Month: October 2017

c.v.

by

Lindsay Jones
Historian of Religions
Department of Comparative Studies
The Ohio State University
e-mail:  jones.70@osu.edu

 

Lindsay Jones is a historian of religions, a professor emeritus in the Department of Comparative Studies, a former director of the Ohio State Center for the Study of Religion, former Gaikokujin Kyoshi (Visiting Foreign Professor) at the University of Tsukuba in Japan, and recipient of the “Mircea Eliade Centennial” medal, awarded by the President of Romania “as a sign of appreciation for praiseworthy activity and a remarkable contribution to the history of religions.”  He has a broad interest in the methods, theories, histories and topics associated with the cross-cultural study of religion; a similarly broad interest in sacred architectures the world over; and a more specific interest in the cultures and religions of Mesoamerica, especially those of the Oaxaca region.

He is author of The Hermeneutics of Sacred Architecture: Experience, Interpretation, Comparison, two volumes (Harvard University Press, 2000), which was reissued in 2016 by the ABC International Group as a set of seven slim books:  (I.1) The Experience of Architecture, (I.2) The Mechanism of Architecture, (I.3) The Interpretation of Architecture, (I.4) The Comparison of Architecture, (II.1) Architecture as Orientation, (II.2) Architecture as Commemoration, and (II.3) Architecture as Ritual Context.

Additionally he is author of Twin City Tales: A Hermeneutical Reassessment of Tula and Chíchén Itzá (University Press of Colorado, 1995); co-editor with Davíd Carrasco and Scott Sessions of Mesoamerica’s Classic Heritage: From Teotihuacan to the Aztecs (University Press of Colorado, 1999); and co-editor with Richard D. Shiels of The Newark Earthworks: Enduring Monuments, Contested Meanings (University of Virginia Press, 2016).

He devoted several years to work as the editor-in-chief for a heavily revised second edition of Mircea Eliade’s sixteen-volume Encyclopedia of Religion (Macmillan, 1987), the standard reference work in the field.  Of the more than 3200 articles by some 2000 different contributors in that revised Encyclopedia of Religion (Macmillan Reference, 2005), roughly a third are entirely new and most other entries are substantially updated; it was awarded “best reference source in any category” for 2005 by the American Library Association.

His current project involves a three-book set that addresses different aspects of the religion and architecture of the southern Mexican archaeological-tourist site of Monte Albán, Oaxaca.  The first of those volumes, Narrating Monte Albán: Seven True Stories of the Great Zapotec Capital of Southern Mexico, is complete (and a copy of the full manuscript is included below on this site); the second, The Religion of Monte Albán: Reflections on an Enduring Work of Sacred Architecture in Oaxaca, Mexico, is in process (and a working draft of the first 1000 pages is included below on this site); and the third, tentatively entitled The History of a Ruin: The Ongoing Life of a Long-Abandoned pre-Columbian Capital in Southern Mexico, which will address the status and import of the Monte Albán “ruins” during colonial, modern and contemporary eras, is in earlier stages of preparation.

EDUCATION:

  • B.ENVD.   University of Colorado, 1976 (Environmental Design)
  • B.A.           University of Colorado, 1978 (Religious Studies and Anthropology)
  •  M.A.         University of Chicago, Divinity School, 1981 (Divinity)
  • Ph.D.        University of Chicago, Divinity School, 1989 (History of Religions)

DISSERTATION:  “Mesoamerican Ruins and Religions: A Comparative Study of Ritual-Architectural Events at Tula, Hidalgo and Chichén Itzá, Yucatan” (awarded distinction).  Advisor: Lawrence Sullivan; readers: Frank Reynolds and Wendy Doniger.

