Prof. Herbst’s scholarly endeavors revolve around religious and cultural history in antiquity and the early medieval period as well as on topics in environmental humanities.

His most recent publications are: “Water in World History:   Pedagogical and Thematic Approaches” in World History Bulletin (Fall 2024), a reflection that ranges from the ancient to the contemporary world, and “Pilgrimage and the Sacred in the Colorado Desert,” Desert Researcher (2025), which focuses on his interest in this desert region of Southern California. His next article, “‘The Only Other Things is Nothing:’ Survival and Beauty in the Colorado Desert,” will be published as part of the  From Glory to Grave?:  “Dead Cities” throughout Time and Space symposium project. This follows previous articles on the region: “Journey to the Center of the World:  Memory and the Sacred in the Colorado Desert” in World History Connected Vol. 20/no. 2 (Summer 2023), and “God, Satan, and Freshmen in the Southern Californian Desert” in World History Connected Vol. 18/no. 2 (Summer 2021).

Another current project examines the idea of religious war in the Mediterranean, from the Roman Empire to the Crusades, co-written by ASU historian Stefan Stantchev, (expected publication in 2027). Here, Prof. Herbst returns to his study of the Roman/Byzantine world, which he recently reflected upon in “Hagia Sophia: Bridge Across Time,” in Asia in World History: Comparisons, Connections, and Conflicts, Education about Asia, Vol. 26/3 (2022), and “Broadcasting Power: Teaching Historical Transformation through Hagia Sophia” in World History Connected Vol. 16/3 (October 2019).