David Benfield

448 Dickson Hall
(973) 655-4438
benfieldd@mail.montclair.edu

David Benfield (Professor of Philosophy) received his Ph.D. from Brown University. He has published articles in Kant-Studien, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research and Philosophical Studies. His research interests include the Wason Task (and why the "right" answer isn't really right), the analysis of fictional objects, the ethical and social aspects of cyberspace, and the new public atheism. Courses he regularly teaches include: Introduction to Philosophy, Logic, Theory of Knowledge, Philosophy of Religion, and Philosophy of Mind. In addition, he is a regular instructor in two team-taught courses: GenEd 2002 Contemporary Issues, and the Cooperative Education Seminar in the Liberal Arts. He a member of the Executive Committee of the New Jersey Regional Philosophical Association.

Roland Garrett

452 Dickson Hall
(973) 655-5133
garrettr@mail.montclair.edu

Roland Garrett (Professor of Philosophy) received his Ph.D. from Columbia University. He has published numerous articles on a variety of philosophical topics. His research interests include pragmatism, the philosophy of John Dewey, and the philosophy of art. Courses he regularly teaches include: American Philosophy, Metaphysics, Modern Philosophy, and Philosophies of Art.

Christopher Herrera

451 Dickson Hall
(973) 655-4435
herrerach@mail.montclair.edu

Chris Herrera (Associate Professor of Philosophy) received his Ph.D. from the University of Oklahoma. His research interests include research ethics, the philosophy of sport, and the philosophy of science. Courses he regularly teaches include: Theoretical and Applied Ethics, Logic, Philosophical Issues in Biomedical Research, and Ancient Philosophy.

Kirk McDermid

444 Dickson Hall
(973) 655-6975
mcdermidk@mail.montclair.edu

Kirk McDermid (Assistant Professor of Philosophy) received his Ph.D. from the University of Western Ontario. He has published articles on the philosophy of quantum mechanics. His research interests include the philosophy of science, logic, and philosophical issues involved in the creationism/evolutionism debate. Courses he regularly teaches include: Philosophy of Science, Introduction to Philosophy, and the Philosophy of Biology.

Dorothy Rogers

455 Dickson Hall
(973) 655-7933
rogersd@mail.montclair.edu

Dorothy Rogers (Associate Professor of Philosophy) earned her Ph.D. as well as a master's in theological studies from Boston University. She is the author of America’s First Women Philosophers: Transplanting Hegel, and has served as editor of collections of the works of neglected women philosophers, including Catharine Beecher, the women of the St. Louis Philosophical Movement, and women in the American academy (1880-1900). She served as the coordinating editor for entries on women for the Dictionary of Modern American Philosophers and is currently serving the same role for the upcoming Dictionary of Early American Philosophers, both published by Thoemmes Press. She is a member of the Society of Women in Philosophy, the Society for the Study of Women Philosophers, and the Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy. She is currently exploring the connections between feminism, altruism, and pacifism in political life. Dorothy regularly teaches Introduction to Ethics, Social and Political Philosophy, Philosophy of Law, and Feminist Legal Theory.

Tiger Roholt

411 Dickson Hall
(973) 655-7556
roholtt@mail.montclair.edu

Tiger Roholt (Assistant Professor of Philosophy) received his Ph.D. from Columbia University in 2007. Recent publications include "Musical Musical Nuance," in The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism (2010), and "Musical Experience," in The Oxford Companion to Consciousness (2009). His research interests include the philosophy of music, embodied perception, rhythm, sociological and political dimensions of art, phenomenology, philosophy of mind, existentialism, pragmatism, and Nietzsche. He is co-organizer of the 2010 American Society for Aesthetics Eastern Division Conference. Courses he teaches include: Philosophies of Art, Existentialism, Contemporary Aesthetics, and Introduction to Philosophy. More information can be found on Professor Roholt's website at http://artmind.typepad.com/roholt/

