Westar Institute

Jeffrey W. Robbins is Professor of Religion and Philosophy at Lebanon Valley College, where he teaches in the Honors and the Social Justice and Civic Engagement programs and serves as the Faculty Mentor for the Allwein Scholars Program. He was awarded the Thomas Rhys Vickroy Award for Outstanding Teaching at LVC in 2005. He is the Academic Director of the Westar Institute and was the original chair of the Westar seminar on “God and the Human Future.”

He is the author or editor of ten books, including "The Willing Damned: Faithfulness and Resistance Beyond Belief” (Westar Press, 2025), "Radical Theology: A Vision for Change" (Indiana University Press, 2016), and co-author of "An Insurrectionist Manifesto: Four New Gospels for a Radical Politics"(Columbia University Press, 2016), which was named as a Choice Outstanding Academic Title in 2016.

He was identified in the Journal of the American Academy of Religion as “one of the best commentators on religion and postmodernism.” He has spoken at national and international conferences and been invited as a guest lecturer or keynote speaker throughout the world, including Austria, China, England, France, Ireland, the Netherlands, Slovenia,South Korea, Sweden, Tunisia and Turkey.

Nominated for the Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teaching (2020)

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Nominee, American Academy of Religion Award for Excellence in Teaching, 2013

Darrell Woomer Diversity Program Endowment Grant, 2013–14

Edward H. Arnold and Jeanne Donlevy Arnold Program for Experiential Education Grant, 2012–13

Thomas Rhys Vickroy Teaching Award, Lebanon Valley College, 2006

HyPe Teaching Award, Lebanon Valley College, 2004

2014–2019 Director, Undergraduate Research Symposium, Lebanon Valley College

2012 – present Professor of Religion and Philosophy, Lebanon Valley College

2005–present Director, American Studies Program, Lebanon Valley College

2010–2014 Member, Lebanon Valley College Board of Trustees

2008–2012 Associate Professor of Religion and Philosophy, Lebanon Valley College

2002–2008 Assistant Professor of Religion and Philosophy, Lebanon Valley College

2005–2011 Director, College Colloquium, Lebanon Valley College

2001–2002 Lecturer of Theology, St. Bonaventure University

2000–2001 Adjunct Instructor of Philosophy, Le Moyne College

2000–2001 Part-time Instructor of Philosophy, Cayuga Community College

1999–2001 Part-time Instructor of Religion, Syracuse University

1997–1999 Teaching Assistant in Religion, Syracuse University

Academic Director, The Westar Institute (2026-present)

Chair, Board of Directors, The Westar Institute (2020-2024)

Chair, Westar Institute, Seminar on “God and the Human Future” (2016-2020)

Steering Committee member, Westar Institute "Seminar on “God and the Human Future 2015 – 2020)

Co-Editor with Clayton Crockett, Creston Davis, and Slavoj Žižek. Insurrections: Critical Studies in Religion, Politics, and Culture Series (Columbia University)

External Scholar, "Siena Symposium on Living Philosophers." Siena College 2009–2010

Steering Committee member, “Theology and the Political Consultation.” American Academy of Religion, 2007–2011

Program Committee, with Clayton Crockett and B. Keith Putt. “The Future of Continental Philosophy of Religion” at the "Postmodernism, Culture, and Religion Conference (Syracuse University, Spring 2011)

Co-Editor with Clayton Crockett. The Davies Group Book Series on “Contemporary Religious Thought.” 2001–2005

Contributing Editor to the Journal for Cultural and Religious Theory