Faculty and Staff

Maria Antonaccio (Ph.D, University of Chicago), is Professor of religious ethics. She teaches courses in the areas of western religious and philosophical ethics, contemporary Christian ethics, and environmental ethics, with occasional offerings in bioethics and the ethics of consumption. In addition to numerous journal articles, she has published two books on the twentieth-century philosopher and novelist Iris Murdoch, Picturing the Human: The Moral Thought of Iris Murdoch and Iris Murdoch and the Search for Human Goodness (the latter co-edited with William Schweiker). Her current research focuses on the changing status of nature and of normative appeals to nature in ethical inquiry, especially under the pressure of new technologies.

Brantley W. Gasaway (Ph.D., University of North Carolina at ChapelHill), is Assistant Professor of American religious studies. His primary areas of research are religion and politics, religion and social change, and American evangelicalism. He teaches courses in American religious history, religion and politics, religion and law, and religion and popular culture. His current book project analyzes the history and political theology of contemporary progressive evangelical Christians.

Paul A. Macdonald (Ph.D., University of Virginia), assistant professor, teaches courses in Christianity, the history of Christian thought, and western religious thought. In his own writing and research, at the intersection of western philosophy and Christian theology, and has paid particular attention to issues in epistemology and theodicy. He is the author of multiple journal articles as well as Knowledge and the Transcendent: An Inquiry into the Mind's Relationship to God (Catholic University of America Press, 2009).

Karline McLain (Ph.D., University of Texas) is Assistant Professor of South Asian religions. Her main area of teaching and research interest is religion and visual culture in modern India. She teaches courses on Hinduism, Islam in South Asia, Hinduism and visual media, and the Indian epics. She is author of India's Immortal Comic Books: Gods, Kings, and Other Heroes.
Web page: http://www.facstaff.bucknell.edu/kmclain

Rivka Ulmer (Dr. Phil., J.W. Goethe Universität, Frankfurt am Main) Associate Professor (John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Chair in Jewish Studies, 2002-07), teaches a wide range of Jewish studies courses at Bucknell University and coordinates the Minor in Jewish Studies. Her research focuses upon rabbinic literature (Midrash, Talmud, and Responsa) and medieval Hebrew manuscripts using semiotic, linguistic, and cultural theory methods. Ulmer’s 18th book publication is entitled Egyptian Cultural Icons in Midrash; she also published Pesiqta Rabbati, a 3-volume text edition. She is chair of the Midrash section of the SBL and chair of Judaica of the International Society of Biblical Literature.
Web page: http://www.facstaff.bucknell.edu/rulmer

Carol Wayne White (Ph.D., University of Denver, Iliff School of Theology) is Professor of philosophy of religion and department chair. Her areas of teaching and research include philosophy of religion, process philosophy and theism, French poststructuralist philosophies, feminist theory and religion, religious naturalism, and science and religion. She is the author of two books, Poststructuralism, Feminism, and Religion: Triangulating Positions and The Legacy of Anne Conway (1631-70): Reverberations from a Mystical Naturalism. She has also published various articles addressing the intersections of critical theory and religion, and the value of feminist theory in contemporary religious thought. Professor White is currently completing a book that explores the concept of divinity within the frameworks of postmodern science and religious naturalism.

Connie Yoder I feel very fortunate to have worked at Bucknell University since April of 1986. I spent 3 years in the Engineering College, 18 years in the Arts and Sciences Deans Office and joined the Classics and Religion departments in the fall of 2007 as their Academic Assistant.

Stuart Young (Ph.D., Princeton University) is Assistant Professor of East Asian religions. He teaches courses in Asian and Chinese religions, Buddhism and Daoism. His teaching and research interests include the intersections between Buddhism and indigenous traditions, religious biography, and Buddhist material culture. He is currently working on book manuscript titled Conceiving the Indian Buddhist Patriarchs in China, which examines how medieval Chinese Buddhists understood their ancient Indian forebears as models of Buddhist practice for a world without a Buddha. He is also researching strategies devised by Chinese Buddhists and Daoists to reconcile their moral, doctrinal, and ritual systems – and commercial interests – with the all-important silk industry.