RELATED AREAS OF STUDY:  History of Religions; Theories, Methods and History of Religious Studies; Comparative Sacred Architecture; Mesoamerican Religions and Cultures; Hermeneutics; Ritual Studies; Anthropology; Archaeology; Art History; Religion and Literature.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:

  • 1983  Instructor; College of St. Francis; Joliet, Illinois.
  • 1987  Instructor; Cemanahuac Educational Community; Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico.
  • 1989-1990  Instructor; Center of Comparative Studies in the Humanities, The Ohio State University; Columbus, Ohio.
  • 1990-1995  Assistant Professor; Division of Comparative Studies in the Humanities, The Ohio State University; Columbus, Ohio.
  • 1990-1996  Coordinator of the Ohio State Religious Studies Program.
  • 1995-2007  Associate Professor; Division/Department of Comparative Studies, The Ohio State University; Columbus, Ohio.
  • 1996-1997  Sabbatical leave from The Ohio State University; a year of travel and writing in Mexico, especially Veracruz and Chiapas.
  • 1998-2000  Two full years as Gaikokujin Kyoshi (Visiting Foreign Professor); Master’s Program in Area Studies; University of Tsukuba; Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki-ken, Japan.  Excursions during these years to “sacred sites” in Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, India, China, South Korea and Hong Kong.
  • 2000-2005  Editor in chief for a revised second edition of Mircea Eliade’s 16- volume Encyclopedia of Religion (New York: Macmillan, 1987).
  • 2006-2007  Sabbatical leave from The Ohio State University; a year of travel and writing in Oaxaca, Mexico.
  • 2007-2016  Professor; Department of Comparative Studies, The Ohio State University; Columbus, Ohio.
  • 2010-2013  Director; Center for the Study of Religion, The Ohio State University; Columbus, Ohio.
  • 2014-2015  Sabbatical leave from The Ohio State University; a year of travel, writing and speaking in Mexico and Europe.
  • 2016-          Professor Emeritus; Department of Comparative Studies, The Ohio State University; Columbus, Ohio.

COURSES TAUGHT:

  • Introduction to Comparative Religion
  • Foundational Approaches to the Study of Religion
  • Contemporary Approaches to the Study of Religion
  • Comparative Sacred Texts
  • Religious Themes in Literature
  • Myth and Ritual
  • Rites, Ritual and Ceremony: Passages, Prospects and Problems
  • Native American Religions
  • Mesoamerican Religions Before the Encounter with Europeans
  • Mesoamerican Religions Since the Encounter with Europeans
  • Religious Diversity in America
  • Comparative Sacred Architecture
  • Sacred Space and Architecture in America
  • Comparison, Religion, and Encyclopedias
  • Approaches to Comparative Cultural Studies (team taught)

NON-ACADEMIC  EMPLOYMENT:  Logger (six seasons, northern Wyoming); oilfield roughneck (Montana and North Dakota); longshoreman (St. Louis); forklift driver (North Chicago and Denver); limousine driver (Chicago).

BOOKS AUTHORED:

  • Twin City Tales: A Hermeneutical Reassessment of Tula and Chichén Itzá (Niwot: University Press of Colorado, 1995).
  • The Hermeneutics of Sacred Architecture: Experience, Interpretation, Comparison; originally published by Harvard University Press (2000) as two volumes:
    • Volume I:  Monumental Occasions: Reflections on the Eventfulness of Religious Architecture;
    • Volume II:  Hermeneutical Calisthenics: A Morphology of Ritual-Architectural Priorities.
  • The Hermeneutics of Sacred Architecture: Experience, Interpretation, Comparison; reissued by ABC International Group (2016) as seven volumes:
    • Volume I.1:  The Experience of Architecture
    • Volume I.2:  The Mechanism of Architecture
    • Volume I.3:  The Interpretation of Architecture
    • Volume I.4:  The Comparison of Architecture
    • Volume II.1:  Architecture as Orientation
    • Volume II.2:  Architecture as Commemoration
    • Volume II.3:  Architecture as Ritual Context

A set of three books on the archaeological-tourist site of Monte Albán, in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, is presently in the works:

