Religion & Philosophy Faculty
Full-time Faculty
Janet R. Nelson
Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Religion and Philosophy
Dr. Nelson teaches courses in religious ethics and social issues, biomedical ethics, environmental ethics, ethics of love and justice and the psychology of religion. Her interests include comparative religious ethics, moral psychology and the intersection of ethics, economics and ecology. She is currently engaged in research on ethical issues related to mental illness/mental health. Dr. Nelson is also the program coordinator for the minor in Ethics and the Public Interest.
Degrees Held: B.F.A. Emerson College; M.A. University of South Florida; Ph.D. Syracuse University
Contact: Joyner 209, (919) 760-8326, NelsonJ@meredith.edu
Steven Benko
Visiting Assistant Professor of Religion and Philosophy
Dr. Benko teaches courses in ethics, religious ethics, business ethics, theories of religion, and world religions. His interests include the intersection of technology and religion, popular culture and religion, comedy and religion, and philosophy of religion.
Degrees Held: B.A. Loyola University; M.A. and Ph.D. Syracuse University
Contact: Joyner 209A, (919) 760-8801, benkos@meredith.edu
Shannon Grimes
Assistant Professor of Religion & Philosophy
Dr. Grimes joined the Department of Religion & Philosophy in Fall 2006. She teaches courses in biblical studies, early Christianity and environmental ethics. Her teaching and research interests include religious views of nature and the cosmos; magic, science and religion; and women and religion. Her current research is on the integration of science and religion in antiquity, particularly in the fields of alchemy and astronomy.
Degrees Held: B.A., University of Puget Sound; M.A., California Institute of Integral Studies; M.Phil. and Ph.D., Syracuse University
Contact: Joyner 206, (919) 760-8749, GrimesSh@meredith.edu
Margarita M.W. Suarez
Assistant Professor of Religion and Philosophy
Dr. Suarez teaches courses in religion and culture: Anthropology of Religion, Religions in the United States; global liberation theologies: Latin American Liberation Theology, Feminist Theology; Christianity: Mothers, Mystics, Martyrs: Women in the Christian Tradition and soon, Introduction to Christianity, and the Introduction to Religious Studies. Her research interests include the variety of religious expression in Cuba and the use of ethnographic research methodologies within religious scholarship. Dr. Suarez is faculty advisor for Theta Alpha Kappa, the religious studies honor society and interim advisor for Spectrum, the gay/straight/bisexual/transgender alliance at Meredith College.
Degrees Held: B.A. Fordham University; M.Div. Harvard University; Ph.D. Northwestern University and Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary
Contact: Joyner 208, (919) 760-8063, SuarezM@meredith.edu
Robert L. Vance
Professor of Religion and Philosophy
Dr. Vance teaches courses in philosophy (Introduction to Philosophy, History of Philosophy, Critical Thinking, Women and Philosophy) and religion (Theology, Philosophy of Religion). His academic interests lie in 19th and 20th century religious thought. His publications include the book, Sin and Self Consciousness in the Thought of Schleiermacher. He is currently engaged in research that joins the fields of philosophy of mind and moral development. College-wide, his recent interests have included academic strategic planning, revision of the college purpose statement and reform of the general education program.
Degrees Held: B.A., Davidson College; M.Div., Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary; Ph.D., Emory University
Contact: Joyner 204, (919) 760-8313, vanceb@meredith.edu
Pamela Winfield
Assistant Professor of Religion and Philosophy
Dr. Winfield teaches courses in World Religions, Asian Religions, Buddhism, Comparative Mysticism, Religion and Film, and Religion and Art (European and Asian traditions). She has published numerous articles and chapter contributions on Buddhist mandalas, Zen gardens, healing rituals and death and dying in Japan.
Her scholarly interest in esoteric Buddhist art and ritual has most recently been supported by the Cross-Currents Coolidge Fellowship and the Asian Cultural Council's Religion and Art Fellowship. She is the Founding Co-Chair of the Sacred Space in Contemporary Asia Consultation at the American Academy of Religion, and is currently revising her dissertation on icons and iconoclasm in early Japanese Buddhism.
Degrees Held: B.S.L.A. Georgetown University School of Languages and Linguistics; M.A. and Ph.D. Temple University
Contact: Joyner 212, (919) 760-8308, winfield@meredith.edu
Liz Aaron
Adjunct Instructor of Religion and Philosophy
Liz is currently teaching Intro to Judaism. She is a doctoral student in the religious studies graduate program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her areas of interest are Ancient Mediterranean religions and Hebrew Bible.
Degrees held: MTS, Calvin Theological Seminary; Master of Christian Studies, Regent College, Vancouver, B.C.
Contact: Joyner 205A, (919) 760-8815, aaroneli@meredith.edu
