Stephan Licha
The Divinity School is pleased to announce that Stephan Licha will be joining the faculty as an Assistant Professor. His appointment will begin September 1, 2023. Stephan Kigensan Licha comes to us from the Department of Japanese Studies at the University of...
Winter Quarter Lectures in Swift Hall
Jesse LeFebvrePh.D. candidate, East Asian Languages and Civilizations, Harvard UniversityThe Antifragile Hasedera Kannon: Disaster, Revitalization, and Karma in Medieval JapanWednesday, January 11, 4:30pm, Common Room Abstract: Buddhism is often described...
Why Buddhism matters in constitutional reform
A new interdisciplinary course at the University of Chicago Law School brought scholars from around the world together in a virtual format to study Buddhism’s relationship to constitutional practice. Read more here:...
Library Exhibit on Japanese Wood Carvings
A new exhibit at The Regenstein Library, entitled “Buddha, Jesus, and the Japanese American Community in Chicago: Wood Carvings by Harry Koizumi” is now available. The exhibit was curated by Paride Stortini, PhD Candidate, History of Religions, the University of...
The study of Buddhism enjoys a long tradition at the University of Chicago, engaging students and faculty from the Divinity School and several Departments in the Humanities and Social Sciences. (For a list of faculty whose work centrally involves Buddhism, see here.) The excellence of work at Chicago in the history, religions, and literatures of South and East Asia provides a rich contextual framework for in-depth consideration of particular developments in the Buddhist world, and the University’s strong commitment to interdisciplinary scholarship broadens the horizons for work in the area. Thus, while there is not (as at some institutions) an official degree-granting program called “Buddhist Studies,” a recent study found that Chicago had produced the greatest number of Buddhist studies scholars holding positions at North American colleges and universities.
Programs in which graduate study relating to Buddhism may be undertaken include those of the departments of Anthropology, Art History, History, East Asian Languages and Civilizations (EALC), and South Asian Languages and Civilizations (SALC), in addition to the many doctoral programs in the Divinity School in which it is possible to study topics in Buddhist studies. Other Departments have also at times hosted research relating to Buddhism, including Music and Comparative Human Development. For those pursuing studies in Buddhism under the aegis of any of these programs, there is the possibility of advanced study in many major Buddhist linguistic and textual traditions, with the University regularly offering courses in the Buddhist languages of East Asia (Chinese, Japanese, Korean), and of South Asia (Pali, Sanskrit, Tibetan). Work in such textual traditions is well supported by the University’s outstanding library collections pertaining to these and other languages.
Historically strong in many of the various fields of Buddhist studies, the University is presently home to a mix of both younger and established faculty, and thus figures to be a center of gravity in these fields for a long time to come.
The range of work encouraged in the University’s various programs relating to Buddhist studies is reflected in recent faculty publications, as well as in coursework offered in the various departments and programs that foster Buddhist studies at Chicago.
Members of the University of Chicago community who would like to be apprised about Buddhist studies events may sign up for the University’s Buddhist Studies Listserv. You may also search the University-wide Events Calendar.