Taking a comparative cross-cultural approach with case studies from South, Southeast, Inner and East Asia, this 90-minute roundtable centers on the question: How has monastic succession been implemented in Buddhist institutions and/or socially-constructed in Buddhist literatures? The diverse group of presenters (across a range of criteria: gender, nationality, professional experience, and institutional affiliation) includes four scholars in Pali Buddhist traditions and four experts in Tibetan Buddhist traditions. Prior to the AAR, each participant will pre-circulate papers on their respective case study from Sri Lanka, Burma, Bangladesh, Mongolia, Central Tibet, or China, ranging from the seventeenth century to the contemporary period. During the session, each presenter will limit their remarks to eight minutes to illuminate the central question on monastic succession and will distribute a handout to contextualize the form/s of succession and/or its imaginings socially, historically, and politically. The remaining fifteen minutes will be used for discussion.
In-person November Annual Meeting 2025 Program Book
All time are listed in Eastern Time Zone.
Taking a comparative cross-cultural approach with case studies from South, Southeast, Inner and East Asia, this 90-minute roundtable centers on the question: How has monastic succession been implemented in Buddhist institutions and/or socially-constructed in Buddhist literatures? The diverse group of presenters (across a range of criteria: gender, nationality, professional experience, and institutional affiliation) includes four scholars in Pali Buddhist traditions and four experts in Tibetan Buddhist traditions. Prior to the AAR, each participant will pre-circulate papers on their respective case study from Sri Lanka, Burma, Bangladesh, Mongolia, Central Tibet, or China, ranging from the seventeenth century to the contemporary period. During the session, each presenter will limit their remarks to eight minutes to illuminate the central question on monastic succession and will distribute a handout to contextualize the form/s of succession and/or its imaginings socially, historically, and politically. The remaining fifteen minutes will be used for discussion.
The study of moral injury as a concept has allowed us to more closely examine the complex moral environments in which we operate. This session will attend to the ways in which individuals experience moral injury in religious and cultural environments in ways that question the moral expectations that undergird them.
Papers
This presentation combines close textual and performative analysis of comedian Dave Chappelle’s recent work with comparative theological and ethical inquiry, as well as intersectional approaches, to investigate how humor can simultaneously cause and potentially heal moral injury across diverse communities. By focusing on Chappelle’s role as both a provocateur – accused by some of “punching down” on transgender identities – and a cultural figure sought for guidance (notably as host of Saturday Night Live following multiple pivotal U.S. elections), the study integrates perspectives from A. Roy Eckardt, Brian Powers, and Resmaa Menakem to illustrate how comedy serves as a ritual space where communities confront trauma and reimagine manhood. Anchored in Alyssa Maldonado-Estrada’s conceptualization of manhood as an institutionally guarded construct forged through family, community, and faith commitments, the talk highlights Chappelle’s Islamic identity and suggests that comedy, properly understood, can foster new possibilities for moral repair and constructive public discourse.
Existing in a world not built for disabled bodies and within millennia of hierarchical church history which still today too often insists that some bodies are better than others, this paper examines the moral injury experienced by disabled people when dealing with the ableist theology of their faith communities. While in recent years some scholars working at the intersection of psychology and disability have thought about moral injury itself as a type of disability, I am instead interested in the way that ableist theologies taught by and reinforced in community cause moral injury for disabled Christians whose perception of the Divine does not match the embedded, communal theologies they have been taught. Through dialogue with disabled and not-yet-disabled scholars, this paper offers a first practical step beyond religious ableism in order to disrupt the continuing violence and cocreate healing for disabled beloveds who have been morally injured by the church.
Simon Critchley’s book Mysticism (2024) has already been of significant interest to scholars of religion. This roundtable will seek to showcase a range of responses, considering whether and how Critchley offers new insight to the study of religion and religious experience. Mysticism is in many ways unclassifiable: part memoir, part curiosity project (as are so many things Critchley writes), part highly accessible introduction to Christian mysticism. While those already predisposed to appreciate mysticism will likely find in the book confirmation of its place in the broader landscape of religious studies, roundtable participants will also consider whether his approach distorts the phenomenon as it has been approached by scholars of various religious traditions. Key to our collaborative consideration will be his claims that mysticism is “experience at its most intense,” the transformation of mystical experience into aesthetic experience, and his methodological approach.
Simon Critchley’s book Mysticism (2024) has already been of significant interest to scholars of religion. This roundtable will seek to showcase a range of responses, considering whether and how Critchley offers new insight to the study of religion and religious experience. Mysticism is in many ways unclassifiable: part memoir, part curiosity project (as are so many things Critchley writes), part highly accessible introduction to Christian mysticism. While those already predisposed to appreciate mysticism will likely find in the book confirmation of its place in the broader landscape of religious studies, roundtable participants will also consider whether his approach distorts the phenomenon as it has been approached by scholars of various religious traditions. Key to our collaborative consideration will be his claims that mysticism is “experience at its most intense,” the transformation of mystical experience into aesthetic experience, and his methodological approach.
This session consists of the best individual papers submitted to the Chinese Religions Unit. Through topics that include spirit medium, spirit writing, Bible work, and political mourning, panelists address the multiple religiosities in the rapidly changing socio-political landscape of the twentieth and twenty-first century.
