Jeffery David Long is an American scholar of religious studies who works on the religions and philosophies of India, particularly Hinduism and Jainism. He is the Carl W. Zeigler Professor of Religion, Philosophy, and Asian Studies at Elizabethtown College.

Education and career Long graduated with a BA from the University of Notre Dame in 1991. He received his MA and PhD at the University of Chicago Divinity School in 1993 and 2000, respectively. His PhD thesis was titled Plurality and Relativity: Whitehead, Jainism, and the Reconstruction of Religious Pluralism. He began work at Elizabethtown College in 2000.

Long has authored, edited, or co-edited over a dozen books on Hinduism, Jainism, and related topics. He sometimes draws upon his personal identity as a Hindu and has argued in favor of promoting a "universalist" Hinduism, similar to "Buddhism, Christianity, or Islam".|page=26

Activism

Long composed a letter in support of the stance of the Hindu American Foundation, an American non-profit organization, during its 2006 lawsuit against the California Board of Education. Long also wrote a letter in support of the "camp... led by the Hindu American Foundation (HAF), a non-profit that claims to advocate for Hindus in the United States, and the Hindu Education Foundation (HEF)," signed by additional scholars, regarding the 2016–17 California textbook controversy over South Asian topics. Long personally voiced "a far more moderate tone" than those groups.

In 2025, Long wrote a journal article about the HAF, noting for context that he had "developed good, collegial friendships with many members of HAF. These relationships have enabled the kind of access that has permitted me to pursue the research on which this paper is based."

Awards and honors In 2018, Long received the Hindu American Foundation's Dharma Seva Award "for his efforts to help mainstream Americans understand Hinduism in academia and public schools".

Personal life Long was raised in a Catholic household. His father died when Long was 12, as the result of an accident. At the age of 25, Long became a Hindu.

Books

2nd ed. 2020, Scarecrow Press, . Reviews of Hinduism in America:

Edited volumes

References

External links