  • A NOTE ON THE UNFINISHED STATUS OF THIS WORK ON MONTE ALBAN
  • BOOK ONE OF THREE:  Narrating Monte Albán: Seven True Stories of the Great Zapotec Capital of Southern Mexico (full 140,000-word manuscript available here):
    • Title Page and Table of Contents PDF
    • Preface:  “The Special Interests of an Outsider to Oaxacan Studies” PDF
    • Introduction:  “The Absence of a Master Narrative: 100 Years of Storytelling at the “Ruins” of Monte Albán” PDF
    • Chapter 1:  “The Unfolding of Alfonso Caso’s Story of Monte Albán: From Tales of Discovery to a Five-Stage History of the Zapotec Capital” PDF
    • Chapter 2:  “Ignacio Bernal’s Affirmation of Intercultural Admixing: Monte Albán as a Microcosm of Mesoamerica and Model for Modern Mexico” PDF
    • Chapter 3:  “John Paddock on Monte Albán as an Urban Work of Art: A Story of the Emergence and Perseverance of Zapotec Cultural-Ethnic Identity” PDF
    • Chapter 4:  “Richard Blanton on Monte Albán as a ‘Disembedded Capital’: A Story of Militarism, Regional Cooperation and Religious Neutrality” PDF
    • Chapter 5:  “Marcus Winter’s Story of Strategic Resource Management: Monte Albán as Part and Parcel of a pan-Oaxacan Social Evolution” PDF
    • Chapter 6:  “Kent Flannery and Joyce Marcus’s ‘Actor-Centered’ Story of Oaxacan Social Evolution: Charismatic Leadership and an Illusion of Control” PDF
    • Chapter 7:  “Arthur Joyce’s Poststructural Rereading of Oaxacan Social History: A Story of Sacred Spaces, Rituals and the Agency of Commoners” PDF
    • Selected Bibliography PDF
  • BOOK TWO OF THREE:  The Religion of Monte Albán: Reflections on an Enduring Work of Sacred Architecture in Oaxaca, Mexico (working version of a 285,000-word manuscript available here; draft versions last updated 2-6-2020):
    • Title Page and Table of Contents PDF
    • Preface:  “Mediating Religious Studies and Oaxacanist Studies” PDF
    • General Introduction:  “Reconceptualizing Religion: Orientation and/or Cosmovision as That Which Matters Most” PDF
    • Introduction to Part I:  “Orientation and Allurement: The Instigation of Ritual-Architectural Events at Monte Albán” PDF
    • Chapter 1:  “Allurement via Homologized Architecture: Monte Albán as Cosmic Mountain, Microcosm and Sacred Center (priority I-A)” PDF
    • Chapter 2: “Allurement via Conventionalized Architecture: Innovation, Imitation and Deliberate Archaisms at Monte Albán (priority I-B)” PDF
    • Chapter 3:  “Allurement via Astronomically-Aligned Architecture: Sky Phenomena, Calendars, Prediction and the Enhancement of Nature (priority I-C)” PDF
    • Introduction to Part II:  “Commemoration, Messages and Meanings: The Content of Ritual-Architectural Events at Monte Albán” PDF
    • Chapter 4:  “The Ritual-Architectural Commemoration of Divinity: Contentious Academic Theories but Consentient Supernaturalist Conceptions” (priority II-A) PDF
    • Chapter 5:  “The Ritual-Architectural Commemoration of Sacred History:  The Memorialization of Mythico-Historical Episodes, Individuals and Places (priority II-B)” PDF
    • Chapter 6:  “The Ritual-Architectural Commemoration of Political Authority (priority II-C)  UNFINISHED
    • Chapter 7:  “The Ritual-Architectural Commemoration of the Dead (priority II-D)  UNFINISHED
    • Introduction to Part III:  “Choreography and Ritual Context: The Presentation of Ritual-Architectural Events at Monte Albán”  UNFINISHED
    • Chapter 8: “Theatrical Ritual Contexts… (priority III-A)”  UNFINISHED
    • Chapter 9:  “Contemplative Ritual Contexts… (priority III-B)”  UNFINISHED
    • Chapter 10:  ‘Propitiatory Ritual Contexts… (priority III-C)  UNFINISHED
    • Chapter 11:  “Sanctuary Ritual Contexts… priority III-D)  UNFINISHED
    • Appendix A:  “A Heuristic Framework of Ritual-Architectural Priorities” PDF
    • Appendix B:  “An Expanded Framework of Ritual-Architectural Priorities: Eleven Sets of Heuristic Leading Questions” PDF
    • Selected Bibliography PDF
  • BOOK THREE OF THREE:  The History of a Ruin: The Ongoing Life of a Long-Abandoned pre-Columbian Capital in Southern Mexico (in process)

BOOKS CO-EDITED:

  • Mesoamerica’s Classic Heritage: From Teotihuacan to the Aztecs, edited with Davíd Carrasco and Scott Sessions (Niwot: University Press of Colorado, 1999).
  • The Newark Earthworks: Enduring Monuments and Contested Meanings, edited with Richard D. Shiels (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2016).

