Richard Amesbury is a philosopher and scholar of religion with four main (occasionally overlapping) areas of interest: (a) religion and contemporary political thought; (b) law and religion; (c) Wittgenstein; and (d) the politics of the secular. Some of his current research focuses on populist movements in Europe and the United States.

Before joining ASU as director of the School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies, Amesbury served as chair of the Department of Philosophy and Religion at Clemson University and as professor of theological ethics and director of the Institute for Social Ethics at the University of Zurich, Switzerland.

Amesbury co-chairs the American Academy of Religion’s Law, Religion and Culture Unit and serves as religion and law editor of Religious Studies Review.