex
Elizabeth Reis
Erin Kathleen Rowe
Sharon R. Sherman
Anita M. Weiss
Daniel N. Wojcik
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