Prof. Megan Daniels

Prof. Megan Daniels




Assistant Professor of Ancient Greek Material Culture

Office: BUCH C222
Phone: 604–827–1635
Email: megan.daniels@ubc.ca

Quick Links

AMNE Profile

Degrees

B.A. Honours in Archaeology, Department of Archaeology and Classical Studies, Wilfrid Laurier University (2005)
M.A. in Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology, Department of Classical, Near Eastern, and Religious Studies, UBC (2009)
Certificate in Multimedia and Web Development, UBC (2016)
Ph.D. in Classics, Department of Classics, Stanford University (2016)

Career

Lecturer in Classics and Ancient History, University of New England, Australia (2018-2020)
IEMA Postdoctoral Scholar, Institute for European and Mediterranean Archaeology, SUNY-Buffalo (2017-2018)
Lora Bryning Redford Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Puget Sound (2016-2017)

Selected Grants and Awards

University of New England Early Career Researcher Award for pilot project: “Of Temples and Tomes: Analyzing Trends in Votive Deposition and Social Change in the Iron Age Eastern Mediterranean (900-500 BCE)”, 2019
ACLS/Mellon Foundation Dissertation Completion Fellowship, 2015-2016
Trudeau Scholar, Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation, 2012-2016
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Doctoral Fellowship, 2010-2014
Stanford Humanities Center Geballe Research Workshop Grant, 2011-2012
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Canada Graduate Scholarship, 2007-2008

Prof. Donald Baker




Professor in Korean History and Civilization

Office: Asian Centre 223
Phone: 604–822–4478
Email: don.baker@ubc.ca

Quick Links

Asian Studies Profile

He received his Ph.D. in Korean history from the University of Washington and has taught at UBC since 1987. He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on Korean history and thought (religion, philosophy, and pre-modern science). In addition, he teaches a graduate seminar on the reproduction of historical trauma in Asia, in which he leads graduate students in an examination of how traumatic events in Asia in the 20th century, such as the Korean and Vietnam Wars, the bombing of Hiroshima, partition of India, China’s Cultural Revolution, and the killing fields of Cambodia have been reproduced in eyewitness accounts, historiography, fiction, and film.

He was a co-editor of the Sourcebook of Korean Civilization and editor of Critical Readings on Korean Christianity. He is also the author of Chosŏn hugi yugyo wa ch’ǒnjugyo ŭi taerip (The Confucian confrontation with Catholicism in the latter half of the Joseon dynasty), published by Iljogak in 1997, Korean Spirituality (University of Hawaii Press, 2008), and Catholics and Anti-Catholicism in Chosŏn Korea (University of Hawaii Press, 2017). He will soon publish How to be Moral, an annotated translation of a commentary by Tasan Chŏng Yagyong on the Zhongyong.

Religion for Lunch: Material Religion and Ancient Judaism

 

PHIL 347: Philosophy of Religion

2022-2023 TERM 1 | T Th: 9:30-11:00 AM

Course Description

This course is an introduction to how to think philosophically about religion. What is religion? Why are people religious? What is religious experience? Is there a distinct kind of religious knowledge? What arguments can be given for or against the existence of God? What is faith? What is mysticism? What is the relationship between religion and spirituality? Can secular faith replace religion?

We will approach these questions by reading and talking about some classic modern books about religion. All the books have been chosen not just for their intellectual content but also for their style: they are existentially engaging and potentially transformative for how you live and think. The last three weeks of the course will be devoted to Martin Hägglund’s recent and widely celebrated book, This Life: Secular Faith and Spiritual Freedom, which presents a critique of religion and capitalism, while making a case for reconceiving faith in secular terms and for a new vision of democratic socialism. The readings earlier in the course will give you intellectual tools to think critically about Häggland’s case from a variety of religious and philosophical perspectives.

The course format will be a mixture of lecture and in-class discussion. No prior knowledge of philosophy or any particular religious tradition is assumed.

Texts:

Stephen Batchelor, The Faith to Doubt: Glimpses of Buddhist Uncertainty

Martin Hägglund, This Life: Secular Faith and Spiritual Freedom

David Bentley Hart, The Experience of God: Being, Consciousness, Bliss

C. S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain

T. M. Luhrmann, How God Becomes Real: Kindling the Presence of Invisible Others

Alvin Plantinga, Knowledge and Christian Belief

Paul Tillich, Dynamics of Faith

Krista Tippett, Speaking of Faith: Why Religion Matters and How to Talk About It

Evelyn Underhill, Practical Mysticism

Course Instructor

Dr. Evan Thompson, Department of Philosophy

ASIA 336 – Sufi and Bhakti Devotional Literatures

New Course: ASIA 431

For further information on this course, please reach out to the instructor, Dr. Dagmar Schwerk (dagmar.schwerk@ubc.ca)

New Course: ITST 414

Our colleague Daniela Boccassini is offering a new course that can be applied towards the upper-level electives for students in RGLA & RGST. For more information, see the poster below:

New Course: RGST 200

In the twenty-first century, religion is an important index of identity. It is both a source of unity and conflict on the world stage, and provides powerful motivation for behavior. In this course, we will study a wide variety of religions from a comparative, cross-cultural, interdisciplinary perspective. Read more…

New Course: RGST 300

This course will help you to understand how theory and method work in Religious Studies and will empower you to develop and refine your own methods for studying religion. Read more…

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