International Studies
Dr. John Cort
|
Teaching at Denison
Departmental Seminars
Gandhi
Honors seminars
Nonviolence in the Modern World
Environmentalism
John has also directed senior research, summer research, and directed studies in the following areas:
Jainism
Engaged Buddhism
Tibetan Buddhism
Buddhism in North America
Zen Buddhism
Religion and Ecology
Environmental Justice
Human Rights and Environmental Rights
Zoroastrianism
Islam
Japanese Religions
Chinese Religions
Hindu Goddesses
Women in Hinduism
Religious Pluralism
Comparative Religion
Research
John Cort's research focuses on the Jain traditions of South Asia, on which he has conducted extensive fieldwork as well as textual studies. He is currently working on a book-length manuscript detailing Jain discourses and practices concerning temple images, for which he has received research grants from the Asian Cultural Council, Getty Foundation, and American Institute of Indian Studies. In addition, he is working on series of essays exploring the roles and expressions of religious devotion within the Jain traditions.
He is also active with several organizations involved with the study of India, religion, and art at the national level. He is Secretary of the Executive Committee of the American Institute of Indian Studies, and on the Board of Trustees of the American Council for Southern Asian Art.
Recent publications include the following:
Jains in the World: Religious Values and Ideology in India. New York and Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2001.
(Editor) Open Boundaries: Jain Communities and Cultures in Indian History. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1998. Reprint Delhi: Sri Satguru Publications, 1999.
"Jains, Caste and Hierarchy in North Gujarat." Contributions to Indian Sociology (N.S.) 38, 1 & 2 (2004), 73-112.
"Dyanatray: An Eighteenth Century Digambara Mystical Poet." Piotr Balcerowicz (ed.), Caturaranayacakram: Essays in Jaina Philosophy and Religion, 279-95. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 2003. Warsaw Indological Studies 2.
"Doing for Others: Merit Transfer and Karma Mobility in Jainism." Olle Qvarnström (ed.), Jainism and Early Buddhism: Essays in Honor of Padmanabh S. Jaini, 129-49. Fremont, CA: Asian Humanities Press, 2003.
"Bhakti in the Early Jain Tradition: Understanding Devotional Religion in South Asia." History of Religions 42 (2002), 59-86.
"Singing the Glory of Asceticism: Devotion of Asceticism in Jainism." Journal of the American Academy of Religion 70 (2002), 719-42.
"A Tale of Two Cities: On the Origins of Digambara Sectarianism in North India." Lawrence A. Babb, Varsha Joshi, and Michael W. Meister (eds.), Multiple Histories: Culture and Society in the Study of Rajasthan, 39-83. Jaipur: Rawat, 2002.
"Green Jainism? Notes and Queries toward a Possible Jain Environmental Ethic." Christopher Key Chapple (ed.), Jainism and Ecology, 63-94. Cambridge: Center for the Study of World Religions, Harvard Divinity School, 2002.
"The Intellectual Formation of a Jain Monk: A Svetambara Monastic Curriculum." Journal of Indian Philosophy 29 (2001), 327-49.
"The Jina as King." Jayandra Soni (ed.), Vasantagauravam: Essays in Honour of Professor M. D. Vasantha Raj of Mysore, on the Occasion of his Seventy-fifth Birthday, 27-50. Mumbai: Vakils, 2001.
"Communities, Temples, Identities: Art Histories and Social Histories in Western India." Michael W. Meister (ed.), Ethnography and Personhood: Notes from the Field, 101-28. Jaipur: Rawat Publications, 2000.
"'Intellectual Ahimsa' Revisited: Jain Tolerance and Intolerance of Others." Philosophy East and West 50 (2000), 324-47.
"Patronage, Authority, Proprietary Rights, and History: Communities and Pilgrimage Temples in Western India." Michael W. Meister (ed.), Ethnography and Personhood: Notes from the Field, 165-92. Jaipur: Rawat Publications, 2000.
"Worship of Bell-Ears the Great Hero, a Jain Tantric Deity." David Gordon White (ed.), Tantra in Practice, 417-33. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000.
John E. Cort has degrees in South Asian Studies from the University of Wisconsin (B.A., 1974; M.A., 1982), and in the Study of religion from Harvard University (A.M., 1984; Ph.D., 1989). He teaches our courses on religions of Asia, as well as many comparative courses on issues such as environmentalism, art, human rights, and nonviolence. He is also involved with the East Asian, Environmental Studies, and International Studies programs at Denison. John is a scholar of India, where he has lived for a total of six years over the past three decades. His specific area of expertise is the Jain religious tradition, and in this context he regularly gives talks at Jain conferences and temples throughout North America. Before entering graduate school he worked as a community organizer on issues of disarmament and social justice in Washington, D.C. He also enjoys translating poetry from several Indian languages into American English.
John E. Cort has degrees in South Asian Studies from the University of Wisconsin (B.A., 1974; M.A., 1982), and in the Study of religion from Harvard University (A.M., 1984; Ph.D., 1989). He teaches our courses on religions of Asia, as well as many comparative courses on issues such as environmentalism, art, human rights, and nonviolence. He is also involved with the East Asian, Environmental Studies, and International Studies programs at Denison. John is a scholar of India, where he has lived for a total of six years over the past three decades. His specific area of expertise is the Jain religious tradition, and in this context he regularly gives talks at Jain conferences and temples throughout North America. Before entering graduate school he worked as a community organizer on issues of disarmament and social justice in Washington, D.C. He also enjoys translating poetry from several Indian languages into American English.