Jeffrey S. Lidke earned his M.A. (1996) and Ph.D. (2000) in South Asia Religion and Philosophy from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and his B.A. in Religious Studies from the University of Colorado (1990). He was a Fulbright Dissertation Fellow to Nepal in the 1996-97 academic year. During his graduate years, Lidke devoted himself to Sanskritic languages, both classical and vernacular, with training from several teachers, including Gerald Larson, Nandini Iyer and Sthaneshwar Timalsinsa. Currently, he is chair of the Department of Religion and Philosophy at Berry  College where he has taught since 2003. After two years as editor for the Southeast Review of Asian Studies (SERAS), Lidke is now attending to the publication of his recent research on the neuroscience of contemplative practice as well as three book projects: the long overdue The Goddess Beyond and Within the Three Cities: Śākta Tantra and the Paradox of Power in Nepāla-Maṇḍala a textbook for Cognella Academic Publishing on the world's religions titled World Religions: A 21st Century Primer and a reissue of his first book,Viśvarūpa Maṇḍir: A Study of Chaṅgu Nārāyaṇa, Nepal's Most Ancient Pagoda (to appear in a newly titled, revised and updated edition,  with proceeds going toward the rebuilding of Changu Narayan, one of several Nepalese UNESCO heritage sites severely damaged by the 2015 earthquake). Dr. Lidke's publications and current projects can be found here: https://berry.academia.edu/JeffreyLidke