Department ofReligion

Erik Hammerstrom teaches about religion in China and East Asia, with a focus on Buddhism. In his research he specializes in the intellectual and institutional history of Chinese Buddhism during the modern period, concentrating on Buddhist responses to discourses of modernity, such as the discourses surrounding both modern science and comparative religion (what F. Max Müller labeled the “Science of Religion”). As an extension of his work on Chinese Buddhism, he helped establish the Database of Modern Chinese Buddhism, which he continues to co-edit.