Gregory Alles is professor of religious studies at McDaniel College. He has a B.A. degree from Valparaiso University (Indiana) and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Chicago. His special interests include religions of Asia, especially South Asia (India, Sri Lanka, etc.), as well as theories of religion and the study of religions in colleges and universities worldwide. In 2008 he edited the volume Religious Studies: A Global View (Routledge). He is currently involved in a research project on the religion and culture of a group of adivasi (indigenous) people in western India, as well as research with McDaniel College students on religious communities in and near Westminster, such as the Islamic Society of Carroll County. Prof. Alles’s professional activities include editing one journal, Numen (with Olav Hammer, University of Odense, Denmark), and serving on the editorial boards of Religion, Method and Theory in the Study of Religion, Studies in Religion/Sciences religieuses, and the Moscow e-Journal of Religion. He has twice received Fulbright research awards to India, and in 2006 received the Mircea Eliade Centenar medal from the government of Romania.