Stephen Cavanna Headley (born 5 August 1943 in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania) is a social anthropologist and a priest of the

Eastern Orthodox Church The Eastern Orthodox Church, also called the Orthodox Church, is the second-largest Christian church, with approximately 220 million baptized members. It operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops via ...

. He is best known for his books on the anthropology of prayer and the ethnography of

Central Java Central Java ( id, Jawa Tengah) is a province of Indonesia, located in the middle of the island of Java. Its administrative capital is Semarang. It is bordered by West Java in the west, the Indian Ocean and the Special Region of Yogyakarta in t ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. He writes in French and English. Headley was married to the American artist Anne Everett who died in 2013.

Education and academic posts

Headley earned a B.A. degree in Oriental studies (Chinese and Sanskrit) from

Columbia College, Columbia University Columbia College is the oldest undergraduate college of Columbia University, situated on the university's main campus in Morningside Heights in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded by the Church of England in 1754 as King' ...

in 1956 where he studied under Anton Zigmund-Cerbu. He obtained an M.A. degree in Buddhist studies from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in 1969 and continued his studies in Paris with a diploma in

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

philology at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes (1972) and a doctorate in social anthropology under Georges Condominas at the Sorbonne in 1979. He also studied theology at Saint Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary (Crestwood, New York, 1966–1969) and at the St Sergius Institute of Orthodox Theology in Paris (1969–1973). He worked at the

French National Center for Scientific Research The French National Centre for Scientific Research (french: link=no, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe. In 2016, it employed 31,637 ...

between 1981 and 2008: between 1998 and 2008 he was working with a research team founded by the anthropologist Louis Dumont. Between 1973 and 2005 Headley repeatedly did fieldwork in central Java, primarily in and around the village of Krendowahono. Between 2006 and 2010 he taught in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

and undertook field work on parish life.

Books

* ''River of Rituals. An Anthropology of Alternative Rites.'' Volos Aademny, Greece, 2021. * ''The Songs of The Bridal Chamber: Monks at Prayer.'' Volos Academy, Greece, 2020. * ''After Secularization, Religious Faith in Modern Europe, Russia and Asia.'' St. Sebastian Press, Los Angeles, 2020. * ''Du Désert et du Paradis. Introduction à la Théologie Ascétique.'' Paris: Editions du Cerf. 2018 * ''The Hidden Ear of God. A Christian Anthropology of Verbal Icons and Iconic Words.'' New York: Angelico Press. 2018. * ''Christ after Communism: Spiritual Authority and it Transmission in Three Parishes in Moscow.'' Orthodox Research Institute, Rollingsford. 2010. * ''Durga’s Mosque : Cosmology, Conversion and Community in central Javanese Islam.'' Institute of South East Asian Studies, Singapore. 2004. ''Durga's Mosque'' was labeled a 2006 Outstanding Academic Title by the Association of College and Research Libraries, American Library Association. **Review, ''Indonesia''. no. 80, (2005): 197-202 **Review ''Homme'' * ''From Cosmogony to Exorcism in a Javanese Genesis. The Spilt Seed.'' Oxford Studies in Social and Cultural Anthropology, Oxford University Press. 2000. ** Review, ''

American Anthropologist ''American Anthropologist'' is the flagship journal of the American Anthropological Association (AAA), published quarterly by Wiley. The "New Series" began in 1899 under an editorial board that included Franz Boas, Daniel G. Brinton, and John W ...

'', Dec., 2002, vol. 104, no. 4, p. 1242 **Review, ''Journal of Asian Studies,'' Aug., 2004, vol. 63, no. 3, p. 847-849

Edited volume

* Stephen C. Headley (ed) ''Moitiés d’hommes'': thematic issue of the review ''l’Homme'' (Issue 174, April–June, 2005). Contains two chapters by Headley. * Stephen C. Headley et David Parkin (eds), ''Islamic Prayer across the Indian Ocean. Inside and Outside the Mosque.'' 2000. Curzon Press, United Kingdom. * Stephen C. Headley (ed), ''Vers une anthropologie de la prière.'' Etudes ethnolinguistiques javanaises. 1996. Publications Universitaires de Provence, Aix-en-Provence. Contains three chapters by Headley. **Review, ''Journal of Asian Studies'', Nov 1997, vol. 56, no. 4, p. 1165-1167WorldCat
/ref> * Stephen C. Headley (ed), ''Anthropologie de la prière : rites oraux en Asie du Sud-Est''. Thematic issue of the review ''L’Homme''. Issue 132, vol. XXIV, Oct-Dec, 1994.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Headley, Stephen C. 1943 births Living people People from Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania American anthropologists American Eastern Orthodox priests Eastern Orthodox priests in the United States Javanists 20th-century Eastern Orthodox Christians 21st-century Eastern Orthodox priests Columbia College (New York) alumni 21st-century American clergy