Elaine Pagels's career as an academic interested in religion has been highlighted by numerous publications and awards. An Episcopalian, Pagels was born on February 13, 1943, in Palo Alto, California, to William McKinley, a research biologist, and Louise Sophia van Druten Hiesey. She received her bachelor's degree in 1964 and a master's degree in 1965, both from Stanford University. Harvard University awarded her a doctorate in 1970. In 1969, Pagels married Heinz Pagels, a theoretical physicist who died nine years later. They had three children together, one of whom died in 1987. In 1995, she married Kent Greenwalt, a law professor.

After receiving her doctorate, Pagels began teaching at Barnard College and Columbia University. Later, she served as a professor of religion and department head at Princeton University, where she is currently the Harrington Spear Paine Professor of Religion. In 1978, she was part of an international team of scholars involved in studying and translating...