HRPH 8465 : Critical Historiography of Buddhism 

Instructor(s): Amstutz Units: 3.0
This is an Online CourseCourse Level: Advanced
Our online courses are co-sponsored by the Starr King School for the Ministry

The West has been interacting with Buddhism for many centuries, but it is only in the past couple of decades that a truly sophisticated (postmodernist, postcolonialist) sense of intercultural hermeneutics has been applied to this history. Having a deep critical awareness of the selected, constructed nature of perceptions of “Buddhism” is essential to having any understanding of what Buddhism has meant and can mean in the West. The aim of this online course is to provide an introduction to the existing and growing literature on this topic, via weekly readings, written responses, and written interactions with instructor and other students (80%) and a final research paper (20%). Advanced MA and PhD level.

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