Paul J. Griffiths
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Paul J. Griffiths (born 1955) is the Schmitt Chair of Catholic Studies, and Chair of the Department of Classics and Mediterranean Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Griffiths has previously held appointments at the University of Notre Dame and the University of Chicago. A scholar of Augustine, Griffiths' main interests and pursuits are philosophical theology and the philosophy of religion—particularly Christianity and Buddhism. He received a doctoral degree in Buddhist Studies in 1983 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and his early works established him as one of the most incisive interpreters of Yogācāra Buddhist philosophy. His works on Buddhism include On Being Mindless (Lasalle, IL: Open Court, 1991) and On Being Buddha (Albany: SUNY Press, 1994). After converting from Anglicanism to Roman Catholicism and accepting the Schmitt Chair of Catholic Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago, he has largely given up his work in Buddhist Studies. His recent books include: Problems of Religious Diversity (Oxford: Blackwell, 2001); Philosophy of Religion: A Reader (co-edited with Charles Taliaferro) (Oxford: Blackwell, 2003); and, Lying: An Augustinian Theology of Duplicity (Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2004). He is currently working on a book regarding curiositas and the nature of intellectual appetite; its working title: The Vice of Curiosity & the Ownership of Knowledge.
In January 2008, Griffiths will begin teaching at Duke Divinity School.
