I was raised in southern Indiana, and began studying Japanese when I was 12. When I arrived as an undergraduate at Indiana U., I began studying Mandarin Chinese, which led me to study abroad in Taiwan and China.
My research asks about the deployment of revelatory knowledge and the way that human-spirit communication influences the ways individuals and groups make key life choices. I am currently working on a manuscript about medieval Taoist spiritual topography. I am also working with a group of researchers at the Center on Religion and the Global East on a book manuscript on Christianity in 20th century East Asia. I also have a strong comparative interest between revelatory traditions in East Asia and those in the United States, particularly those connected to Joseph Smith.
I teach comparative approaches to Sacred Space at the graduate level. For undergraduates, I offer introductory courses in Religion and the Environment, Chinese Religions, and Health/Medicine. My research and teaching have been supported by Fulbright U.S. program, Luce/ACLS, Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation, and the John Templeton Foundation. I have led study abroad tours in China, Taiwan, and Greater Tibet (Amdo and Kham). I have served on the steering committee of the Global Daoist Studies Forum, the Daoist Studies Unit of AAR, and the Hawai‘i International Conference on Chinese Studies.
Sakamaki Hall A-306
Email: jeep@hawaii.edu