Cogut Institute for the Humanities

Tessa Finley is a third-year doctoral student in the Department of Religious Studies. Her work pursues questions of how we may conceive of literature as engendering morally and politically formative practices, with special attention to conceptions of prayer. Her research interests include the philosophy of religion, literature and literary theory, psychoanalysis, mysticism, and political theory. Her dissertation project is broadly concerned with ideas of literature as a form of redemption, and considers how practices of divination and mystical reading compare with the practices of reading and ideas of literature that are enshrined in institutions such as the university or the church. She holds a B.A. from Pomona College and a MFA from Oregon State University.