Lee Irwin

Professor Emeritus

Education

 

  • Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary - Religion, Folklore, Anthropology, Indiana University
  • M.A. in Religious Studies, Indiana University
  • M.A. in English, Indiana University
  • B.A.s in English and Philosophy, University of Delaware

Research Interests

  • Native American Spirituality
  • Western Esotericism
  • Eastern Religions
  • Transpersonal Theory
  • Parapsychological Research

Courses Taught

  • RELS 101: Approaches to Religion
  • RELS 103: Death and the Afterlife
  • RELS 115: Religion and Society
  • RELS 205: Sacred Text of the East
  • RELS 260: Native American Religions
  • RELS 298: Occult America
  • RELS 298: Transpersonal Psychology: An Approach to Spirituality and Consciousness 
  • RELS 305: Shamanism
  • RELS 335: Western Esotericism
  • RELS 450: Senior Seminar
  • HONS 381: Life After Death 

Publications

Books

  • Reincarnation in America: An Esoteric History Lexington Book, 2017. This work surveys the complex history of reincarnation theories across multiple fields of discourse in a pre-American context, ranging from early Greek traditions to Medieval Christian theories, Renaissance esotericism, and European Kabbalah, all of which had adherents that brought those theories to America. Rebirth theories are shown in all these groups to be highly complex and often disjunctive with mainstream religions even though members of conventional religions frequently affirm the possibility of rebirth. As a history of an idea, reincarnation theory is a current, vital belief pattern that cuts across a wide spectrum of social, cultural, and scientific domains in a long, complex history not reducible to any specific religious or theoretical explanation. This book is cross-disciplinary and multicultural, linking religious studies perspectives with science based research; it draws upon many distinct disciplines and avoids reduction of reincarnation to any specific theory. The underlying thesis is to demonstrate the complexity of reincarnation theories; what is unique is the historical overview and the gradual shift away from religious theories of rebirth to new theories that are therapeutic and trans-traditional
  • Coming Down From Above: Prophecy, Resistance, and Renewal in Native American Religions. University of Oklahoma Press, 2008. This work traces continuities in Native American prophetic traditions from eighteenth-century Delaware prophets to Western dream dance visionaries, showing that Native American prophecy was not merely borrowed from Christianity but emerged from an interweaving of Christian and ancient North American teachings integral to Native religions.
  • Esotericism, Art, and Imagination. University of Michigan Press, 2008. (Arthur Versluis and Lee Irwin, editors, along with others). Collected essays from the 2006 bi-annual conference for the Association for the Study of Esotericism (ASE), volume one is the ASE series.
  • The Alchemy of Soul: The Art of Spiritual Transformation. Lorian Press, 2007, 266 pages. In this work the metaphors of alchemy are used to construct a metanarrative on spiritual development. The practice and theory of spiritual development is addressed from a Neo-Hermetic point of view with emphasis on the process of individuation and self-selected spiritual values. The framework is one of religious pluralism, transpersonal developmental theory, and post-modern cosmology.
  • Gnostic Tarot: Mandalas for Spiritual Transformation. U.S. Games System, 2005. This book is a discussion of the history of Tarot in Western Esotericism and a "gnostic" interpretation of each card aligned with reflections on elemental theory and a complex set of mandala layouts for doing self-reflexive readings.

Selected Articles

  • “American Reincarnation: A Brief History.” In Jeffrey Long (ed.), Special volume on Reincarnation. Religions, 2017, Vol. 8(10), 35 pages; doi:10.3390/rel8100222 URL: http://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/8/10/222
  • “Finding the Song, Dreaming the Cure: Native Spirituality in the Context of Healing". In Jeffery Kripal, ed., Macmillan Interdisciplinary Handbooks: Religion: Super Religion (New York, NY: Macmillan, 2017: 169-183).
  • “Panpsychism.” In Cambridge Handbook of Western Esotericism, edited by Dr. Glenn Magee. New York, NY, USA: Cambridge University Press, 2016: 417-428.
  • “Mystical Knowledge and Near Death Experience.” Death, Dying, and Mysticism, edited by Christopher Moreman and Thomas Cattoi. NY: Palgrave MacMillan. 2015: 153-175.
  • “On Lucid Dreaming: Memory, Meaning, and Imagination.” Lucid Dreaming: New Perspectives on Consciousness in Sleep, edited by Ryan Hurd and Kelley Bulkeley. Two Volumes. Berkeley, CA: Praeger, 2014. Vol. 1: 103-126.