I am a graduate student in the Department of Religion at Temple University.
My research interests include new religious movements (esp. western esotericism), religion & ecology, Asian philosophies & religions, and continental philosophy (mostly 20th and 21st Centuries). My primary methodology is the philosophy and phenomenology of religion.
The primary focus of my research is nonduality. I am interested in exploring how nonduality is understood in both 'eastern' and 'western' religious and philosophical traditions, as well as its more specific implications for the study of ecology and consciousness.
My research in new religious movements…
I am a graduate student in the Department of Religion at Temple University.
My research interests include new religious movements (esp. western esotericism), religion & ecology, Asian philosophies & religions, and continental philosophy (mostly 20th and 21st Centuries). My primary methodology is the philosophy and phenomenology of religion.
The primary focus of my research is nonduality. I am interested in exploring how nonduality is understood in both 'eastern' and 'western' religious and philosophical traditions, as well as its more specific implications for the study of ecology and consciousness.
My research in new religious movements (NRMs) tends to focus on consciousness (widely conceived) from the perspective of what may be termed ‘comparative esotericism,’ or contemporary western esoteric movements that draw inspiration from Asian philosophies (ex. Thelema, Kenneth Grant, etc.). My methodology is primarily phenomenological (in the philosophical sense), but I also draw upon insights from the psychology of religion (esp. transpersonal psychology) and anthropology of religion (esp. anthropology of consciousness) when appropriate.
I am also interested in nature, which inspires my other area of investigation, an inquiry into the intersection of religious and environmental philosophies. Although my work in this area is primarily philosophical in its methodology, I find that anthropological studies of how religious practitioners interact with nature in practice also informs my research.