Department of Religion
Associate Director of Undergraduate Studies
Associate Professor of Religion

Professor Lobel teaches courses in comparative religious thought and the Jewish and Islamic traditions. Her courses touch especially upon the intersection of philosophy and religion and questions of spirituality and religious experience. She is also fascinated by midrash––the dynamic and playful rabbinic interpretation of the Bible––and the way Jewish tradition continually renews itself through the ongoing process of interpretation.

She is currently working on several research projects. Quest for the Absolute, East and West explores key concepts in Eastern and Western religious thought: the nature of the Absolute; the centrality of beauty, interconnectedness, and unity-in-difference; the role of reason and intuition; the relationship between negative theology and religious experience. The Quest for God and The Good is an exploration of the intertwined concepts of God and Good across philosophical and religious traditions. Finally, Professor Lobel is engaged in a project on prayer and philosophical mysticism, focusing on Avicenna’s Treatise on Prayer and its reverberations in medieval Islamic and Jewish thought.

Courses:

Topics in Religious Thought (RN 452)
Core Texts and Motifs of World Religions-East (RN 784)