Berkley Center

Elizabeth Castelli is the Ann Whitney Olin Professor of Religion at Barnard College, where she specializes in biblical studies, early Christianity, and feminist/gender studies. Castelli’s research interests are currently in what she calls the “afterlives” of biblical texts—how they are used and re-used in current debates and cultural expressions. 

David B. Cook is an associate professor of religious studies at Rice University. His areas of expertise include early Islamic history and development, Muslim apocalyptic literature and movements, radical Islam, and Judeo-Arabic literature. Cook is the author of The Syrian Muslim Apocalyptic Heritage: A Translation of Nu`aym b. Hammad al-Marwazi’s Book of Tribulations (2017), among others.

Paul L. Heck is a professor of Islamic studies in Georgetown University’s Department of Theology and the founding director of the Study of Religions Across Civilizations. His scholarly interests focus on the history of skepticism in Islam, mysticism and the role of spirituality in Muslim society, views on martyrdom in the three monotheist traditions, the phenomenon of theo-humanism, the emergent field of comparative scripture, and issues in political theology. Heck previously taught a class supported through the Berkley Center's Doyle Seminars project. He is the author of Political Theology and Islam: From the Rise of Empire to the Modern State (2023); Skepticism in Classical Islam: Moments of Confusion (2013); and Common Ground: Islam, Christianity and Religious Pluralism (2009). Heck received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago.

Shmuel Shepkaru is the Schusterman Professor of Jewish Intellectual and Religious History at the University of Oklahoma, specializing in medieval European Jewry and Christianity. He teaches courses on Jewish Mysticism, the Evolution of Martyrdom, Israeli Culture through Film, and the History of Heaven and Hell.