Joseph A. Adler has taught East Asian religions at Kenyon since 1987. His field of research is the Neo-Confucian tradition in China, and he is currently working on two of the seminal figures of that movement, Zhou Dunyi (eleventh century) and Zhu Xi (twelfth century). He is the author of Chinese Religious Traditions; translator of Introduction to the Study of the Classic of Change, by Chu Hsi; co-author of Sung Dynasty Uses of the I Ching; and contributor to Confucianism and Ecology, Sources of Chinese Tradition (2nd ed.), Confucian Spirituality II, and New Qing Imperial History. He founded the Confucian Traditions Group of the American Academy of Religion in 1992. In 1990, he spent six months in Taiwan on a language and research fellowship, and in 1996-97 he was resident director of the Japan Study Program, a study-abroad program at Waseda University in Tokyo. In 1997-2000 he chaired the Dept. of Religious Studies at Kenyon, and in 2004-07 he was Director of the Asian Studies Program.

Areas of Expertise

Chinese religions, Japanese religions, Buddhism

Education

M.A., Ph.D. University of California at Santa Barbara
B.A. University of Rochester

Courses Taught

ASIA 201: The Silk Road
ASIA 490: Buddhist Asia in Comparative Perspective
RLST 101: Introduction to the Study of Religion
RLST 260: Buddhist Thought and Practice
RLST 270: Chinese Religions
RLST 275: Japanese Religions
RLST 360: Zen Buddhism
RLST 390: Approaches to the Study of Religion
RLST 471: Confucian Thought and Practice
RLST 472: Daoism
RLST 481: Religion and Nature
RLST 482: Comparative Mysticism
RLST 490 (a): Interreligious Dialogue
RLST 490 (b): New Religious Movements