St. Ottilien 2009

Karl Baier studied cultural anthropology and philosophy at the University of Vienna and works since 1978 as Yoga teacher in Austria and other European Countries; 1987 graduation with a philosophical dissertation on Romano Guardini; afterwards study of Catholic Theology which he completed with an MA in Religious Studies on the history of Yoga in the West from the Greek Antique to the 1930th of the twentieth century (published in 1998). From 1987 assistent at the Institute for Christian Philosophy at the Catholic Theological Faculty, University of Vienna. Main fields of work: Phenomenology and Hermeneutics, Philosophy of Religion, Kyoto School, philosophical anthropology. 1992 Yoga Teacher Certificate authorized by B.K.S. Iyengar. Recently edited books (together with Josef Sinkovits) Spiritualität und moderne Lebenswelt, LIT: Münster 2007. Handbuch Spiritualität. Zugänge, Traditionen, interreligiöse Prozesse, Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft: Darmstadt 2006.

Michael von Brück is professor and chair of comparative religious studies at Munich University, works in the field of comparative religious philosophy, especially within Hinduism, Buddhism and Christianity, and on the hermeneutics of interreligious dialogue.  He is the editor of the journal Dialogue of the Religions, and co-author with Whalen Lai of Buddhism and Christianity: History, Confrontation, Dialogue (Munich, 1997). After studying religious theology within systematic theology at Rostock University, he spent five years in India studying in Bangalore and Madras. He received further training as a yoga teacher in India and as a Zen teacher in Japan.  From 1988 to 1991, he was a professor of comparative religious studies at Regensburg University, before coming to Munich University, and he has had numerous appointments as a visiting professor in India, the United States, and Germany.

 Chatsumarn Kabilsingh is a scholar and activist in social justice and women’s issues in Asia. She is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Thammasat University in Bangkok, and author of the book Thai Women in Buddhism. She is also past President of Sakyadhita (Daughters of Buddha) International, a Buddhist women’s organization. Monte Leach interviewed her for Share International.

Rita M. Gross is a scholar-practitioner who has studied and taught Buddhism, both academically and with Buddhist meditation masters, for all of her career. She is well-known for her scholarship and commentary on issues pertaining to Buddhism and gender, especially her book Buddhism after Patriarchy: A Feminist History, Analysis, and Reconstruction of Buddhism (SUNY, 1992). Her new book A Garland of Feminist Reflections: Forty Years of Religious Exploration will be published by the University of California Press in 2009. She was co-editor of the Journal of Buddhist-Christian Studies for ten years and has co-edited two books on Buddhist-Christian dialogue. Currently, she is a lopon (senior teacher or acharya) at Lotus Garden, the North American centre of Her Eminence Jetsun Khandro Rinpoche. In that capacity she teaches meditation, Buddhadharma, and a course on Buddhist history for Buddhist practitioners. She also teaches meditation and Buddhadharma for Shambhala International, which was founded by Chogyam Trungpa, Rinpoche. She is Professor Emerita of Comparative Studies in Religion, University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire. A former president of the Society for Buddhist-Christian Studies, she is the editor of Beyond Androcentrism: New Essays on Women and Religion (Scholars Press, 1977), and with Nancy Falk, of Unspoken Worlds: Women´s Religious Lives (Wadsworth, 1989).

Kajsa Ahlstrand is Professor of Church and Mission Studies at the University of Uppsala. She specializes in theology of religion and interreligious dialogue. In her research, she has focused on the relation between tradition and modernity in the religions, and on religion within a postmodern society. Her doctoral dissertation was on ‘Fundamental Openness: An Enquiry into Raimundo Panikkar’s Theological Vision and Its Philosophical Presuppositions’ (1993). During the years 1997-2003 she worked as Advisor to the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and its Department for Theology and Studies. She has written several articles related to religion in South Asia, e.g., ‘Toward a Paradigm Shift in Christian Mission: South Asia and North Europe’, published in Theology and the Religions: a Dialogue (edited by Viggo Mortensen; Eerdmans, 2003), and ‘Reincarnation and Resurrection: a Reconstruction’ in Spiritualism: A Challenge to the Churches in Europe (edited by Ingo Wulfhorst; LWF Studies, 2004). Ahlstrand has also written articles in Swedish magazines, e.g., ‘Sati – testpunkt för förhållandet mellan tradition-modernitet i Indien’ in Vår Lösen 4/1998; and ‘Dop och dopteologi i indisk kontext’ in Svensk Kyrkotidning 38/1998.

