Education
- Ph.D. in Religious Studies from Rice University (2010)
- M.A. in Religious Studies from Lancaster University (1997)
Research Interests
Asian religions, Asian religions in America, Religion and Psychoanalysis
Recent Research Activities
My first monograph American Dharma: Buddhism Beyond Modernity will be published in February 2019 by Yale University Press. I am now working on a second book project that will examine American revisionings of Asian liberation traditions, particularly those with non-dual metaphysics, and a co-written monograph that will explore the sexual abuse and sexual misconduct scandals in American Zen and Tibetan communities.
Selected Publications
Books
Edited Collections
- Ann Gleig and Lola Williamson,eds., Homegrown Gurus: From Hinduism in America to American Hinduism (Albany: SUNY Press, November 2013) [Link]
Articles/Essays
- Teaching Buddhism and Hinduism in America as Critical Pedagogy, Spotlight on Teaching: American Academy of Religion May 2017 http://rsn.aarweb.org/spotlight-on/teaching/after-the-2016-election/even-trump-has-buddha-nature
- External Mindfulness, Secure (Non) Attachment and Healing Relational Trauma: Emerging Models of Wellness for Modern Buddhists and Buddhist Modernism, Journal of Global Buddhism Vol. 17 2016 http://www.globalbuddhism.org/jgb/index.php/jgb/article/view/170/185
- Prominent Buddhist Women in the West. In Oxford Bibliographies in Buddhism. Ed. Richard Payne. New York: Oxford University Press (2015)
- Dharma
Diversity and Deep Inclusivity at the East Bay Meditation Center: From Buddhist
Modernism to Buddhist Postmodernism? Contemporary Buddhism: An Interdisciplinary Journal Vol 15: 2 (2014)
- From Buddhist Hippies to Buddhist Geeks: The Emergence of Buddhist Postmodernism? Journal of Global Buddhism Vol 15 (2014) http://www.globalbuddhism.org/15/gleig14.pdf
- From Tantra to Theravada: The Making of an American Buddhist Tantra, Contemporary Buddhism: An Interdisciplinary Journal Volume 14:2 November 2013
- Queering Buddhism or Buddhist De-Queering? Reflecting on Differences amongst Western LGBTQI Buddhists and the Limitations of Liberal Convert Buddhism, Journal of Theology and Sexuality Vol. 18:3 (2012)
- Wedding the Personal and Impersonal in West Coast Vipassana: A Dialogical Encounter between Buddhism and Psychotherapy, The Journal of Global Buddhism Vol 13 (2012) http://www.globalbuddhism.org/jgb/index.php/jgb/article/view/129/144
- Researching New Religious Movements From the Inside-Out and the Outside-In: Methodological Reflections on Collaborative and Participatory Approaches, Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions 16:1 (August 2012)
- The Return of the Repressed: Psychoanalysis As Spirituality, Journal of Implicit Religion 15:2 (2012)
- The Culture of Narcissism Revisited: Transformations of Narcissism in Contemporary Psychospirituality, Pastoral Psychology 59: 1 (February 2010)
- The Diamond Approach: Divine Individualism or Mystical Humanism ? Fieldwork in Religion 4:1 (May 2009)
Book Sections/Chapters
- Forthcoming "Undoing Whiteness in American Buddhist Modernism: Critical, Collective, and Contextual Turns," in George Yancy and Emily McRae, ed. Buddhism and Whiteness (Philosophy of Race Series Lexington Books)
- Forthcoming “Enacting Social Change Through
Meditation,” The Oxford Handbook of Meditation eds.
Miguel Farias, David Brazier and Mansur Lalljee (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press)
- “Embodying Nonduality: Depth
Psychology in American Mysticism,” in Thomas Cattoi and David
Odorisio, eds. Depth Psychology and Mysticism (Hastings: Palgrave and Macmillan, 2018)
- Embodied
Desire in Buddhism: Poison and Antidote, in Kent Brintnall Macmillan Interdisciplinary Handbooks, Religion: Embodied Religion (New York: Macmillan, 2016)
- #Hashtag Meditation,
Cyborg Buddhas, and Enlightenment as an Epic Win: Buddhism, Technology, and the
New Social Media, in Istvan Keul, ed. Religion, Technology, and Science in South and East Asia (Routledge, 2015)
- “Introduction: From Wave to Soil,” co-written with
Lola Williamson, in Gleig and Williamson, Homegrown
Gurus.
