John Krummel
John W KrummelAssociate Professor of Religious StudiesChair, Religious Studies
Joined faculty in 2008
Ph.D. in Religion, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, 2008
Ph.D. in Philosophy, New School for Social Research, New York, NY, 1999
M.A. in Philosophy, New School for Social Research, New York, NY, 1994
B.A. in Philosophy, Earlham College, Richmond, IN, 1988.
Contact Information
Scholarly Interest
Comparative theology
Philosophy
Religion
Continental philosophy
phenomenology
Heidegger
Kant
Nishida
Nietzsche
Mishima
Dostoevsky
Buddhist philosophy
Kyoto school philosophy
Existentialism
Post-modern thought
History of philosophy
Philosophy of religion
Asian (esp. Japanese) religious/philosophical thought
Buddhism
Mysticism
Death & Dying
Nihilism
Critique of modernity
Teaching Experience
I have been teaching courses on philosophy and religion since 1996 at various schools, such as Pace University, Long Island University, City University of New York, City University of New Jersey, Bellarmine University, LaSalle University, St. Joseph University, and Temple University.
Research
Continental philosophy, phenomenology, Heidegger, Kant, Buddhist philosophy, Kyoto
school philosophy, Japanese philosophy, Nishida, Schürmann.
History of philosophy, German idealism, existentialism, philosophy of religion, Asian
thought, Asian religions, Buddhism, comparative religion, theology and philosophy, medieval Christian and Islamic mysticism, death & dying, nihilism, Nietzsche, Mishima,
Dostoevsky, Castoriadis, Nancy.
Courses Taught
Here I have the taught the following courses:
Japanese Philosophy and Religious Thought
Buddhism (introduction)
Imagining American Religion (co-taught with R. Salter):
Japanese Religion
Buddhist Philosophy
Nihilism, East and West
Religion and Alienation (co- taught with M. Dobkowski)
Religion and Philosophy from a Global Perspective (formerly: Religion as a Philosophical Act)
Suffering and Salvation (formerly: Theology of World Religions):
Publications
Articles:
2016: In print: “Being and Nothing: Towards an Anontology of Anarchy.” In: Vishwa Adluri & Alberto Martinengo (eds.). Hegemony and Singularity: The Philosophy of Reiner Schürmann. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press.
2016: “Nishitani Keiji: Nihilism, Buddhism, Anontology.” In: Gereon Kopf (ed.). The Dao Companion to Japanese Buddhist Philosophy. NYC: Springer Pub.
2015 (Fall): “Embodied Implacement in Kūkai and Nishida.” Philosophy East and West, vol. 65, no. 3., July 2015 (peer reviewed journal)
2015 (Fall): “Comparative Philosophy in Japan: Nakamura Hajime and Izutsu Toshihiko.” In: Bret W. Davis (ed.). The Oxford Handbook of Japanese Philosophy. NYC: Oxford University Press.
2015 (Fall): “Kūkai’s Shingon: Embodiment of Emptiness.” In: Bret W. Davis (ed.). The Oxford Handbook of Japanese Philosophy. NYC: Oxford University Press.
2015 (August): “‘The Place of Nothing’ in Nishida as Chiasma and Chōra.” Diaphany, Foundational Issue. (peer reviewed journal)
2015 (May): "Introduction to Nakamura Yūjirō and his Work." Social Imaginaries, vol. 1, nr. 1. (peer reviewed journal)
2015 (May): "Social Imaginaries in Debate." Social Imaginaries, vol. 1, nr. 1. (peer reviewed journal) [co-authored]
“World, Nothing, and Globalization in Nishida and Nancy.” Book chapter in: Leah Kalmanson & James Mark Shields (eds.). Buddhist Responses to Globalization. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, July 2014.
“Anontology and the Issue of Being and Nothing in Nishida Kitarō.” In: JeeLoo Liu & Douglas L. Berger (eds.). Nothingness in Asian Philosophy. London: Routledge, July 2014.
“Reiner Schürmann and Cornelius Castoriadis Between Ontology and Praxis,” Anarchist Developments in Cultural Studies, vol. 2013, no. 2., Winter 2014 (peer reviewed journal).
“Kūkai.” In: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/kukai), revised edition, Oct., 2010.
"The Originary Wherein: Heidegger and Nishida on 'the Sared' and 'the Religious'," Research in Phenomenology, vol. 40, no. 3, Sep. 2010. (peer reviewed journal)
"Transcendent or Immanent? Significance and History of Li in Confucianism," Journal of Chinese Philosophy, vol. 37, no. 3, Sep. 2010. (peer reviewed journal)
"Representation and Poiesis: the Imagination in the Later Heidegger" in Philosophy Today, vol. 5, no. 3, Fall 2007. (peer reviewed journal)
"Spatiality in the Later Heidegger: Turning - Clearing - Letting" in Existentia, vol. XVI, no.5-6, 2006. (peer reviewed journal)
"Kukai" in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/kukai), 2006.
Books:
2015: Nishida Kitarō’s Chiasmatic Chorology: Place of Dialectic, Dialectic of Place. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
Translations:
Nishida Kitarō, Place and Dialectics: Two Essays by Nishida Kitaro, NYC: Oxford University Press, 2011, co-translation with S. Nagatomo.
Yuasa Yasuo, Overcoming Modernity: Synchronicity and Image-Thinking (NYC: SUNY Press, 2008), a co-translation with S. Nagatomo.
And many other essay-length translations.
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS
I am Assistant Editor of annual peer-reviewed journal, Journal of Japanese Philosophy, SUNY Press. https://sites.google.com/site/journalofjapanesephilosophy/
I am also Editor (Editorial Collective member) of biannual peer-reviewed journal, Social Imaginaries, Zeta Books. http://www.zetabooks.com/social-imaginaries.html
I am the current and first president of the International Association of Japanese Philosophy.
I also am or have been involved in a variety of other organizations:
American Philosophical Association
Phi Sigma Tau, the International Philosophy Honor Society
Society for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy
Society for Asian and Comparative Philosophy
Comparative and Continental Philosophy Circle
Association of Chinese Philosophers in America
The International Institute for Field-Being
International Society for Buddhist Philosophy
The American Academy of Religion
Association for Asian Studies
Heidegger Forschungsgruppe
North American Heidegger Conference (Heidegger Circle)
Friends of the SEP (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) Society
International Sociological Association RC16
PERSONAL STATEMENT
I take a philosophical approach to the study of religion and the comparison of religious thought. I am interested in seeing what relevance they may have for people today, including ourselves. What might the study of religions and philosophies from across cultural boundaries offer us today in this (post-)modern world of rapid globalization? I was born and raised in Japan in a bi-linguistic and bi-cultural family. That experience has helped me in my own research and I like to bring it into the classroom as well. My knowledge of the Japanese language has helped in my research and also enabled me to complete several translation projects. I also work with the German language.