Core Faculty Members

Helen Baroni, Ph.D. Professor and Graduate Chair – Japanese religions, Buddhism in America, new religious movements (such as the Latter Day Saints, the Hare Krishna Movement, the Osho Rajneesh Movement, Scientology, Wicca and Neopaganism) and pedagogical methodologies in religious studies

Marie Alohalani Brown, Ph.D. Associate Professor – Hawaiian and other Polynesian religions, Hawaiian moʻolelo (especially belief narratives, historical treaties, and life writing) published from 1810 to 1959, indigenous theories/methodologies for the study of religion and expressive culture, folklore studies, and translation studies

Ramdas Lamb, Ph.D. Professor and Undergraduate Chair – Indian religions, Hindu monasticism, mysticism, religious ethics in contemporary society, ethnographic approaches to religion

Jeffrey (Kapali) Lyon, Ph.D. Associate Professor and Department Chair – Hebrew Bible, early Greek and Aramaic Christian literature, Hawaiian Bible translation, 19th century Hawaiian religious and literary texts

Michel Mohr, Ph.D. Professor – Japanese religions, East Asian Buddhism, with a special emphasis on the nondenominational approaches to religious practice

Jonathan Pettit, Ph.D. Associate Professor – Chinese Religions, Daoist bibliography, sacred geography, geomancy, Yiguan Dao