Todd Lewis has taught world religions at the College of the Holy Cross, primarily Hinduism and Buddhism, since 1990. In 1996, he was promoted to associate professor in the Religious Studies Department and in 2003 was promoted to the rank of professor. In 2015, Lewis was named the Monsignor Edward G. Murray Professor in the Arts and Humanities. He has also been a research associate in the Department of Sanskrit and Indian Studies at Harvard University. Beginning with his scholarly training at Columbia University (where he earned his PhD in religion in 1984), Lewis’s research and teaching has been interdisciplinary, linking anthropology, the history of religions, and Indology. His area of special expertise is Newar Buddhism in the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal, and he has written extensively about Buddhist narratives, their depiction in popular art, and the role of merchants in Buddhist history. Lewis is also one of the world’s leading authorities on the religions of the mid-montane Himalayan region and the social history of Buddhism.
Todd Lewis
