Jeff Sharlet (born 1971) is an American academic, journalist, and author. He is the Frederick Sessions Beebe '35 Professor in the Art of Writing at

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College ( ) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, Dartmouth is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the America ...

. Throughout his career, Sharlet's work has focused on religion.

Career

He is a contributing editor for ''

Harper's ''Harper's Magazine'' is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts. Launched in New York City in June 1850, it is the oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the United States. ''Harper's Magazine'' has ...

'', ''

Virginia Quarterly Review The ''Virginia Quarterly Review'' is a quarterly literary magazine that was established in 1925 by James Southall Wilson, at the request of University of Virginia president E. A. Alderman. This ''"National Journal of Literature and Discussio ...

'', and ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

''. His work has also appeared in ''Vanity Fair'', ''

The New York Times Magazine ''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine included with the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times''. It features articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted many notable contributors. The magazi ...

'', '' GQ'', ''

Esquire Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title. In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentleman ...

'', ''

Lapham's Quarterly ''Lapham's Quarterly'' is a literary magazine established in 2007 by former ''Harper's Magazine'' editor Lewis H. Lapham. Each issue examines a theme using primary source material from history. The inaugural issue "States of War" contained doze ...

'', ''

Oxford American The ''Oxford American'' is a quarterly magazine that focuses on the American South. First publication The magazine was founded in late 1989 in Oxford, Mississippi, by Marc Smirnoff (born July 11, 1963). The name "Oxford American" is a play on ' ...

'', ''

Bookforum ''Bookforum'' is an American book review magazine devoted to books and the discussion of literature. After announcing that it would cease publication in December 2022, it reported its relaunch under the direction of ''The Nation'' magazine six mo ...

'', ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'', '' Mother Jones'', ''

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

'', ''

Advocate An advocate is a professional in the field of law. List of country legal systems, Different countries and legal systems use the term with somewhat differing meanings. The broad equivalent in many English law–based jurisdictions could be a ba ...

'', ''

Guernica Guernica (, ), officially Gernika () in Basque, is a town in the province of Biscay, in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country, Spain. The town of Guernica is one part (along with neighbouring Lumo) of the municipality of Gernika-Lumo ...

,'' ''

The Chronicle of Higher Education ''The Chronicle of Higher Education'' is an American newspaper and website that presents news, information, and jobs for college and university faculty and student affairs professionals, including staff members and administrators. A subscription ...

'', ''

Columbia Journalism Review The ''Columbia Journalism Review'' (''CJR'') is a biannual magazine for professional journalists that has been published by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism since 1961. Its original purpose was "to assess the performance ...

'', ''

New Statesman ''The New Statesman'' (known from 1931 to 1964 as the ''New Statesman and Nation'') is a British political and cultural news magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first c ...

'', ''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is a progressive American monthly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper ...

'', ''

The New Republic ''The New Republic'' (often abbreviated as ''TNR'') is an American magazine focused on domestic politics, news, culture, and the arts from a left-wing perspective. It publishes ten print magazines a year and a daily online platform. ''The New Y ...

'', ''

Forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

'', and ''

The Baffler ''The Baffler'' is an American magazine of cultural, political, and business analysis. Established in 1988 by editors Thomas Frank and Keith White, it was headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, until 2010, when it moved to Cambridge, Massachusett ...

''. He has taught at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

and is the Frederick Sessions Beebe '35 Professor in the Art of Writing at

. He is the recipient of the

National Magazine Award The National Magazine Awards, also known as the Ellie Awards, honor print and digital publications that consistently demonstrate superior execution of editorial objectives, innovative techniques, noteworthy enterprise and imaginative design. Or ...

for Reporting, the MOLLY National Journalism Prize, the

International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission Outright International (Outright) is an LGBTIQ human rights non-governmental organization that addresses human rights violations and abuses against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people. OutRight International documents human ...

