Thomas Forsthoefel is a professor of religious studies at Mercyhurst University in Erie, Pennsylvania, as well as a poet and author.
[2] He has a special interest in Hinduism and Buddhism and has written on both new religious movements and established traditions within these faiths, while his own background is Roman Catholic.
[3] He is married to Beth Gylys, professor of English and Creative Writing at Georgia State University and a fellow poet.
[6] In 2011, The New York Times quoted Forsthoefel concerning the high school from which he had graduated, Fordson High School of Detroit, and its overnight football practices to accommodate Muslim students fasting for Ramadan: I think it is really in keeping with the best instincts of Islam in honoring the Ramadan fast, which, in my view, is an intentional disruption of quotidian life in order to affirm and galvanize key principles of Islam and to live under submission to Allah.
I find that very honorable and a real testimony to the awareness that there is something going on in life other than making a buck or seeing the bottom line.Forsthoefel's published books include:[8]