Here is a current repertoire of courses offered.

Religion, Ideology, and the Climate Crisis

Spring 2026 at Hamilton College

Course Description: This course conceptualizes religion vis-à-vis ideology, limning the contours of these two categories and drawing out similarities and differences between them. We explore the question of what religious and/or ideological ideas lead into our current climate crisis, in the situation we now call the Anthropocene – and ask whether alternate religious and/or ideological ideas can help to lead us out. Over the span of the course, we will read classical authors from religious studies as well as recent work in political philosophy on ideology by theorists in the Marx-Hegelian critical theory tradition. We will then explore exciting work by degrowth scholars like Kohei Saito. Along the way, some cases will demonstrate the real-world environmental impact of ideological and religious ideas.

Religion and the Philosophy of Language

Spring 2024 at Oberlin College

Course Description: This course considers what it is we do when we use religious concepts. The course begins by reading the pragmatic philosopher of language JL Austin and the later work of Ludwig Wittgenstein to set up how we “do things with words.” We will continue with a group of philosophers and theologians who have been influenced by the 20th century’s linguistic turn, notably Iris Murdoch, Cora Diamond, and Stephen Mulhall. Finally, we will bring in cross-cultural comparisons by considering how a group of Buddhist and Daoist thinkers conceive of language and world, other minds and other lives.

Buddhist Environmentalism

Spring 2024 at Oberlin College, Spring 2026 at Hamilton College

Course Description: This course explores the conjunction of Buddhism and environmentalism. In the first part of the course, we consider advocates of Buddhist environmentalism, or “eco-Buddhists.” We consider a variety of positions before focusing on those who criticize current structures of political economy. In Part II, we consider critics of the Buddhism-environmentalism conjunction, who raise the objection that historical Buddhists never held commitments like those of modern-day environmentalists. Our job will then in Part III of the course involve making sense of these critiques on the way to a historically responsible description of what a modern Buddhist environmentalism might be.

Biographies of the Holy

Spring 2024 at Oberlin College, Fall 2025 at Hamilton College

Course Description: In this introductory course, we will consider in a theoretically informed way some of the issues that arise when thinking about religious ethics comparatively. The course starts by setting up two theoretical poles in the study of religion: the transcendent (Weberian) and immanent (Durkheimian) frames. We’ll then read biographies of the “holy,” pointing out what can be seen via the transcendent and immanent frames together. Biographies we will consider include: exemplary Confucian women from the 1st century BCE; Buddhist nuns from the 4-6th century AD; and a 19th century biography given by Henry David Thoreau of Captain John Brown.

Animals and Religion

Fall 2023 at Oberlin College, Fall 2025 at Hamilton College

Course Description: This course considers the question of how we (as human societies) are to relate to non-human animal life. In the first part of the course, we will consider two distinct approaches, which will be called “religious” (or perhaps, “metaphysical”) for how far-reaching the ramifications are for holding one view versus the other. One approach considers non-human animal life as fundamentally different in kind from human life; an unbridgeable abyss or chasm lies between the human and non-human animal. The other considers human and non-human animal life on a spectrum, emphasizing continuities. The course proceeds by laying out evidence for the “continuities” view, and proceeds to ask the question: “Do animals have religion?” by working through animal perception, concepts, and proto-language (the evolution of language). Along the way, we will bring in a range of sources, including Christian theological and philosophical views, Buddho-Daoist views, and some perspectives from theoretical biology.

Family and Gender in East Asia

Fall 2023 at Oberlin College – Freshman Year Seminar Program

Course Description: What can we learn about the here and now by studying other times and places? Taking a comparative approach, students in this seminar will explore the institution of family and gender roles within it in East Asia from the first century BCE to the present. We will read biographies of exemplary Confucian women from the 1st century BCE; biographies of exemplary Buddhist nuns from the 4-6th centuries AD; and a range of 19th-20th century authors including fiction by the social reformers Lu Xun and Ba Jin. We will develop our exploration through visits to the Allen Memorial Art Museum and the screening of contemporary East Asian films, cultivating with each other the arts of good listening, good thinking, and good conversation. Along the way, we will also develop our capabilities in writing to discover what we are thinking – a way for our thoughts to become clear to ourselves and to others on the page.

Buddhist Histories and Traditions

Fall 2022 at George Washington University; Spring 2023 at Georgetown

Course Description: This course is an introduction to the history, texts, ideas and practices of Buddhism. In the first part of the course, we begin with the historical transmission pathway from Buddhism’s start in 5th century BCE India to China and East Asia in the early centuries AD. We will discuss the rise of the sangha and its institutionalization vis-à-vis the social institutions of family and state. Throughout, we’ll consider texts important to a number of schools of Buddhism, trying as much as possible to situate those texts in historical context. Readings will include selections from: Asoka’s edicts, the Questions of Milinda, the Therigatha, Baochang’s Lives of the Nuns, the Vessantara Jataka, The Avatamsaka Sutra, the Lotus Sutra, Nichiren’s letters, the Mohezhiguan, the Life of Milarepa, and others. In the second part of the course, we’ll discuss the transmission of Buddhism along networks of exchange and encounter along the Silk Road, with the pilgrims Faxian and Xuanzang as our narrative guides. The course ends by considering a few manifestations of modern and contemporary Buddhism that are closer to our own time.