Associate Professor of Spiritual Care and Interreligious Engagement, Director of Field Education
email: lchen@shin-ibs.edu
Dr. Lilu Chen began her academic journey as a scholar of Islamic Studies and Sufism focusing on China. Through unexpected turns in life, she found herself drawn to spiritual care. After two years volunteering at Stanford Health Care through the Sati Center Buddhist Chaplaincy Training, she went on to complete her Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) at Sequoia Hospital in Redwood City, CA and Kaiser Permanente in San Leandro, CA.
Dr. Chen has been a dedicated Buddhist meditator in the Insight tradition since 2011. She has attended more than 15 weeklong silent retreats at various centers in North America. A longtime member of Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, CA, she co-founded and co-facilitated the sangha’s Asian Dharma Circle from 2019-2025.
Her current interests include the spiritual formation of American Buddhists, comparative studies between Buddhism and Islam, and re-conceptualizing theological field education from an interreligious perspective.
Degrees:
PhD, Stanford University (Religious Studies)
BA, Carleton College (Religion)
Research and Teaching Interests:
Field Education
Spiritual Care
Chinese Religions
Islamic Studies
Sufism and Mystical Traditions
Publications:
Chinese Heirs to Muhammad: Writing Islamic History in Early Modern China, The Modern Muslim World, Piscataway, New Jersey: Gorgias Press, 2020.
“Writing Cosmopolitan History in Nineteenth-Century China: Li Huanyi’s Words and Deeds of Islamic Exemplars” Challenging Cosmopolitanism: Coercion, Mobility and Displacement in Islamic Asia, edited by R. Michael Feener and Joshua Gedacht. Edinburgh, UK: Edinburgh University Press, 2018: 145-171.
Review of Chenxing Han, one long listening: a memoir of grief, friendship, and spiritual care. In Reflective Practice: Formation and Supervision in Ministry, Vol. 44 No. 44, Published Online Mar. 8, 2024.
Review of Mercedes García-Arenal and Fernando Rodríguez Mediano, The Orient in Spain: Converted Muslims, The Forged Books of Granada, and the Rise of Orientalism. In Religion, (Routledge: Taylor & Francis), Published Online Sept. 1, 2015.
Review of Marion Holmes Katz, Prayer in Islamic Thought and Practice. In Religion, (Routledge: Taylor & Francis), Published Online Nov. 19, 2014.
Courses Taught:
FE-2401 Introduction to Field Education
FE-2402 Topics in Field Education
Courses Supervised:
FE-3400 Advanced Field Study – CPE
PSHR-3013 Buddhist Chaplaincy (academic credit for the Sati Center Buddhist Chaplaincy Training)