ENCYCLOPEDIAS:   Editor-in-chief of the revised second edition of the Encyclopedia of Religion, 15 vols. (Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2005).  This new edition of the encyclopedia that was originally edited by Mircea Eliade (Macmillan, 1987) contains over 3200 articles, more than 1000 of which are either entirely rewritten or brand new; hundreds of other entries are substantially revised.  It remains the standard reference work in the field of comparative religion.

SELECTED ARTICLES:

“Rules, Systems and Rituals;” entry in The Encyclopedia of Vernacular Architecture of the World, second edition (forthcoming).

“Moving Images of Sacred Spaces,” Faith and Form: The Interfaith Journal on Religion, Art and Architecture, vol. 51, no. 3 (2018): 19-20.

“An Arche of His Own: Charles H. Long as Consummate and Constant Teacher,” in With this Root About My Person: Charles H. Long and New Directions in the Study of Religion, edited by Davíd Carrasco and Jennifer I. M. Reid (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2020).  PDF

“The Ambiguity of ‘Sacred Space’: Superabundance, Contestation, and Unpredictability at the Earthworks of Newark, Ohio,” in Place and Phenomenology, edited by Janet Donohoe (London: Rowman & Littlefield International, 2017), pp. 97-123.  PDF

“Comparative Religion: Academic, Pedagogical and Social Practices,” in Jeffrey J. Kripal, ed. Religion: Sources, Perspectives, and Methodologies; part of the Macmillan Interdisciplinary Handbooks: Religion series (Farmington Hills, Michigan: Macmillan Reference USA, 2016), pp. 177-193.  PDF

“I Had No Idea!: Competing Claims to Distinction at the Newark Earthworks;” Introduction to The Newark Earthworks and World Heritage: One Site, Many Contexts, edited by Lindsay Jones and Richard D. Shiels (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press,  2016), pp. 1-19.  PDF

“The Mandatory Matters of Sickness and Healing in the Middle Ages;” Introduction to The Sacred and the Secular in Medieval Healing, edited by Barbara S. Bowers and Linda Migl Keyser; AVISTA Studies in the History of Medieval, Technology, Science and Art; volume 10 (London and New York: Routledge, 2016), pp. 1-9.  PDF

“The Encyclopedia of Religion in a Digital Age: Entries Not Found, Treasures Not Mined;” in Relegere: Studies in Religion and Reception, Special Issue on “Editing Encyclopedias and Handbooks in Religious Studies in the Twenty-First Century,” vol.5, no. 2 (2015), pp. 191-205. (https://relegere.org/relegere/issue/view/38)  PDF

“Narrating Chichén Itzá: Storytelling, Disagreement and Second Naïveté at the ‘City of the Sacred Well’;” chapter in a book entitled Architecture, Culture, and Spirituality: Essays on the Experience, Significance, and Meaning of the Built Environment, edited by Thomas Barrie, Julio Bermudez, and Phillip James Tabb (Farnham, Surrey, UK: Ashgate Publishing, 2015), pp. 123-136.  PDF

“Architectural Catalysts to Contemplation: Overworked and Unexplored Alliances between Ancient Monuments and Religious Sensibilities;” in Transcending Architecture: Contemporary Views on Sacred Space, edited by Julio Bermudez (Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 2015), pp. 170-207.  PDF

“Suffering by Comparison;” Postscript to Marilyn R. Waldman, Prophecy and Power: Muhammad and the Qur’an in the Light Of Comparison, edited by Bruce B. Lawrence (Equinox Publishing Limited, 2012), pp. 165-173.  PDF

“Purported Sacrality: The Ambiguous Past and Ironic Present of a Sometimes Sacred Mesoamerican Archaeological-Tourist Site;” in Loci Sacri: Understanding Sacred Places, edited by T. Coomans, H. DeDijn, J. DeMaeyer, R. Heynickx and B. Verschaffel; KADOC Studies on Religion, Culture & Society, no. 8 (Leuven, Belgium: Leuven University Press, 2011), pp. 169-193.  PDF

