Teaching: 

From time to time I teach courses in the religion department, the women's studies program, and The Great Conversation, as well as seminars, courses, and colloquia in the Center for Integative Studies. 

Interests: 

Before I became director of the newly established Center for Integrative Studies I was a tutor in the St. Olaf Paracollege for 15 years (PFT!).  I offered tutorials in theology, feminist theory, great critiques of religion (Nietzsche, Freud, feminists, etc.), theories about progressive education, and many other subjects proposed by students through the years.  These interests arose from my undergraduate experience in the comparative study of religion at Harvard University, from my graduate study in theology, psychology, and philosophy at The University of Chicago Divinity School, from reflections on my mother's experiences as a single, working woman throughout my childhood, from reflections with my wife and daughters on their experiences in work, school, and popular culture, and from countless conversations with students and colleagues. 

I wrote a doctoral dissertation about Friedrich Nietzsche (an infamous misogynist) and turned abruptly to the study of radical feminist theology and cultural theory.  They are connected in my mind by their shared critical impetus to discern the shape of cultural forces operating beneath the explicit self-descriptions of a given society or belief system, and by their shared concern for the power of humans through language and other cultural commitments to create the frameworks of their daily lives.  Work on Nietzsche gave way to work on the "construction of gender" (a sociological phrase) in Christian traditions.  And this led me to my current interest in Christian discourse about "witch" hunting and its function in the ongoing construction of femininity in Christianity.  My writing about this subject addresses efforts to interpret the historical period of frenzied witch trials, and efforts to interpret the continuing fascination of popular culture with representations of witches, even in the absence of literal belief in the reality of witch magic.  (My daughters are my expert informants about this last subject.)  Putting it briefly, I think the continuation of witch discourse in contemporary popular culture is a framework for prescriptions and pronouncements about relations of gender and power, just as witch discourse in the early modern period was. 

I also enjoy dogs, games, cooking, being outdoors, and hearing people interpret TV shows and movies.