Varun Soni

Varun Soni is the Dean of Religious Life at the University of Southern California. He received his B.A. degree in Religion from Tufts University, an master of theological studies degree from Harvard Divinity School, and a second master's degree from the religious studies department at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He went on to receive his Juris Doctor degree from University of California, Los Angeles School of Law, where he also completed the Critical Race Studies Program and served as an editor for the Journal of Islamic and Near Eastern Law. He also holds earned a doctorate through the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Cape Town, where his doctoral research focused on religion and popular culture. Varun is the author of Natural Mystics: The Prophetic Lives of Bob Marley and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (Figueroa Press, 2014) and his writing has appeared in the Washington Post, Huffington Post, Crosscurrents, Jewish Journal, and Harvard Divinity School Bulletin. He produced the critically acclaimed graphic novel Tina’s Mouth: An Existential Comic Diary by Keshni Kashyap, which is currently being adapted as a feature length film.