photo of Rachel Wagner, headshot

Rachel Wagner

Professor and Chair, Philosophy and Religion
School: School of Humanities and Sciences
Phone: 607-274-3250
Office: Job Hall 319
Specialty: religion and media; religion and gaming; religion and culture; religion and film; religion and gender; interdisciplinary theories and methods in religious studies; Abrahamic religions; New Testament.

Dr. Rachel Wagner, Professor of Religious Studies

To make an appointment with Dr. Wagner, go here.

Rachel Wagner is Professor of Religious Studies in the Department of Philosophy and Religion.  Rachel's work centers on the study of religion and culture, including especially religion and film and religion and virtual reality.  She has published on religion and virtual reality in Halos and Avatars: Playing Games with God, ed. Craig Detweiler; the second edition of God in the Details, ed. Eric Michael Mazur and Kate McCarthy; Understanding Religion and Popular Culture, ed. Dan Clanton and Terry Clark; Halo and Philosophy, ed. Luke Cuddy; CrossCurrents Magazine; Digital Religion, ed Heidi Campbell; Feminism in the Twenty-First Century, ed. Gina Messina Dysert and Rosemary Radford Reuther; and Resisting the Place of Belonging: Uncanny Homecomings in Religion, Narrative, and Art, ed. Dan Boscaljon.  Rachel's first book, Godwired: Religion, Ritual and Virtual Reality (2012) is part of the Media, Religion, and Culture series at Routledge. Her second book, Cowboy Apocalypse: Religion, Media, Guns will be out in 2024 from NYU Press. Rachel teaches courses on religion and culture; religion and film; religion and media; religion and gaming; religion and science fiction; gender, New Testament; and religion and health. Most of her courses include elements of media and culture analysis. Rachel also teaches in the Honors Program. 

Some of my writing is available in the links on the left.