Dubler ’97 Publishes Immersive New Book on Religion in Prison

Joshua Dubler ’97 is the author of the new book Down in the Chapel: Religious Life in an American Prison (Farrar Straus Giroux). A religion scholar who was working on his dissertation at Princeton University, he spent more than six years working with prisoners at the Graterford Maximum Security Prison outside of Philadelphia, focusing his studies on the religious diversity of the prison chapel.

Down in the Chapel tells the story of one whole week at the Graterford chapel in which Dubler attended Jewish, Muslim, Native American, Catholic, and various other services and study sessions. Conversing with chaplains and correctional officers as well as prisoners, he keeps his presence in plain view as he investigates issues of faith and everyday life during incarceration.

Dubler, who graduated from Wesleyan with a BA in College of Letters and religion, is currently assistant professor of religion at the University of Rochester. He is coauthor with Andrea Sun-Mee Jones of the 2006 book Bang! Thud: World Spirit from a Texas School Book Depository.