Jeffrey J. Kripal

Jeffrey J. Kripal, PhD

Jeffrey J. Kripal is the J. Newton Rayzor Chair in Philosophy and Religious Thought at Rice University, where he chaired the Department of Religious Studies for nine years and helped create the GEM Program, a doctoral concentration in the study of Gnosticism, Esotericism, and Mysticism that is the largest program of its kind in the world. He received his B.A. in Religion from Conception Seminary College in 1985 and his Ph.D. in the History of Religions from the University of Chicago in 1993.

Dr. Kripal is the author of seven books, including Comparing Religions: Coming to Terms, Mutants and Mystics: Science Fiction, Superhero Comics, and the Paranormal, and Authors of the Impossible: The Paranormal and the Sacred. He specializes in the comparative study and analysis of extreme religious states from the ancient world to today. His full body of work can be seen at http://kripal.rice.edu.

[addtoany]