D.W. Pasulka

Diana Walsh Pasulka is an American academic and author specializing in religious studies, with a focus on the intersections of religion, technology, emerging belief systems, UFOs, and nonhuman intelligences, as well as Catholic traditions and popular culture.

She holds a PhD in philosophy and religious studies from Syracuse University (2003), an MA from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, and a BA from the University of California, Davis.

As a professor of religious studies at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, Pasulka's scholarship examines how modern technologies and unexplained phenomena influence religious thought and practice, including fieldwork at sites like the Vatican Archives, a space observatory, and a reported UFO crash site in New Mexico.

Her key publications include Heaven Can Wait: Purgatory in Catholic Devotional and Popular Culture (Oxford University Press, 2014), which explores historical and material concepts of purgatory; American Cosmic: UFOs, Religion, Technology (Oxford University Press, 2019), analyzing belief systems around extraterrestrial life; and Encounters: Experiences with Nonhuman Intelligences (St. Martin's Essentials, 2023), investigating contemporary reports of contact with nonhumans.

Pasulka has extended her expertise beyond academia as a consulting producer for the Emmy-nominated Netflix docuseries Encounters (2023), a religious consultant for The Conjuring film franchise, and a contributor to J.J. Abrams' UFO docuseries, while also appearing on prominent podcasts such as The Joe Rogan Experience and Lex Fridman Podcast to discuss her research.

Diana Walsh Pasulka earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Davis, in an unspecified field, completing her undergraduate studies prior to the 1990s. This foundational education laid the groundwork for her subsequent pursuit of advanced degrees in religious studies. Following her time at UC Davis, she transitioned to graduate work at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, where she obtained her M.A. in 1999.

Following her undergraduate education at the University of California, Davis, where she earned a B.A., Diana Walsh Pasulka advanced her studies in theology and religious studies.

Pasulka completed an M.A. in Systematic Theology at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California, in 1999, with her training affiliated with the Jesuit School of Theology.

She then pursued doctoral studies at Syracuse University, earning a Ph.D. in Religious Studies in 2003 under the direction of James W. Watts.

Her dissertation, titled "The Aesthetics of Nostalgia: The Return of the Real in Postmodern Christian Discourse," analyzed the works of theologians Paul Griffiths, Wesley Kort, and Catherine Pickstock, who advocate a return to Christian scripture to address philosophy's epistemological crisis between realist and anti-realist claims.

This graduate work established her foundation in modern theology, complemented by studies in new media and religion that informed her broader scholarly interests in Catholic devotional culture.

Following the completion of her PhD in religion from Syracuse University in 2003, with a dissertation titled "The Aesthetics of Nostalgia: The Return of the Real in Postmodern Christian Discourse," Diana Walsh Pasulka entered academia focusing on Catholic theology and devotional culture.

Pasulka's first full-time faculty position was as Assistant Professor of Women and Religion in the Department of Philosophy and Religion at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, a role she held by 2007. In this early appointment, she contributed to the department's emphasis on critical appreciation of religious experiences across cultures and historical periods, laying the foundation for her subsequent research on belief systems and material culture.