“Revalorizing Mircea Eliade’s Notion of Revalorization: Reflections on the Present-day Reuses of Mesoamerica’s Pre-Columbian Sites and Architectures;” in Remembering/ Reimagining/Revalorizing Mircea Eliade, edited by Norman Girardot and Bryan Rennie; a Special Issue of Archaevs: Studies in the History of Religions XV (Bucharest: Romanian Association for the History of Religions, 2011), pp. 119-159.  PDF

“Zapotec Sacred Places, Enduring and/or Ephemeral: Reverence, Realignment and Commodification at an Archaeological-Tourist Site in Southern Mexico;” Culture and Religion, vol. 11, no. 4 (December 2010): pp. 345-393.  PDF

“Pilgrimage to Nowhere: Appreciating the Strangeness of Hometown Ohio;” guest column for the Newark Advocate, in connection with the “Walk with the Ancients [along the Great Hopewell Road]” and the Newark Earthworks Day (October 2009).

“The Eventfulness of Architecture: Teaching about Sacred Architecture Is Teaching About Ritual;” in Teaching Ritual, edited by Catherine Bell (Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2007), pp. 251-272.  PDF

“Remaking an Encyclopedia: Reflections on a Revised Second Edition of Mircea Eliade’s Encyclopedia of Religion;” Summary of Proceedings (Chicago: American Theological Library Association, 2005), pp. 86-98.  PDF

Preface to the revised second edition of the Encyclopedia of Religion, editor in chief, Lindsay Jones (Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2005), vol. 1, pp. xi-xv.  PDF

“The Christianities of Chiapas, Mexico: A Provisional Map of Maya Catholics, Protestants and Zapatistas;” contribution to a festschrift for Michio Araki (Kyoto, Japan: Mineruva Publishing Company, 2003), pp. 39-57.  PDF

“White Myths about American Indian Mythology: Reflections on the Lakota Story of ‘When the People Laughed at Hanwi, the Moon;’” Area Studies: Bulletin of the Graduate School of Area Studies, University of Tsukuba [Japan] vol. 17 (March 31, 1999), pp. 115-147.  PDF

“Jewish Place and Placelessness: Historical and Academic Challenges,” in Studies in Jewish Geography, ed. Neil G. Jacobs; a special issue of Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies; vol. 17, no. 1 (Fall 1998), pp. 36-48.  PDF

“Conquests of the Imagination: Maya-Mexican Polarity and the Story of Chichén Itzá, Yucatan;” American Anthropologist; vol. 99, no. 2 (June 1997), pp. 275-290.  PDF

“Narraciones sobre Chichén Itzá: Imaginación, Historia y (Re)construcción sobre un Pasado Precolombino” (a Spanish  translation by Jorge Pech Casanova of my “Stories of Chichén Itzá: Imagination, History and the [Re]construction of a Pre-Columbian Past”); published as a 62-page booklet by Centro Cultural CECIJEMA de Pisté, Yucatán, Mexico (1995).

“The Hermeneutics of Sacred Architecture: A Reassessment of the Similitude between Tula, Hidalgo and Chichén Itzá, Yucatan; Part I;” History of Religions; vol. 32, no. 3 (February 1993), pp. 209-232.  PDF

“The Hermeneutics of Sacred Architecture: A Reassessment of the Similitude between Tula, Hidalgo and Chichén Itzá, Yucatan; Part II;” History of Religions; vol. 32, no. 4 (May 1993), pp. 315-342.  PDF

INVITED LECTURES:

“Architectural Pedimentos: Crafting Petitions for a Better Life in Southern Mexico;” opening keynote address at the ninth annual international symposium of the Architecture, Culture, and Spirituality Forum on “Practice, Craft, Materials, and Making;” Haystack Mountain School of Crafts; Deer Isle, Maine (May 14, 2017).  ACS 9 Keynote Lecture by Lindsay Jones – YouTube

Public dialogue with artist Mary Griep entitled “Performing Sacred Space,” in connection with the opening of Mary Griep’s exhibition, “Anastylosis Project, 1998-2016;” Flaten Art Museum, St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minnesota (October 8, 2016).

“The Earthworks of Newark, Ohio: The Remarkable Past, Troubled Present, and Uncertain Future of a Great American Pilgrimage Center;” St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minnesota (October 7, 2016).

