John Lyden is Professor and Chair of the Religion Department at Dana College in Blair, Nebraska, to which he came in 1991. He received his B. A. in philosophy from Wesleyan University ('81), his M. A. in theology from Yale Divinity School ('83), and his Ph. D. from the University of Chicago Divinity School ('89). His dissertation concerned Karl Barth's theological use of Immanuel Kant's philosophical epistemology.

Dr. Lyden is the author of Film as Religion: Myths, Morals, and Rituals (NYU Press, 2003).  He is also the editor of Enduring Issues in Religion (San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1995), and of the forthcoming Companion to Religion and Film (Routledge, 2009).  He is the chair of the Religion, Film, and Visual Culture Group of the American Academy of Religion.  He has also published numerous articles on interreligious dialogue, religion and culture, and religion and film, which have appeared in edited volumes as well as journals such as the Journal of Religion and Film, Dialogue and Alliance, Religion and Public Education, and The Journal of Ecumenical Studies. In 2007, he was interviewed for and appeared in the History Channel documentary, Star Wars: The Legacy Revealed.

He lives in Omaha with his wife Liz, and his three children, Karl, Grace and Clara.