John Robert Mandsager

John Robert Mandsager is an Assistant Professor in Religious Studies & Jewish Studies at the University of South Carolina's McCausland College of Arts and Sciences. His research focuses on Late Antique Jewish literature, materiality, and spatial practices in Roman Palestine, emphasizing intersections of religion, gender, and class. He earned his Ph.D. in Religious Studies from Stanford University (2014) and has held postdoctoral fellowships before joining USC in 2019.

Education: Ph.D. (Stanford 2014), M.A. Jewish Studies (Graduate Theological Union 2005), M.A. Religious Studies (Stanford 2003), B.A. Religious Studies and Psychology (Stanford 2002).

Research interests include rabbinic spatial theory, biblical interpretation, and boundary-making strategies. His current book project explores agricultural estates as symbols of Jewish identity in early Rabbinic Judaism.

He has been awarded grants including the Taube Center Dissertation Completion Grant and holds teaching roles such as Undergraduate Director of Religious Studies and former Assistant Director of Jewish Studies. His service includes expanding the Jewish Studies curriculum and advocating for a campus Jewish Studies Center.

Publications include peer-reviewed articles on rabbinic storytelling and book chapters in Wiley Blackwell’s Companion to Jews and Judaism.