Alphabetical by last name.
Gary Laderman
- BA, Psychology, California State University, Northridge, 1986.
- MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1988.
- PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1994.
- Areas of Study at UCSB: American Religious History, Death and Dying, History of Religions, Religion and Culture.
- Title of Master’s Thesis: “The Study of Death: A Review of Academic Research on the Theme of Death and an Analysis of the Depiction of Death in Pre-Raphaelite Art.”
- Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “Managing and Imagining the Dead: A Cultural History of Death in Nineteenth-Century America.”
- Current Employment: Professor of American Religious History and Cultures, Emory University.
Patrick Lambelet
- PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2024
- Areas of Study at UCSB: Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Tantric Buddhism, Buddhist philosophy, Buddhist ethics
- Dissertation: “Transgression, Conversion, Reformation: Atisa Dipamkara and Tantric Hermeneutics in the Later Propagation of Tibetan Buddhism”
Brett Land
J. Shawn Landres
- BA, Religion, Columbia University, 1994.
- MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1995.
- M.St, Social Anthropology, Oxford University, 1997.
- PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2013.
- Areas of Study at UCSB: Sociology of Religion, Ethics, Nationalism and Religion, Religion and Culture.
- Title of Master’s Thesis: “Public Art as Sacred Space: Toward an Interpretive Theory of Asian-American Community Murals In Los Angeles”
- Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “Interstitial Religion:
Approaches to the Study of Religion on the Middle Ground” - Current Employment: CEO & Director of Research, Jumpstart Labs; Commissioner, Los Angeles County Quality and Productivity Commission
Jacob A. Latham
- BA, Art History and Religion, Swarthmore College, 1998.
- MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2001.
- PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2007.
- Areas of Study at UCSB: Early Christianity and Ancient Mediterranean Traditional Religions.
- Title of Master’s Thesis: “From Pagan Body to Christian Flesh: Clement of Alexandria’s Paidagogos.”
- Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “The Ritual Construction of Rome: Processions, Subjectivities, and the City of Rome from the Late Republic to Late Antiquity.”
- Current Employment: Assistant Professor of History, University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
Jonathan H. X. Lee
- BA, Religious Studies, Ethnic Studies, and Sociology, UC Riverside, 1999.
- MA, Cultural Historical Studies of Religion, Graduate Theological Union, 2002.
- PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2009.
- Areas of Study at UCSB: Theories and Methods in the Study of Chinese Religions; Daoism; Religion, Sovereignty, Governmentality, Modernity, and the State in China; Material and Visual Religion; Pilgrimage and Sacred Space; Asian Diaspora in America, and Asian American Folklore.
- Title of Master’s Thesis: “Journey to the West: Tianhou in San Francisco.”
- Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “Transnational Goddess on the Move: Meiguo Mazu’s Celestial Inspection Tour and Pilgrimage as Chinese American Culture Work and Vernacular Chinese Religion.”
- Current Employment: Assistant Professor, Asian American Studies Department, San Francisco State University.
Kjell O. Lejon
- BTh, Lund University, Sweden, 1983.
- MDiv, Church of Sweden Pastoral Institute (Lutheran), Lund, Sweden, 1984.
- MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1986.
- MTh, Church History, Lund University, Sweden, 1986.
- PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1987.
- ThD, Church History, Lund University, Sweden, 1988.
- Areas of Study at UCSB: Religion and Politics in the U.S., the New Christian Right Movement, Civil Religion, Religious Rhetoric by U.S. Presidents.
- Title of Master’s Thesis: “In God We Trust.”
- Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “One Nation Under God?”
- Current Employment: Professor and Chair, Religious Studies; Director of Research, Cultural Sciences Division; Linköping University, Sweden.
Gabriel Levy
- BA, Anthropology and Religion, Dartmouth College, 1999.
- MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2002.
- PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2007
- Areas of Study at USCB: History of Religions, Judaism.
- Title of Master’s Thesis: “The Jewish Tzaddiq.”
- Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “Changing Channels: Biblical Prophecy, Writing, and Cognition.”
- Current Employment: Associate Professor, Department of Archaeology and Religious Studies, Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
Robert (Bob) Lewis
- BS, Math, Caltech, 1972.
- MS, Computer Science, Caltech, 1981.
- PhD, Electrical and Computer Engineering, UC Santa Barbara, 1995.
- MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2005.
- Areas of Study at UCSB: Ancient Judaism, Hebrew, Psychoanalysis in Relation to Religion.
- Current Employment: Self-employed contractor, hardware and software.
Jeffrey S. Lidke
- BA, Religious Studies, University of Colorado, 1990.
- MA, Religious Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara 1996.
- PhD, Religious Studise, University of California, Santa Barbara, 2000.
- Areas of Study at UCSB: South Asian Tantra and Yoga, Ancient India, Comparative Esotericism in Asia, Sanskrit.
- Title of Master’s Thesis: “When the Inside Becomes the Outside: A Critique of the Western Discourse of Duality, Based on an Analysis of Sadhana in the Trika-Kuala Saivism of Abhinavagupta.”
- Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “The Goddess Within and Beyond the Three Cities: Íåkta Tantra and the Paradox of Power in Nepåla-Maˆdala.”
- Current Employment: Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Religions, Berry College.
Jared R. Lindahl
- BA, Religious Studies, Northern Arizona University, 2001.
- MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2005.
- PhD, Religious Studies, UCS Santa Barbara, 2010.
- Areas of Study at USCB: Indian and Tibetan Buddhism, Experimental Cognitive Science of Religion, Sacred Space, Contemplative Traditions, Monasticism, Asceticism, Mysticism, Comparative Study of Religion.
- Title of Master’s Thesis: “Beyond Wind and Breath: Reassessing Translations of Prana from Hindu Traditions.”
- Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “Paths to Luminosity: A Comparative Study of Ascetic and Contemplative Practices in Select Tibetan Buddhist and Greek Christian Traditions.”
- Current Employer: Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, Warren Wilson College.
Edward T. Linenthal
- BA, Religious Studies and History, Western Michigan University, 1969.
- MDiv, Pacific School of Religion, 1973.
- PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1979.
- Areas of Study at UCSB: Religion in America, History of Religions.
- Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “The Warrior as a Religious Figure in America.”
- Current Employment: Professor, Department of History; Adjunct Professor, Department of Religious Studies; Indiana University-Bloomington.
Emily Linthicum
- BA, Religion, North Carolina State University, 2004.
- MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2007.
- PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2013.
- Areas of Study at UCSB: Religion in North America, Religion and Race, Religious Social Movements, Evangelical Christianity in the U.S., Religion and Politics, Religion and Discourse, Feminist Studies, Gender and Sexuality.
- Title of Master’s Thesis: “A Sojourn in Feminism: Evangelical Feminism and Women’s Reproductive Rights in Post-American and Sojourners.”
- Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “Reframing a Pandemic: HIV/AIDS and Conservative Evangelical Discourse in the United States.”
Mariano Lozano
- BA, Religious Studies, CSU Northridge, 2012.
- Areas of study at UCSB: Religion and Philosophy (Phenomenology, Existentialism, Hermeneutics), Buddhist Philosophy, Chinese Religions, Religion and Art/Cinema.
Phillip Lucas
- BA, Honors History, Portland State University, 1988.
- MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1990.
- PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1992.
- Areas of Study at UCSB: Religion in America, Sociology of Religion, Christian Origins, World Religions, Method and Theory in Religious Studies.
- Title of Master’s Thesis: “The New Age Movement and the Pentecostal/Charismatic Revival: Distinct Yet Parallel Phases of a Fourth Great Awakening?”
- Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “From New Age Millennium to Orthodox Restoration: The Religious Odyssey of a Postmodern Monastic Movement.”
- Current Employment: Professor of Religious Studies, Stetson University.