Welcome to my webpage (which remains - interminably - under construction...)! I am an Assistant Professor of Religion in the Department of Philosophy and Religion at Appalachian State University ( AppState Website). I have a B.A. in Religious Studies from the University of South Carolina (1992), writing a senior thesis comparaing Advaita Vedanta and Visistadvaita Vedanta. I have a M.A. from the Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, specializing in Sanskrit and Indian Philosophy (1996). My master's thesis is on the South Asian Buddhist doctrine of momentariness (ksanikatva). I received the Ph.D. from the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Pennsylvania (2002), specializing in Hinduism and methods and theories in the study of religion. My dissertation examines the life and work of the twentieth century Hindu intellectual, Jarava Lal Mehta. Mehta was particularly conversant with both classical Hindu philosophy and religion as well as the philosophical hermeneutics of Martin Heidegger and Hans-Georg Gadamer and the deconstructive philosophy of Jacques Derrida.
With respect to historical traditions, I study primarily Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. Theoretically and methodologically, I am most interested in philosophy, psychology (yes, this includes psychoanalysis - primarily object relations), and biology of religion. I generally consider myself to be a naturalist in the study of religion.
Some of the courses I regularly teach are:
Religions of the World
Hinduism
Minds, Brain, and Religion (a.k.a., psychology of religion)
Nature of Religion (a.k.a., biology of religion)
Methods and Theories in the Study of Religion
Religion and Violence
Classes for fall semester 2009:
Religions of the World
Nature of Religion
Hindu Tantra & Sexuality
Publications:
2005. “Imagining a Theory: Questioning the Eschatological and Soteriological Motivations in Gananath Obeyesekere’s Imagining Karma,” Journal of Ritual Studies 19.2, 153-158.
2008. “The Meta-ethics of Viraha Bhakti in the Philosophical Writings of J. L. Mehta,” Journal of Vaishnava Studies, 16:2, 71-91.
2008. “Of And and Of: The Politics of Grammar and the Study of Religion,” Method and Theory in the Study of Religion, 20:3, 270-290.
2008. Review of Wei Zhang’s Heidegger, Rorty, and the Eastern Thinkers (Albany: SUNY Press, 2006) in Sophia 47, 253-255.
2008. “On Spirituality: Natural and Non-natural,” Religion Compass 2:6, 1117-1138.
2009. “I Love You, I Hate You: Toward a Psychology of the Hindu Deus Absconditus,” International Journal of Hindu Studies 13:1, 1-23.
2009. “Natural Gazes, Non-natural Agents: The Biology of Religion’s Ocular Behaviors” in The Biology of Religious Behavior: The Evolutionary Origins of Faith and Religion, ed. by J. R. Feierman. Westport, CT: Praeger.
2009. “On the Death of the Pilgrim: The Postcolonial Hermeneutics of Jarava Lal Mehta” in Postcolonial Philosophy of Religion, ed. by P. Bilimoria & A. B. Irvine. New York, NY: Springer - in press, due 11/4/09
2009. "Disgusting Bodies, Disgusting Religion: The Biology of Tantra," Journal of the American Academy of Religion - under review
Research in progress:
Article: "Darwinian Psychiatry, Paranoia, and the Evil Eye"
Article: "The Evolutionary Psychology of Puja"
Article: "What's so Religious about Religious Terrorism?"
Book: On the Death of the Pilgrim: The Postcolonial Hermeneutics of J. L. Mehta (proposal under review).
Book: Monstrous Others, Messianic Predators: The Nature and Chance of Religious Terrorism (proposal under review)
Public presentations for academic year 09-10
"Disgusting Bodies, Disgusting Religion: The Biology of Tantra," national meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, Denver, CO, Oct. 23-25
"The Evolutionary Psychology of Puja," national meeting of the Dharma Assosociation of North America, Montreal, QC, Nov. 6-8.
Public presentations for academic year 08-09
"Darwinian Psychiatry, Paranoia, and the Evil Eye," national meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, Louisville, KY, Oct. 17-19
"Merged in or Separated by Oceans: Object Relations Theory and the Hindu God Image," national meeting of the Dharma Association of North America, Chicago, IL, Oct. 31-Nov. 1
"The Disgusting Divine: Tantra, Heroes, and Counterphobia," national meeting of the American Academy of Religion, Chicago, IL, Oct. 31-Nov. 4
"Disgusting Bodies, Disgusting Religion: Counterphobia and the Tantric Hero," Appalachian State University's Humanities Thematic Series, Boone, NC, Feb. 19
Panelist, "Method and Theory of Religion I," southeast regional meeting of the American Academy of Religion, Chapel Hill, NC, Mar. 13
I am a member of the American Academy of Religion, the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, the North American Association for the Study of Religion, and the International Society for Human Ethology.
Contact information:
Department of Philosophy and Religion
ASU Box 32104
Boone, NC 28608
Office: Greer Hall 220
Office phone: 828-262-7780
Fax: 828-262-6619
email: ellistb@appstate.edu
p.s. As time permits, I will continue to update the information on this page, so, by all means, check back again!