New Faculty: Thomas "Tal" A. Lewis

Thomas (Tal) A. Lewis

Dean of the Graduate School and Vice Provost for Graduate Education

Professor, Religious Studies and German Studies 

Academic focus:

Religion, ethics and politics in Western modernity, with a focus on German intellectual traditions.

Current research project: 

“The Eclipse of Ethical Practices in the Modern West: On the Cultivation of Character in Everyday Life”

Previous positions :

  • Professor, Department of Religious Studies, Brown University, 2015-2025
  • Laurance S. Rockefeller Visiting Faculty Fellow, Princeton University Center for Human Values, 2015-16
  • Associate Professor (with tenure), Department of Religious Studies, Brown University, 2010-15
  • Vartan Gregorian Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, Department of Religious Studies, Brown University, 2007-2010
  • Assistant Professor, Committee on the Study of Religion and the Divinity School (joint appointment), Harvard University, 2003-2007
  • Visiting Fellow, Center for the Study of Religion, Princeton University, 2002-2003
  • Assistant Professor, Department of Religious Studies, University of Iowa, 1999-2003
  • Lecturer, Program in Religious Studies, University of California at Davis, 1999 

Academic background:

  • Ph.D., Religious studies, Stanford University, 1992-99
  • A.B., Religious studies, Brown University, 1986-1990

Last book read:

“Americanah,” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

In your own time/when not working:

Biking, backpacking, running, reading and family

Courses you’re most looking forward to teaching:

  • Religion, Reason, and Ethics from Kant to Nietzsche
  • On Being Human: Religious and philosophical conceptions of the self

(though I won’t be teaching this year)

What most excites you about Cornell:

Working with outstanding colleagues; traditions of interdisciplinarity, access, and scholarly excellence

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Tal Lewis