Religious Studies Faculty
Assistant Professor
Email: chenyuji@grinnell.edu
Dixuan Yujing Chen (religious name: Dixuan Shi), Assistant Professor of East Asian Religions at Grinnell College, is an ordained Buddhist nun of the Mahayana tradition. She received her Ph.D. in Buddhist Studies and East Asian Religions from the University of Florida. Her research explores a range...
Instructor
Email: dengbeiyin@grinnell.edu
Growing up in China, traveling extensively across Southeast Asia, while pursuing her academic career in the US, Beiyin Deng considers herself a boundary-crosser who aims to bridge these different worlds through her research. She received her doctoral degree in Religious Studies at Arizona State...
Professor
Associate Dean for Faculty Development and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Email: elfenbei@grinnell.edu
I am a Professor of History and Religious Studies at Grinnell College, where I am also Associate Dean for Faculty Development and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. I graduated from Vassar College with a degree in political science, an education that still informs my work and my life. I have a...
Associate Professor
Emeritus
Email: gilday@grinnell.edu
We are deeply saddened to share the news of Professor Ed Gilday’s passing on May 17, 2022. An obituary and tribute wall, where condolences may be shared are available online through the Smith Funeral Home site. Associate Professor of Religious Studies, has a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin...
Associate Professor
Email: hillsdar@grinnell.edu
Darrius D. Hills is an Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Grinnell College. He received his M.Div. from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, and his M.A. and Ph.D in Religion (concentration in African American Religion) from Rice University. His research interests privilege African...
Professor
Emeritus
George A. Drake Professor of Religious Studies, Emeritus
Email: kasimow@grinnell.edu
Articles on Kasimow and his Works Judaism Open to the Religions of the Nations: A Polish Catholic Theologian reads an American Jewish Pluralist A review of Professor Harold Kasimow's The Search Will Make You Free: A Jewish Dialogue with World Religions To Be a Mensch Professor Harold Kasimow's...
Professor
George A. Drake Professor of Religious Studies
Email: rietz@grinnell.edu
Henry W. Morisada Rietz is a Professor of Religious Studies at Grinnell College and an alumnus of the College. He received his M.Div. and his Ph.D. in Biblical Studies from Princeton Theological Seminary and is the associate editor of the Princeton Theological Seminary Dead Sea Scrolls Project. His...
Assistant Professor
Email: sabaelia@grinnell.edu
Elias G. Saba received his PhD in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations from the University of Pennsylvania in 2017. He was awarded the British Association of Islamic Studies – De Gruyter Prize in the Study of Islam and the Muslim World 2018 for his dissertation. His first monograph, Harmonizing...