Zeff Bjerken

Associate Professor and Chair of Religious Studies

EDUCATION

  • Ph.D. in Buddhist Studies, University of Michigan
  • M.A. in Buddhist Studies, University of Michigan
  • M.A. in Comparative Philosophy of Religion, University of California, Santa Barbara
  • B.A. in Religion, Reed College

He has pursued fieldwork research in the Himalayan regions of North India, Nepal, and Tibet, and lived in monasteries there. Also, he has served as an editorial assistant for Religions of Tibet in Practice (Princeton University Press, 1995) and for The Tibet Journal.

RESEARCH INTERESTS

  • History of religions in Tibet
  • Buddhist historiography
  • Religious syncretism and the formation of political identity in Asia
  • Use of critical theory in understanding and explaining religions

COURSES TAUGHT

  • RELS 101: Approaches to Religion
  • RELS 105: World Religions
  • RELS 115: Religion & Society
  • RELS 118: Modern History of Religion
  • RELS 120: Religion, Art, & Culture
  • RELS 205: Sacred Texts of the East
  • RELS 210: Theories in Study of Religion
  • RELS 215: Religion and Globalization
  • RELS 240: Buddhism
  • RELS 245: The Hindu Tradition
  • RELS 248: Religious Traditions of China and Japan
  • RELS 298: Encountering Religions and Globalization in the Indian Himalayas
  • RELS 310: Sacred Texts
  • RELS 340: Tibetan Buddhism
  • RELS 450: Religion, Violence and Conflict
  • RELS 451: Capstone Colloquium
  • HONS 175: In Search of the Sacred, the Strange, and the Substance of Faith
  • HONS240: Honors Colloquium on Value & Tradition in Asian Religions
  • HONS 381 Value and Tradition in Asian Religions

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS