| Mary-Jane Rubenstein | |
| Birth Place: | United States |
| Main Interests: | Philosophy of Religion, Philosophy of Science, History of Philosophy, History of Science, Gender Studies, Religious Studies, Continental Philosophy, Postmodern Theology |
Mary-Jane Rubenstein is a scholar of religion, philosophy, science studies, and gender studies. At Wesleyan University, she is Dean of Social Sciences, Professor of Religion and Science and Technological Studies. She has also been an affiliated member of the departments of Philosophy, Environmental Studies and Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.[1] From 2014 to 2019, she was co-chair of the Philosophy of Religion Unit of the American Academy of Religion. She is a Fellow of the International Society for Science and Religion. Her book, Worlds without End: The Many Lives of the Multiverse,[2] served the inspiration material for the Oscar-winning 2022 American film, Everything Everywhere All at Once.[3]
Rubenstein earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Religion and English (summa cum laude) at Williams College in 1999. With the support of a Dr. Herchel Smith Fellowship, she studied philosophical theology at the University of Cambridge, where she earned a Post-Graduate Diploma in 2000 and an MPhil in 2001. She was granted a Jacob K. Javits Fellowship to pursue doctoral work at Columbia University, where she received a PhD in Philosophy of Religion in 2006.
From 2005 to 2006, Rubenstein was Scholar-in-Residence at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. In 2006, she earned Columbia University's Core Curriculum Award for Graduate Teaching and served as the Doctoral Commencement Speaker. Rubenstein was appointed Assistant Professor of Religion at Wesleyan University in 2006, Associate Professor in 2011, and Professor in 2014. She won the Wesleyan Binswanger Prize for Excellence in Teaching in 2017.[4]
Rubenstein's research uncovers the mythological and theological legacies of contemporary philosophy and science.[5] While her early work investigated the disavowal of wonder in phenomenology[6] and deconstruction,[7] her more recent writing has moved into the metaphysical underpinnings of cosmology,[8] astronomy and space travel,[9] [10] general relativity and quantum mechanics,[11] and non-linear biology and ecology.[12]
Her 2023 book, Astrotopia, speaks of her objections to the "corporate space race".[13]
Rubenstein has also published numerous articles, chapters, and interviews.[14]
Rubenstein has a wife, two children, and a wide extended family of relatives and friends.[15] She lives in Middletown, Connecticut.