's Outspoken Award, and the

Military Religious Freedom Foundation The Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) is a non-profit organization that was founded in 2005 by Mikey Weinstein, a former Air Force officer and attorney. The organization's mission is to ensure that members of the United States Armed Fo ...

's Thomas Jefferson Award. Sharlet is the co-creator of two online journals: ''Killing the Buddha'', a literary magazine about religion, co-founded with

Peter Manseau Peter Manseau is an American writer, religion scholar and museum curator. He is Lilly Endowment Curator of American Religious History at the National Museum of American History, the Smithsonian. Early life Manseau attended college at the Univer ...

and ''

The Revealer ''The Revealer: A Review of Religion and Media'' is an online magazine published by the Center for Religion and Media at New York University. The ''Revealer'' publishes ten issues per year and features articles that explore religion and its many ...

'', a review of religion and media published by the

Center for Religion and Media. He is the former editor-in-chief of ''Pakn Treger'', a journal published by the

National Yiddish Book Center The Yiddish Book Center (formerly the National Yiddish Book Center), located on the campus of Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States, is a cultural institution dedicated to the preservation of books in the Yiddish language, ...

. Sharlet's interest in religion developed during childhood. Sharlet's mother was from a Pentecostal Christian background. His father is of

secular Jewish Jewish secularism (Hebrew: יהדות חילונית) refers to secularism in a Jewish context, denoting the definition of Jewish identity with little or no attention given to its religious aspects. The concept of Jewish secularism first arose ...

background. Raised in an eclectic religious environment, attending various people's churches and temples, he has said that he gravitates to stories about people's beliefs as the most natural way to engage the world. Sharlet was an executive producer of the five-part

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

series '' The Family'' (2019), based on his books '' The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power'' and ''C Street: The Fundamentalist Threat to American Democracy''. He appears in interview segments throughout the series.

Published books

*In 2023

W.W. Norton W. W. Norton & Company is an American publishing company based in New York City. Established in 1923, it has been owned wholly by its employees since the early 1960s. The company is known for its Norton Anthologies (particularly '' The Norton ...

published: '' The Undertow: Scenes from a Slow Civil War'' *In 2020 W.W. Norton published ''This Brilliant Darkness: A Book of Strangers.'' *In 2014

Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day and Clarence Day, grandsons of Benjamin Day, and became a department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and ope ...

published ''Radiant Truths: Essential Dispatches, Reports, Confessions, and Other Essays on American Belief,'' edited by Jeff Sharlet. *In 2011 W.W. Norton published ''Sweet Heaven When I Die: Faith, Faithlessness, and the Country In Between.'' The book investigates the margins of personal belief in America. *In 2010,

Little Brown Little, Brown and Company is an American publishing company founded in 1837 by Charles Coffin Little and James Brown in Boston. For close to two centuries, it has published fiction and nonfiction by American authors. Early lists featured Emily ...

published ''C Street: The Fundamentalist Threat to American Democracy''. *In 2008

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...

published '' The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power.'' The book investigates the political power of The Family, a secretive association of Christian evangelicals. *In 2009

Beacon Press Beacon Press is an American left-wing non-profit book publisher. Founded in 1854 by the American Unitarian Association, it is currently a department of the Unitarian Universalist Association. It is known for publishing authors such as Jame ...

published ''Believer, Beware: First-Person Dispatches from the Margins of Faith,'' co-edited by Sharlet and

. *In 2004

Free Press Freedom of the press refers to legal protections for public communications media. Free Press may also refer to: Publications * ''Free Press'' (CPBF), the journal of the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom * ''Free Press'' (Malayalam magaz ...

published ''Killing the Buddha: A Heretic's Bible'', coauthored by Sharlet and

References

External links

Official website
(archived in 2016)
Killing the Buddha
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sharlet, Jeff American male journalists American people of Jewish descent Hampshire College alumni 1972 births Living people Vanity Fair (magazine) people