Bio
Margo Kitts has authored/edited twelve books and published over fifty articles addressing religious conflict, ritual studies, and ancient studies. Recent peer reviewed books are Sacrifice: Themes, Theories, and Controversies (CUP 2022); Elements of Ritual and Violence (CUP 2018); and her edited Martyrdom, Self-Sacrifice, and Self-Immolation: Religious Perspectives on Suicide (2018 OUP). Her most recent project as editor: Cambridge Companion to Religion and War, in press.
Education
Ph.D. | University of California, Berkeley | 1994
Joint Program in Near Eastern Religions, with the Graduate Theological Union.
Dissertation Title: Oath-Making in the Iliad
Committee: Michael Nagler, Classics and Peace Studies, Chair; Anthony Bullock, Classics; Ruggero Stefanini, Near Eastern Studies; Victor Gold, Graduate Theological Union; Richard Payne, Institute of Buddhist Studies.
Comprehensive exams: Hittite ritual, Greek sacrifice, Homer as an oral poet.
MA, with distinction | Graduate Theological Union | 1984
- History and Phenomenology of Religion
BA, with distinction | California State University at Chico | 1975
- Philosophy
Recent Teaching Experience
Professor of East-West Humanities | Hawai’i Pacific University, Honolulu, HI | 2006 - Present
Assistant (2006-2008), Associate (2008-2013) and Full (2013 forward)
Coordinator for Religious Studies and East-West Classical Studies
Lecturer, Classics and Religious Studies | Iowa State University, Ames, IA | 2003 - 2006
- Taught courses on: Greek and Roman epics, world religions, war in world religions, women in world religions, and Buddhism.