Author Archives: Steve Angle

ISCWP Announcement

From Alexus McLeod:

Dear ISCWP Members,

Our vote has concluded, with the result that Shirong Luo has been elected ISCWP Vice President, and Yuanfang Dai elected as Secretary-Treasurer, for the 2023-2026 term. Thank you to all of the members for your continued support of the ISCWP, and for helping with the election and smooth transition of the new Board of Directors. And congratulations to Dr. Luo and Dr. Dai on their elections.

I now hand over leadership of the ISCWP to its new President, Dr. Sun Wei. I wish him all success in continuing to advance the important comparative project of the ISCWP, and using it to move our field forward. Godspeed!

All the best,
Alexus

Alexus McLeod
Professor of Religious Studies, Indiana University
Past President of ISCWP (2020-2023)

New Book: Galvany, ed., The Craft of Oblivion

SUNY Press has just released a new volume entitled “The Craft of Oblivion: Forgetting and Memory in Ancient China” edited by Albert Galvany. It is an innovative volume that aims to study, for the first time, the intersections between forgetting and remembering in classical Chinese civilization. Drawing on perspectives from history, philosophy, literature, and religion, and examining both transmitted texts and excavated materials, the contributors to this volume analyze various ways of understanding oblivion and its fertile relations with memory in ancient China. Please click here (https://sunypress.edu/Books/T/The-Craft-of-Oblivion) to read more about the book or to purchase it.

New Book: Diversifying Philosophy of Religion

Bloomsbury has recently published Nathan R. B. Loewen (Editor) and Agnieszka Rostalska (Editor), Diversifying Philosophy of Religion: Critiques, Methods and Case Studies. Among other interesting chapters, it includes one with a special focus on Chinese philosophy: “Theory and Method in the Philosophy of Religion in China’s Song-Dynasty” by Leah Kalmanson.

Doing Theory in Southeast Asia website

Professors Gonzaga and Shieng are excited to share a new online resource called ‘Doing Theory in Southeast Asia’ <https://seasia.crs.cuhk.edu.hk/main/>.

This open-access database aims to provide a platform for students, teachers, researchers, artists, and curators to exchange critical ideas about diverse Southeast Asian cultures.

The website features a table that lists intellectual, critical, and creative works about different Southeast Asian contexts categorized according to author, medium, and field. It includes annotations about academic journals in the region. Lastly, the section ‘Archipelagic Juxtapositions’ explores emergent topics, which uncover possible connections among seemingly unrelated objects, conditions, and processes pertaining to myth, geopolitics, art, music, and the environment.

‘Doing Theory in Southeast Asia’ was supported by a Hong Kong Research Grants Council (RGC) General Research Fund (GRF), together with a Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) Faculty of Arts Direct Grant.

This project was initiated with the ethos of multiplying alternative frameworks outside dominant sites of knowledge production. It is in an early stage of development so please feel free to send us your thoughts and suggestions at seatheorycuhk@gmail.com.

Elmo Gonzaga and Chieng Wei Shieng

The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK)

CFP: AAS Panel on “Healing in Chinese Philosophies, Literature, and Religions”

In-person presentations at the AAS 2024 Annual Conference, March 14-17, 2024 in Seattle, Washington

Abstract submission deadline: July 26, 2023

We invite submissions of paper abstracts for the panel titled “Healing in Chinese Philosophies, Literature, and Religions” to be held at the AAS 2024 Annual Conference. This panel aims to explore the cultural, literary, philosophical, and religious dimensions of illness, medicine, and health in imperial China.

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Sullivan Reviews PWOL Books

The latest issue of Ethics (133:4) contains a Review Essay titled “Philosophy as a Way of Life” by Meghan Sullivan that collectively reviews the books published to date in Oxford’s Guides to the Good Life series:

  • Nicolas Bommarito, Seeing Clearly: A Buddhist Guide to Life (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020)
  • Jennifer Anna Gosetti-Ferencei, On Being and Becoming: An Existential Approach to Life (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020)
  • Stephen C. Angle, Growing Moral: A Confucian Guide to Life (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022)
  • Karen Stohr, Choosing Freedom: A Kantian Guide to Life (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022)

One-year lecturer in Asian Religions

The Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Towson University (Baltimore, MD) is seeking a lecturer in Asian Religions for a one-year position starting in August 2023. Area of specialization within Asian Religions is open. It is a 4-4 teaching load. The first semester we anticipate the lecturer teaching one section of RLST 209: Religions Traditions of Asia (~25 students) and three sections of a Towson first-year Seminar, TSEM: Reading the Sacred (20 students/section). This latter class is wide-open for how the lecturer would like to teach it. Depending on enrollments, there is a slight chance that in Fall 2023, the lecturer may be expected to teach one or more sections of RLST 206: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam rather than some of the previous course options. Compensation is over $50,000. Please contact Dr. Suk Choi (suchoi@towson.edu) and Dr. Robert Tappan (rtappan@towson.edu) to express interest and for further information.