Christian K. Wedemeyer

The Honorable 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); and he was reappointed for a second term in 2012.^[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 was elected a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland in 2000, and elected to membership in the American Society for the Study of Religion in 2012. 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 was awarded the 2013 American Academy of Religion Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion (Historical Studies) for his book, Making Sense of Tantric Buddhism: History, Semiology, and Transgression in the Indian Traditions.^[7]

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, 2013)

• 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)

• In Vimalakīrti's House: A Festschrift in Honor of Robert A.F. Thurman on the Occasion of His 70th Birthday (Ed. Christian K. Wedemeyer, John D. Dunne, and Thomas F. Yarnall; AIBS/Columbia University Press, 2013)

• 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)

References

Sources

• 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