- Remembering Sri Aurobindo and the Mother: The Forgotten Lineage of Integral Yoga with Charles Flores in Mark Singleton and Ellen Goldberg, eds., Gurus of Modern Yoga (New York and London: Oxford University Press, 2013)
- From Being to Becoming,Transcending to Transforming: Andrew Cohen and the Evolution of Enlightenment, in Gleig and Williamson, Homegrown Gurus.
- The Enlightened Body in A.H.Almaas's Diamond Approach, in Thomas Cattoi and June McDaniel, eds. Perceiving the Divine through the Human Body:Mystical Sensuality (Hastings: Palgrave and Macmillan, 2011)
- The Contemplative Classroom,co-written with Anne Klein in Judith Simmer-Brown and Fran Redlands, eds. Meditation and the Classroom: Contemplative Pedagogy for Religious Studies (Albany: SUNY Press, 2011)
Creative Publications
Book Reviews
Awards
UCF Research Incentive Award (RIA) 2018
College of Arts and Humanities Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award 2017
University Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award 2017
UCF Teaching Incentive Program Award (TIP) 2017
Activities
Editor for Buddhism and sub-editor for the Psychology of Religion, Religious Studies Review
Co-Chair for the Mysticism Group, American Academy of Religion and Steering Committee Member for the Buddhism in the West Group, American Academy of Religion
Associate Editor for The Springer Encyclopedia of Religion and Psychology Revised 2nd and 3rd Edition
Courses
| Course Number |
Course |
Title |
Mode |
Date and Time |
Syllabus |
| 11486 |
REL3340 |
Buddhism |
Web |
Web |
Not Online |
| No Description Available |
| 19089 |
REL4157 |
Religion and Psychoanalysis |
Web |
Web |
Not Online |
| No Description Available |
| Course Number |
Course |
Title |
Mode |
Date and Time |
Syllabus |
| 81728 |
REL3333 |
Hinduism |
Web |
Web |
Not Online |
| No Description Available |
| 81381 |
REL4180 |
Religion and Medicine |
Web |
Web |
Not Online |
| No Description Available |
| 81341 |
REL4180H |
Honors Religion and Medicine |
Face2Face |
Tu,Th 12:00PM - 1:15PM |
Not Online |
| No Description Available |
| Course Number |
Course |
Title |
Mode |
Session |
Date and Time |
Syllabus |
| 50949 |
REL3340 |
Buddhism |
Web |
A |
Web |
Available |
| No Description Available |
| 61382 |
REL4157 |
Religion and Psychoanalysis |
Web |
B |
Web |
Available |
| No Description Available |
| Course Number |
Course |
Title |
Mode |
Date and Time |
Syllabus |
| 18857 |
REL3340 |
Buddhism |
Web |
Web |
Available |
| No Description Available |
| 18772 |
REL3930H |
Hon Special Topic |
Face2Face |
Tu,Th 4:30PM - 5:45PM |
Available |
| No Description Available |
| Course Number |
Course |
Title |
Mode |
Date and Time |
Syllabus |
| 91239 |
REL3333 |
Hinduism |
Web |
Web |
Available |
Using
both an historical and thematic lens, this course will introduce the diverse
texts, practices, beliefs, and traditions contained within the category of
Hinduism. It will trace the origins of Hinduism from its premodern classical
expressions in the Vedas to the flourishing of the bhakti traditions in the
medieval period to the reformation of Hinduism in modernity. It
will examine central components of the Hindu worldview—such as dharma, karma,
reincarnation, moksha, atman—and the interpretation
and systematization of those concepts in its orthodox and heterodox
philosophical schools —as well as explore the ritual and devotional
practices that mark everyday Hindu life. It will examine how Hindus have
preserved and reformulated their traditions in colonial and post-colonial
contexts with a focus on Hindu communities in the U.S. and the adoption and
appropriation of Hindu thought and practices by wider populations. |
| 81538 |
REL4180 |
Religion and Medicine |
Web |
Web |
Available |
From empirical scientific research on prayer to neuroscientific studies of the effects of meditation on the brain, the biomedical community is witnessing an increasing interest in the healing possibilities of religious or spiritual practices. Taking an historic and analytic approach, this course will trace the ever-shifting relationship between religious and spiritual traditions and medical and healing discourses. |
| 81494 |
REL4180H |
Honors Religion and Medicine |
Face2Face |
Tu,Th 12:00PM - 1:15PM |
Available |
From empirical scientific research on prayer to
neuroscientific studies of the effects of meditation on the brain, the biomedical
community is witnessing an increasing interest in the healing possibilities of
religious or spiritual practices. Taking an historic and analytic approach, this
course will trace the ever-shifting relationship between religious and spiritual
traditions and medical and healing discourses (With Honors content). |
Updated: Aug 14, 2018