Jeffrey J. Kripal
Jeffrey J. Kripal | |
---|---|
Nationality | American |
Education | Conception Seminary College (BA) University of Chicago (PhD) |
Scientific career | |
Fields | study of comparative erotics and ethics in mystical literature, American countercultural translations of Asian religions, and the history of Western esotericism from gnosticism to New Age religions |
Institutions | Rice University |
Jeffrey John Kripal (born 1962) is an American college professor. He is the J. Newton Rayzor Chair in Philosophy and Religious Thought at
His work includes the study of comparative erotics and ethics in mystical literature, American countercultural translations of Asian religions, and the history of Western esotericism from gnosticism to New Age religions.[3]
Scholarly Impact
Kali's Child
Kripal's 1995 book
Esalen: America and the Religion of No Religion
In 2007 The University of Chicago Press released Esalen: America and the Religion of No Religion, Kripal's account of the
Authors of the Impossible
Kripal's 2011 book traces the history of psychic phenomena over the last two centuries. The book profiles four writers: the British psychical researcher
Chronicle of Higher Education
In a March 2014 article for the
The professional debunker's insistence, then, that the phenomena play by his rules and appear for all to see in a safe and sterile laboratory is little more than a mark of his own ignorance of the nature of the phenomena in question.[9]
Kripal's article was criticized by Jerry Coyne in The New Republic as "the latest anti-science argument."[10]
Criticism
Hindu nationalist ideologue
As a result of criticisms like Malhotra's, Kripal was among a group of scholars receiving death threats and physical attacks from Hindus offended by his portrayals.[13] He shifted his research focus away from Hinduism afterward, claiming, “I stuck with it and responded as best as I could for about six or seven years. It just wore me down after a while. At some point I felt like it wasn’t worth it anymore, that it was starting to affect my health. I couldn’t go anywhere, any conference or anything, without having to deal with the thought police, as it were.”[14]
Bibliography
Books authored
- ISBN 978-0-226-45377-4
- Roads of Excess, Palaces of Wisdom: Eroticism and Reflexivity in the Study of ISBN 978-0-226-45379-8
- The Serpent's Gift: Gnostic Reflections on the Study of Religion (ISBN 978-0-226-45381-1
- ISBN 978-0-226-45370-5
- Authors of the Impossible: The Paranormal and the Sacred (University of Chicago Press, 2010) ISBN 978-0-226-45386-6
- Mutants and Mystics: Science Fiction, Superhero Comics, and the Paranormal (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2011) ISBN 978-0-226-45383-5
- Super Natural: A New Vision of the Unexplained, and ISBN 978-1-101-98232-7
- Secret Body: Erotic and Esoteric Currents in the History of Religions (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2017) ISBN 978-0-226-12682-1
- Changed in a Flash: One Woman's Near-Death Experience and Why a Scholar Thinks It Empowers Us All, and Elizabeth G. Krohn (Berkeley, California: North Atlantic Books, 2018) ISBN 978-1-623-17303-6
- The Flip: Epiphanies of Mind and the Future of Knowledge (New York: Bellevue Literary Press, 2019) ISBN 978-1942658528
- The Superhumanities: Historical Precedents, Moral Objections, New Realities (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2022) ISBN 978-0226820248
Books edited
- ISBN 978-0-19-565835-4
- Crossing Boundaries: Essays on the Ethical Status of Mysticism edited with G. William Barnard (Seven Bridges, 2002) ISBN 978-1-889119-25-0
- Encountering ISBN 978-0-520-23240-2
- On the Edge of the Future: Esalen and the Evolution of American Culture edited with ISBN 978-0-253-34556-1
- Hidden Intercourse: Eros and Sexuality in the History of Western Esotericism edited with Wouter J. Hanegraaff (New York, 2010) ISBN 978-0-823-23341-0
Articles and essays
- Mystical Homoeroticism, Reductionism, and the Reality of Censorship: A Response to Gerald James Larson.[dead link] Journal of the American Academy of Religion, volume 66, number 3, pages 627–635 (1998).
- Textuality, Sexuality, and the Future of the Past: A Response to Swami Tyagananda. Evam: Forum on Indian Representations, volume 1, issues 1–2, pages 191–205 (2002).
- Foreword to Adi Da's The Knee of Listening (2003)
- Comparative Mystics: Scholars as Gnostic Diplomats. Common Knowledge, volume 3 issue 10, pages 485–517 (2004)
- "Sexuality (Overview)". The Encyclopedia of Religion, 2nd edition (2005)
- "Phallus and Vagina"." In Encyclopedia of Religion (2005)
- Reality Against Society: William Blake, Antinomianism, and the American Counter Culture. Common Knowledge, volume 13, issue 1 (Winter 2007)
- Re-membering Ourselves: Some Countercultural Echoes of Contemporary Tantric Studies, lead-essay of inaugural issue, Journal of South Asian Religion, volume 1 issue 1 (2007)
- "Liminal Pedagogy: The Liberal Arts and the Transforming Ritual of Religious Studies." in How Should We Talk About Religion? Perspectives, Contexts, Particularities, edited by J. White (University of Notre Dame Press, 2006)
- "Western Popular Culture, Hindu Influences On." In The Encyclopedia of Hinduism edited by D. Cush, C. Robinson, and M. York, Routledge/Curzon (2007)
- "The Rise of the Imaginal: Psychical Phenomena on the Horizon of Theory (Again)". Religious Studies Review volume 33 issue 3 (2007)
- "Myth" in The Blackwell Companion to the Study of Religion edited by R. Segal. Wiley-VCH (2008)
See also
References
- ^ Lending library of the Scientific Anomaly Institute
- ^ Homepage of the GEM program
- ^ Jeffrey J. Kripal's faculty page at the Department of Religious Studies, Rice University.
- Kurien, Prema A.(2007). "Challenging American Pluralism". A place at the multicultural table. Rutgers University Press. pp. 201–202.
- ^ Balagangadhara, S.N.; Sarah Claerhout (Spring 2008). "Are Dialogues Antidotes to Violence? Two Recent Examples From Hinduism Studies" (PDF). Journal for the Study of Religions and Ideologies. 7 (19): 118–143. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-08-20. Retrieved 2010-01-15.
- ISBN 978-81-208-3499-6.
- S2CID 147134190.[permanent dead link]
- ^ Catherine Albenese, [untitled review] Journal of American History Mar 2008, 1326 [1]
- ^ Jeffrey J. Kripal (31 March 2014). "Visions of the Impossible". chronicle.com. Retrieved 2014-04-03.
- Jerry Coyne (3 April 2014). "The Latest Anti-Science Argument Comes Down to ESP". The New Republic. newrepublic.com. Retrieved 2014-04-03.
- ISBN 978-8129111821.
- ISBN 978-8120834996.
- ^ "The University of Chicago Magazine: December 2004". magazine.uchicago.edu. Retrieved 2019-06-02.
- ^ "Scholars who study Hinduism and India face hostile climate". www.insidehighered.com. 12 April 2016. Retrieved 2019-06-02.
External links
- Kripal's blog on Reality Sandwich
- An excerpt from Esalen: America and the Religion of No Religion.
- AUTHORS OF THE IMPOSSIBLE A documentary based on the book by Jeffrey J. Kripal.
- kripal.rice.edu Dr. Kripal's Rice University web page.
- Kali's Child Discussion Site An article by Dr. Kripal regarding the Kali's Child controversy.