Diane Apostolos-Cappadona is Adjunct Professor of Religious Art and Cultural History in the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, Georgetown University; Adjunct Professor and Core Faculty of Visual Culture in the Graduate Liberal Studies Program, Georgetown University; and Adjunct Professor of Religious Art and Cultural History, Catholic Studies Program, Georgetown University. She received both the Annual Award for Excellence in the Arts from The Newington-Cropsey Foundation and the Excellence in Teaching Faculty Award from Georgetown University in 2000. During the 1996-97 academic year, she was a Senior Fellow at the Center for the Study of World Religions at Harvard University. Dr. Apostolos-Cappadona is the author of the Encyclopedia of Women in Religious Art (1996); Dictionary of Christian Art (1994); and The Spirit and the Vision: The Influence of Christian Romanticism on the Development of 19th-century American Art (1995). She is the editor of Isamu Noguchi: Essays and Conversations (1994); Image and Spirit in Sacred and Secular Art by Jane Dillenberger (1990); Symbolism, the Sacred, and the Arts by Mircea Eliade (1985); Art, Creativity, and the Sacred (1995 [1984]); and The Sacred Play of Children (1983); Art Editor for World Spirituality: An Encyclopedic History of the Religious Quest, 25 volumes (1985-1994); and co-translator for A History of Religious Ideas, Volume III by Mircea Eliade (1985).
A contributor to The Dictionary of Art (1996), American National Biography (1999), Encyclopedia of New England Culture (2005), Encyclopedia of American Studies (2001), Encyclopedia of Comparative Iconography (1998), Encyclopedia of Sex and Gender (2007), Encyclopedia of Women and World Religions (1999), Die Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart (1998-2005), Christianity: A Complete Guide (2005), A Companion to the Study of Religion (2005), New Westminister Dictionary of Church History (2005), Makers of Christian Theology in America (1997), The (Oxford) Dictionary of Islam (2001), and HarperCollins' Dictionary of Religion (1995), Dr. Apostolos-Cappadona is the author of numerous articles for scholarly journals and collected volumes. She and Doug Adams co-edited Art as Religious Studies (1987) and Dance as Religious Studies (1990). With Lucinda Ebersole, she is the co-editor of Women, Creativity, and the Arts: Critical and Autobiographical Perspectives (1995). Dr. Apostolos-Cappadona has written the foreword for the classic reprint edition of Sacred and Profane Beauty: The Holy in Art by Gerardus van der Leeuw (2006). She is preparing two anthologies, Sources and Documents in the History of Christian Art, and Sources and Documents on 19th -century Religious Art in America; and with Lucinda Ebersole, a collected volume, The Legacy of Eve in Western Art and Culture. Dr. Apostolos-Cappadona is writing several books including Christianity and the Visual Arts in the Global Perspective (2009); The Magdalene's Code: A Visual Guide, and A Companion Guide to Christian Art. She serves currently as the Area Editor for the Cultural Reception of the Arts for Encyclopedia of the Bible and its Reception to be published in 30 volumes and online by Walter De Gruyter, Berlin (2006-2018). Previously she was the Consultant for Art and Religion for The Grove Dictionary of Art (1996) the Consultant for Art and Religion for The Encyclopedia of Religion, 2nd edition (2005); and the Advisor for Art/World Iconography for the Dictionary of the History of Ideas, 2nd edition (2004).
Dr. Apostolos-Cappadona was guest curator and author of the catalogue for In Search of Mary Magdalene: Images and Traditions (2002). She served as a Core Consultant to the PBS/BBC series, Dancing! (1993), and as co-curator for the celebratory exhibition, "Noguchi at the Dance," for the Dance Collection, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts (1994). She was a residential fellow at The Alden B. Dow Creativity Center (1982) and The Edward F. Albee Foundation (1983) in support of her study of the art and philosophy of Isamu Noguchi. Dr. Apostolos-Cappadona received fellowship support from the American Academy of Religion (1990), American Council of Learned Societies (1989), and National Endowment for the Humanities (1990).