Courtney Bruntz

Core Faculty

cbruntz@shin-ibs.edu

Professor of East Asian Buddhism and Director of Assessment and Accreditation

Program advisor, Certificate in Buddhist Studies

Courtney Bruntz specializes in contemporary rituals and practices of East Asian Buddhist traditions. Her research takes an interdisciplinary approach to the study of Asian religions, cultures, societies, and beliefs, and her ethnographic work includes studies on pilgrimage in China, Buddhist tourism, transnational movements of Buddhism, integrations of technology into temples and monasteries, and religious practices of youth in Buddhist communities.

Degrees
PhD in Buddhist Studies, Graduate Theological Union
MA in Cultural and Historical Studies of Religion, Graduate Theological Union
BA in Religion and Speech Communications, Augustana College

Research and Teaching Interests
Contemporary Buddhism
East Asian Religion and Culture
Rituals and Practices of Buddhist Traditions
Buddhist Pilgrimage and Religious Tourism

Select Publications

  • Oxford Handbook of Lived Buddhism, co-edited with Brooke Schedneck, 2025.
  • “Buddhism and Economics,” in The Essential Guide to Buddhism. Bloomsbury Press. 2024.
  • “Mount Putuo.” Database of Religious History. University of British Columbia. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/86864
  • “Buddhist Technoscapes: Interrogating ‘Skillful Means’ in East Asian Monasteries,” in Buddhism Under Capitalism. Bloomsbury Press, 2022.
  • “Pilgrimage in China,” in Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion. May 2021. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.013.702
  • Buddhist Tourism in Asia: Sacred Sites within Global Networks, co-edited with Brooke Schedneck. University of Hawai’i Press. March 2020.
  • “Religion as Financial Asset: State Investments in Chinese Buddhism,” Journal of Human Values. Vol. 27.1 (2020).
  • “Buddhism, Consumerism, and the Chinese Millennial,” in Methods in Buddhist Studies. Bloomsbury Press. 2019.

Courses Taught at IBS
Buddhist Traditions of East Asia