Richard Newton, PhD, is an assistant professor of religious studies at Elizabethtown College the University of Alabama. He did his doctoral work at Claremont Graduate University and completed the master of divinity degree at Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University. He studied religion and anthropology during his undergraduate years at Texas Christian University. As a former student once described, he likes to find generous ways of discussing the matters that friends shy away from at dinner parties ? religion, culture, politics. Prior to moving to Alabama, Newton taught in the ethnic and women's studies department at California State Polytechnic University-Pomona and the religious studies department at Elizabethtown College.