Reinhold Bernhardt (b. 1957, in Frischborn, Oberhessen) is Professor of Systematic Theology / Dogma at the University of Basel. He is Dean of the Theological Faculty and editor of Theologischen Zeitschrift. Bernhardt graduated from the Theological Faculty in Heidelberg (1989). From 1991 to 1996 he was Dean of Studies of the Ecumenical Institute and hall of residence of Heidelberg University. Berhardt was Habilitation Scholar of the German Research Foundation (DFG) in 1996-1998; he habilitated in Heidelberg (1998). He held a guest lectureship in Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. In the winter semester of 2000/01 he was called to the Chair of Systematic Theology in Osnabrück University. His centre of interest is theology of the religions. He is editor of the series, ‘Beiträge zu einer Theologie der Religionen’, including such titles as Ende des Dialogs? Die Begegnung der Religionen und ihre theologische Reflexion (Zürich, 2006); (co-editor) Metapher und Wirklichkeit. Von der Logik der Bildhaftigkeit im Reden von Gott, Mensch und Natur (Göttingen, 1999); (co-editor) Christlicher Wahrheitsanspruch – historische Relativität. Auseinandersetzung mit Ernst Troeltschs Absolutheitsschrift im Kontext heutiger Religionstheologie (Zürich, 2004); (co-editor) Kriterien interreligiöser Urteilsbildung (Zürich, 2005). His Religionsfreiheit. Schweizerische Perspektiven appeared in 2007.

Lama Shenpen Hookham is an Englishwoman who has practised in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition for over 30 years – both in India and the UK – and is a translator of Tibetan. Her root teacher is Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche, who has authorized her to teach Mahamudra, the highest teaching of the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism. Her doctorate is from Oxford University. She is the founder of the Awakened Heart Sangha and is author of The Buddha Within: Tathāgatagarbha Doctrine According to the Shentong Interpretation of the Ratnagotravibhāga (SUNY, 1991), as well as There’s More to Dying than Death (Windhorse, 2006).

Whalen Lai (b. 1944) is Professor of Religious Studies in the University of California – Davis. He studied philosophy of religion, sociology and comparative religion in Tokyo, Berkeley and Harvard. Following teaching posts in Harvard and Tübingen he has worked and taught, since 1977, in the University of California. With Michael von Brück he wrote Buddhismus und Christentum (Beck, 1997), part of which became Christianity and Buddhism (Orbis, 2001).

Terrence Merrigan is Professor of Systematic Theology at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. His research is focused on the theology of interreligious dialogue and Christology. His publications include ‘Godhead here in Hiding’: Incarnation and the History of Human Suffering (2009) and The Myriad Christ: Plurality and the Quest for Unity in Contemporary Christology (2000).

Shi Zhiru is Department Chair and Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Pomona College, an undergraduate liberal arts institution in southern California. She grew up in Singapore where she was born to Chinese immigrants from Fujian, south China. It was during her college years that she became irrevocably drawn to the study and practice of Buddhism, particularly the reform movement known as Buddhist Humanism (renjian fojiao). After completing her college education at the National University of Singapore, she was formally ordained by a Taiwanese teacher in the lineage of the great scholar-monk Yinshun (1906-2005), her grand-teacher. She subsequently travelled to the United States to do graduate studies, receiving an MA in Indian Buddhism from the University of Michigan and a PhD in East Asian Buddhism from the University of Arizona. She has authored articles on Buddhist cults and image veneration in Tang China and contemporary Taiwan. She recently published a book titled The Making of a Savior Bodhisattva: Dizang in Medieval China (University of Hawai‘i Press, 2007). She is currently writing a book on Buddhist charity, art, and religious authority in contemporary Taiwan.

The conference 2009 is organised in cooperation with OCCURSO Insitute of interreligiouse and intercultural encounter.
www.occurso.de




 Martin Rötting, Secretary ENBCS..