Benjamin E. Zeller is a researcher of religion in North America and the contemporary West. He focuses on religious currents that are new or alternative, including new religions, the religious engagement with science and technology, and the relationship between religion and food. His interests are united by an interest in expanding the conversation about religion by including less commonly studied groups, phenomena, and topics, and looking at more common topics from new angles.

 

Zeller is the Irvin L. & Fern D. Young Presidential Professor of Religion at Lake Forest College, a private liberal arts college in the Chicago suburbs. He previously served as Director of the College Honors Program, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, and Coordinator of the Religion and Philosophy Major at Brevard College, and visiting Fulbright Fellow at Åbo Akademi (Turku, Finland).

 

He is available for lecturing or consulting on a variety of topics related to religion in the contemporary world, and has spoken at venues as diverse as the WorldCon science fiction convention, Rooftops Conference on non-profit real estate, National Public Radio, BBC radio, CBS's 20/20, and documentaries appearing on Netflix, Hulu, and HBO.