Besl Family Chair for Ethics/Religion and Society
Xavier University established the Besl Family Chair as a part of the Ethics/Religion and Society Program. This program was endowed with the support of a challenge grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and donations from Timothy Garry, a Xavier alumnus, and three generations of Besl family members.
Current Besl Chair (Fall 2024 - )
The current holder of the Besl Family Chair in Ethics/Religion and Society is Nick Tackes
Nick Tackes is an ethnographer of religion in South Asia. His current book project is a comparative study of two Hindu institutions that are preparing for the end of the world: the Gayatri Pariwar and the Brahma Kumaris. These institutions afford their members resources with which to resolve tensions between salvation and this-worldly comfort, societal welfare and personal achievement, and tradition and modernity. Through analysis of the activities of group members, Tackes argues that it is precisely the mundane reforms to everyday life that structure members' preparations for the world to come which make the Gayatri Pariwar and the Brahma Kumaris so appealing to Hindus today. Tackes earned his B.A. in Religion from Carthage College and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Religion from Columbia University. His other research interests include Hindu ritual reform, charismatic leadership, interreligious conflict, religion and consumer culture, and religion and healthcare.