About Me

ACADEMIC WORK

I am a Master of Theological Studies student at Harvard Divinity School studying Religion, Ethics, and Politics and a recent graduate of Mercer University, where I majored in International Affairs, Political Science, and History and minored in Religion and Public Diplomacy.

I am interested in the relationship between religion, the politics of memory, and the formation of group identities. My research examines the dynamics of this relationship and explores its connection to conflict and peace in multi-religious societies. Among many such societies, I am currently studying those found in the post-Soviet space, and my recent projects have focused on Georgia in particular.

More abstractly, I am interested in thinking about the bearing that historical conceptualizations of identity, sovereignty, and church-state relations—all traditionally thought to have been subducted by liberal modernity long ago—may have on politics in a world where the continued dominance of liberal modernity is increasingly uncertain, and many look to the past for answers in moments of crisis. 

In the past, I have written about a range of other topics, including war and peace, inclusion and exclusion, symbols and icons, the far-right, and antisemitism.

PROFESSIONAL WORK

As for my professional work, in 2020, I was a Summer Scholar with the National Council on US-Arab Relations—with whom I have also served as both a delegate and chairman for the Model Arab League program—where I learned more about the Arab world and worked to help promote a better understanding of it among the American public.

In 2021, I interned with Churches for Middle East Peace and helped mobilize Christians to advocate for security, equality, and justice for the people of the Middle East. That same year, I also had the opportunity to take part in a service-learning trip to Georgia. While I was there, I worked with a diverse coalition of civil society leaders to advocate for the human rights of marginalized ethnic and religious communities in the country. I returned to the South Caucasus in 2023 to study Azerbaijani at the Azerbaijan University of Languages through the U.S. Department of State Critical Language Scholarship program.

In 2022, I was a research assistant for Dr. David P. Gushee—with whom I co-authored an article in the Journal of Reformed Theology that was published this year—and served as a teaching assistant for an introductory international affairs course.

In 2023, through the Field Education program at Harvard Divinity School, I started working as a Research Associate at the Institute for Peace Studies in Eastern Christianity. So far, I have researched the way that conflicting visions for society championed by religious institutions have influenced public policy and sentiment in Eastern Europe in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union.

This past summer, as a recipient of a research grant from the Program on Georgian Studies at the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, I was in Georgia conducting research with the Georgian Institute of Politics on the ways in which the victims of religious intolerance use the politics of memory to defend their identities and contest the exclusionary narratives advanced by the perpetrators and enablers of religious intolerance. To do so, I looked at some of the many modes of expression through which the identities of victims of religious intolerance are shaped—like folklore, oral and written histories, museums, and cultural heritage sites like graveyards and religious buildings—and investigated how they tied into their political initiatives.

EXTRACURRICULAR ENGAGEMENTS

Beyond my academic and professional endeavors, I have involved myself in a number of student organizations and extracurricular activities. From 2020 to 2023, I served as a member of the Undergraduate Honor Council and as the President of Bears Engaged Across Religions, the Mercer International Affairs Organization, and the Mercer International Mock Conference Association.

At Harvard, I have made an effort to participate in the programming of student and institutional groups—both within the Divinity School and across the broader university—and to involve myself in the local community in Greater Boston. 

LOOKING BACK AND MOVING FORWARD

Fairly recently, I was recognized for my academic, professional, and extracurricular work by Peace Catalyst International with the inaugural Rick Love Young Innovators in Peacebuilding Award. I have since been recognized with other awards and honors as well, including election to Phi Beta Kappa. Ultimately, I graduated from Mercer University summa cum laude and with University Honors.

I hope to better understand the religious dimensions of conflict through my scholarship. Doing so will prepare me to serve as a more effective peacebuilder in the future, equipping me to challenge the misuse of religion by actors who seek to provoke violence and hatred for political gain.