George Handley is a professor of comparative literature at Brigham Young University. He earned degrees in comparative literature from Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley. His research and teaching focus on environmental humanities, ecocriticism, and ecotheology. He is the author of several books, including: Literature and Ecotheology: From Chaos to Cosmos (2024), The Hope of Nature: Our Care for God’s Creations (2020), and the novel American Fork (2018). He has served as department chair, associate dean of the College of Humanities, and co-president of the Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment. He is also a co-founder of LDS Earth Stewardship and has served on the Provo City Council.
The Wonder of Scripture series, sponsored by the BYU Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, invites thoughtful speakers from diverse disciplines to reflect on how sacred texts inspire wonder, deepen understanding, and shape lives. Each lecture offers a unique perspective on engaging scripture with curiosity, reverence, and intellectual depth.