Timothy Lubin

Timothy Lubin is the Jessie Ball duPont Professor and Chair of the Department of Religion at Washington and Lee University, where he also serves as Adjunct Professor of Law. He heads the Law, Justice and Society Program and the Middle East and South Asia Studies Program, and is Vice-President of the American Society for Premodern Asia. A leading scholar in South Asian religious history and Hindu law, Lubin maintains active research affiliations with institutions across Asia and Europe.

His educational background includes:

• Ph.D. in South Asian religious history, Columbia University (1994)
• M.Phil. in South Asian religious history, Columbia University (1991)
• Certificate in South Asian Studies, Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs (1991)
• M.T.S. in comparative study of religion, Harvard University (1989)
• B.A. in French literature and linguistics, Columbia University (1986)

Lubin's research focuses on Hindu law (Dharmaśāstra), Brahmanical authority, and the legal and religious history of premodern South and Southeast Asia. His current projects examine the institutionalization of Brahminical traditions, the reception of Sanskrit legal texts in Java and Bali, and the political economy of religious practices. He employs interdisciplinary methods spanning philology, epigraphy, and diplomatics to analyze how religious professionals shaped legal norms and social structures.

His extensive publication record reveals consistent engagement with the dynamics of status, religious endowments, and legal pluralism in premodern contexts. Lubin's work bridges religious studies, legal history, and political economy, demonstrating how cosmopolitan legal norms were adapted to local conditions across South and Southeast Asia through charter immunity clauses, property rights, and ritual practices.

Key scientific awards include:

• American Council of Learned Societies fellowship
• National Endowment for the Humanities fellowship
• Fulbright-Hays Faculty Research Abroad fellowship
• American Philosophical Society Sabbatical Fellowship
• Science and Religion Course Award (2002)

Lubin has received substantial research support including Lenfest Foundation sabbatical grants and Glenn Summer Research Grants from Washington and Lee University. His academic leadership extends to organizing major conferences on status and justice, and mentoring junior scholars through collaborative projects. As principal investigator for the ERC-funded DHARMA Project's Southeast Asia components, he directs international teams editing Old Javanese legal texts and analyzing cross-cultural legal transmission.

He maintains active research collaborations through the DHARMA Project (ERC 809994), where he co-leads task forces on Southeast Asian textual sources and coordinates with epigraphers at the École française d'Extrême-Orient. Lubin also directs Washington and Lee's Law, Justice and Society Program, fostering interdisciplinary research on legal traditions across historical and cultural contexts.