He graduated from Vassar College with a B.A. in political science, making his way to Harvard Divinity School for a Masters in Theological Studies, then to the University of California, Santa Barbara, for a Ph.D. in religious studies. His research explores a range of issues, including the effects of modern imperial history in Muslim communities (especially but not limited to the Middle East), the emergence of Islamist thought, comparative intellectual history, the making of modern forms of religion, and the place of religion in modern public life. His work appears in, among other venues, the Journal of the American Academy of Religion and Method and Theory in the Study of Religion. He is currently the Director of the Grinnell College Center for the Humanities.