Divinity School Teaching Fellow in the College

Justin N. Smolin is a historian of South Asian religions. His work concerns interfaith interaction, political theology and translation: in particular, whether the term and concept, “religion,” is translatible to times and places outside the modern West. Justin obtained his BA from the University of Chicago, and an MA and PhD from the University of Chicago Divinity School. He is currently revising his monograph, tentatively titled Krishna the Emperor, which reads the translation movement of an early modern South Asian sacred king, Akbar, as an innovative political theology of religious difference. Justin has published peer-reviewed articles in Open Theology and in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society; he is also currently at work on a critical edition and translation of an ecuminical Islamicate universal history. In his spare time, Justin enjoys songwriting and cooking (particularly nihari, galouti kebabs, and Cincinnati-style chili).