Papers
This paper aims to illustrate the history of the Bible Society Service for Overseas Chinese (1955-1957), a short-lived programme of the British and American Bible societies to continue their presence among Chinese-speaking communities outside China following their withdrawal from the People’s Republic of China. Based on relevant archival materials of these Bible societies, this paper will examine how Ralph Mortensen, a Bible society staff member with China experience, worked with the secretaries of the Bible societies’ East and Southeast Asian agencies to develop a series of measures and promotional activities to increase Bible distribution among the Chinese residents in the regions. It will also pay attention to the role of Hong Kong in the Service. It will conclude with a discussion on the legacies of the Service to the institutional indigenization of Bible societies in the Chinese-speaking world.
The Beigang Wude Temple in Taiwan utilizes cutting edge technology in its divination practices and on its temple grounds. This paper uses textual sources and ethnographic methods to explore the temple's integration of traditional divinatory practices (i.e., Chinese spirit writing, divination) with a robust online presence, including an extensive website and social media.
The temple's construction of a virtual world with 500,000 Facebook followers and a comprehensive website and YouTube! presence is augmented onsite by the organization's use of artificial intelligence (AI) to recognize characters in spirit written text using optical character recognition as well as its use of other technologies. The temple further integrates technology with its onsite operations through the use of customer relationship management (CRM) software to manage the flow of visitors to the temple and to gain an accurate accounting of those numbers.
The temple demonstrates a commitment to existing traditions while engaging in technological innovation.
This study is based on fieldwork conducted between 2023 and 2025 around Mount Tai, with a particular focus on incense associations and spirit mediums, to examine the roles of contemporary religious groups in terms of practice, memory, and salvific functions. While Chinese salvationist religions have been widely studied, they are often seen as unique to the Republican and early PRC eras. This research argues that incense associations and spirit mediums continue to perform salvific functions akin to earlier groups, helping individuals navigate uncertainty amid social change. These groups offer spiritual solace and social support via ritual healing and community mutual aid. Furthermore, by reconstructing traditions and historical narratives, they reassert orthodoxy and legitimize their practices in contemporary society. Thus, they represent both a continuation of salvationist memory and a departure from their stigmatized past, illustrating the dynamic interplay of continuity and change in daily religious life under social transformation.
This paper examines the annual June 4 candlelight vigils in Hong Kong as an example of how political mourning can manifest as ritual protest, particularly in response to the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown. Despite the Chinese government's efforts to suppress public remembrance, Hong Kong citizens organized these vigils to honor the victims, establishing a tradition that lasted over three decades.
By engaging with theories on ritual and mourning, this paper develops an analytical framework to explore the intersections between political mourning and ritual protest. Drawing on historical documents and video recordings, it investigates religious and ritualistic elements of the vigils, including their incorporation of Chinese funeral practices. It emphasizes the vigils' liminal nature, explains the symbolic meaning of those rites, and illustrates their sociopolitical functions. To conclude, this paper argues that a grassroots-driven political mourning/ritual protest can transform collective grief into acts of resistance and foster a counter-narrative to state propaganda.
This research explores the Opening the Horse Servant (kai matong 開馬僮) of Huashan jiao ritual masters in Liuyang, Hunan, through which the ritual masters transform individuals into spirit mediums. The Teaching of Mount Hua in Liuyang's Hakka community serves as a cornerstone for the creation and consecration of divine statues, highlighting the key role of these masters in local religious life. Revered as both sculptors and custodians of consecration rituals, Huashan jiao masters are revered as the architects and animators of the gods themselves, infusing wooden statues with divine vitality. The Opening the Horse Servant (kai matong 開馬僮), alongside other rituals, is dedicated to creating spirit mediums for the consecrated temples. The unique approach in Liuyang, where spirit mediums are created as needed, is similar to conventional transmission tradition and suggests nuanced ties to Daoism and Buddhism. Through a meticulous reconstruction of the Opening the Horse Servant ritual, this research aims to illuminate the intricate spiritual milieu of Liuyang.
Respondent
A robust and lively conversation on the place of beauty at this troubled moment, its links with freedom, practice and truth, by a panel of emergent and legendary scholars of South Asia.
A robust and lively conversation on the place of beauty at this troubled moment, its links with freedom, practice and truth, by a panel of emergent and legendary scholars of South Asia.
Desirable Belief: A Theology of Eros is a critical and constructive work informed by the phenomenon of erotic love. The Christian tradition has long associated passion with sin, shame, and narcissism; whereas contemporary theologies of eros extol sexual desire as a sacred endowment. This book eschews these two extremes. Margaret Kamitsuka examines how the complexities of love, desire, freedom, constraint, and deferral are narrated in biblical texts, allegorized by church fathers, manifested in the lives of mystics, analyzed in psychodynamic theory, and depicted in poetry, literature, and Christian art. The book demonstrates how taking eros seriously impacts foundational Christian doctrines.
Desirable Belief: A Theology of Eros is a critical and constructive work informed by the phenomenon of erotic love. The Christian tradition has long associated passion with sin, shame, and narcissism; whereas contemporary theologies of eros extol sexual desire as a sacred endowment. This book eschews these two extremes. Margaret Kamitsuka examines how the complexities of love, desire, freedom, constraint, and deferral are narrated in biblical texts, allegorized by church fathers, manifested in the lives of mystics, analyzed in psychodynamic theory, and depicted in poetry, literature, and Christian art. The book demonstrates how taking eros seriously impacts foundational Christian doctrines.