Cynthia Eller

450 Dickson Hall
(973) 655-7416
ellerc@mail.montclair.edu

Cynthia Eller (Associate Professor of Religion) received her Ph.D. from the University of Southern California. She has published books on the feminist spirituality movement, WWII conscientious objection, and the myth of matriarchal prehistory. She has created a DVD-ROM textbook titled Revealing World Religions that is used throughout the United States and Canada. Her recent book Am I a Woman? A Skeptic’s Guide to Gender (Beacon Press, 2003) is now available in paperback. She regularly teaches Women and Religion, Religions of the World, Wicca and Neo-Paganism, New Religious Movements, and additional courses for the Women's Studies program.

Yasir Ibrahim

449 Dickson Hall
(973) 655-7418
ibrahimy@mail.montclair.edu

Yasir Ibrahim (Associate Professor of Religion) received his Ph.D. from Princeton University. He is a specialist on Islam. Courses he regularly teaches include: Islamic Religious Traditions; Jihad: Just War, Holy War; Islamic Ethics and Law; and Introduction to Religion.

Stephen Johnson

453 Dickson Hall
(973) 655-7415
johnsons@mail.montclair.edu

Stephen M. Johnson (Professor of Religion) received his Ph.D. from Yale University. Since joining this department in 1971, he has served as President of the American Academy of Religion's Mid-Atlantic Region, and as regional editorial representative for the Academy's Spotlight on Teaching. His own articles and review articles have appeared in such scholarly journals as Popular Culture Review, Higher Education Exchange, Public Affairs Quarterly, and Implicit Religion. His most recent articles include "American Civic Religion after 9/11" and "Faith, Facts, and Fidelity: H. Richard Niebuhr's Anonymous God." He is currently working on "Mourning in America," the concluding chapter for Praeger's forthcoming three-volume Religion, Death and Dying in America. Dr. Johnson regularly teaches Religion and Society; Religion in North America; Religion and Social Change; Religion and Psychology; and Myth, Meaning, and Self.

Michael Kogan

445 Dickson Hall
(973) 655-5144
koganm@mail.montclair.edu

Michael S. Kogan (Professor of Religion) received his Ph.D. from Syracuse University. He is an active participant in the Jewish-Christian dialogue and the author of several very influential articles on its theological foundations. His new book, Opening the Covenant: A Jewish Theology of Christianity, was published in November 2007 by Oxford University Press. Dr. Kogan's research interests include contemporary Jewish and Christian thought, biblical hermeneutics, and existential theology. Courses he regularly teaches include: Old and New Testaments, Contemporary Jewish Thought, Religious Existentialism, The Thought of Søren Kierkegaard, Heidegger's Being and Time, Modern Theology, and Religion and the Poetic Imagination (T. S. Eliot).

Lise Vail

447 Dickson Hall
(973) 655-7406
vaill@mail.montclair.edu

Lise Vail (tenured Assistant Professor of Religion) received her M.A. from Princeton University and Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. She is a Hinduism specialist who has lived and worked in southwest India, and has published in the areas of Kashmiri Shaiva & Virashaiva philosophies, and the impact of monks and poet-saints on the religious communities they serve. She has collaborated on the translation/commentary of a 10th-century Kashmiri Sanskrit scripture, Recognition of Divine Splendor, and published articles such as “Ascetic Masquerade in the Samnyasa Upanisads," “Unlike a Fool He Is Not Defiled: Purity & Ethics in the Samnyasa Upanishads," and “Guru-Curses & Moral Accountability: Popular Ethical Values in N. Karnataka,” as well as a chapter in Gods of Flesh, Gods of Stone: The Embodiment of Divinity in India (Columbia University Press), and numerous articles on the saints & philosophies of India for Darshan magazine. Dr. Vail is currently completing a project on Virashaiva lineage gurus (15th -20th centuries) and another on monks in late 19th-century Anglo-Indian court cases. She teaches broadly in Asian and World Religions, including courses entitled Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Mysticism, Yoga Texts, and Death, Dying & Afterlife.