God in the Obama Era with Author Niels Nielson

Niels C. Nielsen, Jr. is the J. Newton Rayzor Professor of Philosophy and Religious Thought emeritus at Rice University in Houston, Texas. Rice is an independent university, neither a state supported school or a church sponsored institution. He was founding chairman of its department of religious studies from 1968 to 1990.

His B.A. degree is from George Pepperdine University in Los Angeles, and his B.D. and Ph.D from Yale. He taught in the Yale University Department of Religion before coming to Texas. His professional affiliations include the American Academy of Religion, American Philosophical Society, American Society for the Study of Religion, Society for Buddhist-Christian Studies and the Society for European Culture. His doctoral research at Yale was in contemporary theology. Subsequently he has written in the fields of world religions and religion in Eastern Europe; he traveled extensively researching in these fields

Niels C. Nielsen, Jr.'s field of study and research is philosophy and religious studies. His text, Religions of the World is a widely used class book. His study of The Religion of Jimmy Carter had international sales, with Dutch and German translations. He has also written on Religion After Communism in Russia.