I am a book critic, editor, and scholar of religion living in Los Angeles. I specialize in American religion, politics, and literature, but I've also written about everything from French TV to contemporary country music in California. My reviews and essays have appeared in The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, The Point, The Los Angeles Review of Books, Pacific Standard, Newsday, and The Hedgehog Review.

The National Book Critics Circle granted me an Emerging Critics Fellowship (2017-18), and the Washington Monthly named me a finalist for the Kukula Award for Excellence in Nonfiction Book Reviewing (2020).

Earlier in my career I worked as an editor at Harper’s Magazine and a staff writer and editor at Harvard Magazine. You can learn more about my complete work history at my LinkedIn page, here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-gleason-0000551ab/.

In the spring of 2018 I completed my PhD in the University of Virginia's department of religious studies (my dissertation was on the poet George Herbert and his brother Edward, an early theorist of world religions). I have taught at California Lutheran University, Loyola Marymount University, and the University of Southern California. I have taught classes on American religious history, the history and purpose of American higher education, bioethics, business ethics, and introductory courses on religion.

You can find my essays and reviews on my publications page.