Christian K. Wedemeyer

Christian K. Wedemeyer
Born	1969 (age 41–42) Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States
Residence	Chicago, Illinois, United States
Citizenship	United States
Fields	History of Religions, Indian and Tibetan Buddhist Studies
Institutions	University of Chicago University of Copenhagen Columbia University
Alma mater	Columbia University Wesleyan University
Doctoral advisor	Robert A. F. Thurman
Influences	Hayden White Roland Barthes J.H. Stone II Jonathan Z. Smith Matthew Kapstein Janet Gyatso David Seyfort Ruegg Louis de la Vallée Poussin
Notable awards	National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow
Spouse	Gitanjali Kapila (1996-present)

Christian Konrad Wedemeyer, FRAS (born 1969) is an American scholar and political and social activist. He is Associate Professor of the History of Religions at the Divinity School of the University of Chicago,^[1] and an associate member of the Department of South Asian Languages and Civilizations. In February 2008, he was elected to a four-year term as Committeeman for the 5th Ward of the City of Chicago, Illinois (Green Party).^[2] He is currently Co-chair of the Hyde Park Green Party, a local chapter of the Illinois Green Party, Green Party of the United States.^[3]

His work within the field of the history of religions has largely been concerned with the history, literature, and ritual of Indian and Tibetan Buddhism. In addition to historical and philological studies of Sanskrit and Tibetan religious literature, he has written on the historiography of Esoteric Buddhism and its antinomianism currents, textual criticism and strategies of legitimating authority in classical Tibetan scholasticism, and the semiology of esoteric Buddhist ritual.

He is an editor of the journal History of Religions, Buddhism editor for Religious Studies Review (Blackwell), serves on the editorial boards of, and acts in a consulting capacity for a number of academic journals and presses.^[4]

He is a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. He is member (and former officer) of the American Oriental Society; and a member of the American Academy of Religion, the International Association for Tibetan Studies, the International Association of Buddhist Studies, and the North American Association for the Study of Religion. In 2010, he was elected to a three-year term as Co-chair of the Buddhism Section of the American Academy of Religion. ^[5]

In 2010-11 he was a Fellow of the National Endowment for the Humanities.^[6]

He has consulted for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, CNN, and the United States Department of Justice. He is listed in several Marquis' Who's Who editions, including Who's Who in the World, Who's Who in America, Who's Who in American Education, and Who's Who of Emerging Leaders.

Education

• Ph.D. with distinction (1999, Columbia University in the City of New York)
• M.Phil. (1995, Columbia University in the City of New York)
• M.A. (1994, Columbia University in the City of New York)
• B.A. with High Honors in Religion (1991, Wesleyan University)

Books

• Making Sense of Tantric Buddhism: History, Semiology, and Transgression in the Indian Traditions (Columbia University Press, in press)

• Āryadeva's Lamp that Integrates the Practices (Caryāmelāpakapradīpa): The Gradual Path of Vajrayāna Buddhism according to the Esoteric Community Noble Tradition (AIBS/Columbia University Press, 2007)

• Hermeneutics, Politics and the History of Religions: The Contested Legacies of Joachim Wach and Mircea Eliade (Ed. Christian K. Wedemeyer and Wendy Doniger; Oxford University Press, 2010)

• Tibetan Buddhist Literature and Praxis: Studies in its Formative Period, 900–1400 (Ed. Ronald M. Davidson and Christian K. Wedemeyer; E.J. Brill, 2006)

Academic appointments

• Associate Professor of the History of Religions, University of Chicago Divinity School; also in the Department of South Asian Languages and Civilizations (2011- )
• Assistant Professor of the History of Religions, University of Chicago Divinity School (2003–2011)
• Lecturer in South Asian Studies and Director, Tibetan Studies Program, University of Copenhagen (2000–2003)
• Post-doctoral Research Scholar, New College of the University of South Florida (2000)
• Adjunct Instructor of Buddhist Studies, Antioch University (1995 and 1999)
• Adjunct Instructor of Religious Studies, Barnard College (1999 and 2000)
• Preceptor, Columbia University (1996–1999)
• Instructor, Columbia University (1993–1995)
• Teaching Assistant, Columbia University (1992–1993)
• Teaching Apprentice, Wesleyan University (1990–91)

Source

• Professor Wedemeyer's page on the University of Chicago website
• Cook County Clerk's Office Directory of Elected Officials

External links

• Chr. Wedemeyer's website

References

1. ^ "Faculty | Christian K. Wedemeyer | Assistant Professor of the History of Religions in the Divinity School". Divinity School at the University of Chicago. http://divinity.uchicago.edu/faculty/wedemeyer.shtml. Retrieved 2010-03-13. 
2. ^ "Directory of Elected Officials". Cook County Clerk's Office. http://www.cookctyclerk.com/sub/elected_officials_detail.asp?TYPE_ID=6&Title=Green%20Ward%20Committeemen. Retrieved 2010-03-13. 
3. ^ http://hyde.park.greens.googlepages.com/contacts
4. ^ "CV". Home.uchicago.edu. http://home.uchicago.edu/~aryadeva/Christians_Website/CV.html. Retrieved 2010-03-13. 
5. ^ "American Academy of Religion Program Unit Information". American Academy of Religion. http://www.aarweb.org/Meetings/Annual_Meeting/Program_Units/PUinformation.asp?PUNum=AARPU009. Retrieved 2011-06-24. 
6. ^ "2010-11 National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowships". National Endowment for the Humanities, U.S. Dept. of Education. http://www.neh.gov/news/awards/Fellowships2010.html. Retrieved 2010-04-23. 

Persondata
Name	Wedemeyer, Christian
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1969
Place of birth	Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States
Date of death
Place of death