My research centrally focuses on the idea of “spiritual exercises” as articulated by Pierre Hadot, or what Michel Foucault refers to as the ethics of the “care of the self,” and which I more generally refer to as the category of practices of self-change. My first book, On the Care of the Self and the Care of the Other, investigates the underspecified political content and consequences of this class of practices,

Methodologically, I describe my approach to the study of religion as a kind of “history and philosophy of religions,” in which each of these general disciplinary areas works to challenge and develop the other. In this way, along with my book research, my core areas of specialization are 19th and 20th century French and German philosophy of religion; religion in the United States from the 19th to the 20th centuries; religion and social movements (with a focus on the Civil Rights Movement); the history of nonviolence; religion and digital media (especially religion and digital gaming); and critical improvisation studies. As an instructor, my courses also address themes and questions in modern philosophy of religion; religion, law, and social movements; the history of Christianity and “Western” religions; among many others.

Beyond these general areas, I also specialize in the work of Michel Foucault, especially the so-called “genealogical” and “ethical” periods from the beginning of the 1970s to the end of his life. I am the English language editor of Foucault’s Speaking the Truth About Oneself (Dire vrai sur soi-même): Lectures at Victoria University, Toronto 1982, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press; October 2021). I am also the co-organizer, with Niki Kasumi Clements, of a 5-year seminar with the American Academy of Religion devoted to exploring the intersection of Foucault’s work and the field of Religious Studies. Finally, I am currently co-editing (also in collaboration with Dr. Clements) a collected volume on The Confessions of the Flesh, the recently-published fourth volume of the History of Sexuality.

Along with my academic work, I have been active as a musician, curator, and programmer within the world of experimental and improvised music and related arts for over a decade. I have a strong interest in critical improvisation studies, and am developing new work that brings the study of religious practice (or other formally-similar practices) into dialogue with research on improvisation. I am also interested in the politics of arts funding, representation, and the complex relationship between arts production and performance and the economic (and related) conditions under which artists are currently working.