“Writing the History of a Ruin: (Re)conceptualizing Monte Albán as an Enduring Work of Architecture;” public lecture presented at Harvard University’s Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology and the Moses Mesoamerican Archive and Research Project (April 21, 2016).

“From the Pillar of Death to the Cross of Miracles: Mentalist Assumptions and Materialist Correctives in Mitla, Oaxaca, Mexico;” keynote lecture in an international conference on “The Aesthetics of Crossing: Experiencing the Beyond in Abrahamic Traditions;” Utrecht University, the Netherlands (March 21, 2015).

“The Earthworks of Newark, Ohio: The Remarkable Past, Troubled Present, and Uncertain Future of a Great American Pilgrimage Center;” a presentation sponsored by the Lyman Coleman Guest Lecture Fund through the Department of Religious Studies at Lafayette College; Easton, Pennsylvania (September 12, 2013).

“A Southern Mexican ‘Cross of Miracles’: The Irony of an Anti-Tourist Site’s Debt to Tourism;” contribution to a symposium on “Sacred Ecology: Landscape Transformations for Ritual Practice” at the Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities at Vanderbilt University; Nashville, Tennessee (August 30, 2013).

“Expectations Exceeded: Merging Architecture and the History of Religions;” a lecture in Sacred Space and Cultural Studies Program of the School of Architecture and Planning at the Catholic University of America; Washington DC (November 30, 2012).

“The Ritual of Building: Incentives, Logistics, Logics, and Liabilities—with Special Attention to the Lehigh Chinese Bridge Project;” a contribution to the Chinese Bridge Project II Spring 2012 Lecture Series; Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania (April 23, 2012).

“Narrating Chichén Itzá: A Modest Contribution to the History of Ideas—and Storytelling—about the ‘City of the Sacred Well’;” keynote lecture at the fourth annual meeting of the Architecture, Culture and Spirituality Forum (ASC4); Isla Mujeres and Chichén Itzá, Mexico (April 2, 2012).

“Architectural Catalysts to Contemplation: Overworked and Unexplored Alliances between Ancient Monuments and Religious Sensibilities;” a presentation at an interdisciplinary symposium entitled “Transcending Architecture: Aesthetics and Ethics of the Numinous” in the School of Architecture at Catholic University of America; Washington D.C. (October 7, 2011).

“New Year’s Celebrations at the Cross of Miracles: Zapotec Catholic Devotion and Tourism in Southern Mexico;” a presentation sponsored by the Lyman Coleman Guest Lecture Fund through the Department of Religious Studies at Lafayette College; Easton, Pennsylvania (April 12, 2011).

“The Endurance and/or Transience of Sacred Places: Devotion, Commodification, and Accommodation in Southern Mexico;” a presentation in the North Carolina State University School of Architecture fall 2010 Lecture Series, jointly sponsored by the School and the AIA Triangle; Raleigh, North Carolina (October 11, 2010).

“Ritual Dimensions of Building and Rebuilding: Thinking about How to Think about the Refurbishment of Franklin & Marshall’s Old Main;” autumn lecture for the Department of Religious Studies; Franklin & Marshall College; Lancaster, Pennsylvania (September 27, 2010).

“Lesek Kolakowski on Myth: Speedy Reflections on a Slow Read;” presentation as part of a two-day Workshop on Myth, sponsored by the Ohio State Center for the Study of Religion; Columbus, Ohio (May 22, 2010).

“Why Go There?  Pilgrimage around the World and through the Centuries;” a presentation as part of the 2009 Newark Earthworks Day; The Ohio State University, Newark branch campus; Newark, Ohio (October 17, 2009).

“New Directions for the Newark Earthworks Center: Suggestions Deriving from the Successes of the Mesoamerican Archive and Research Project;” a lecture presentation at The Ohio State University, Newark Earthworks Center (October 9, 2008).

“Reflections on the Second Edition of The Encyclopedia of Religion;” presentation in a panel on “Compiling Encyclopedias: Why, How, and for Whom?;” Institute for Collaborative Research & Public Humanities; The Ohio State University (March 7, 2008).

“Revalorizations of a Ruin: Uses, Re-uses and/or Abuses of Monte Albán, Oaxaca, Mexico;” an Ohio State University American Indian Studies & Newark Earthworks Center lecture; The Ohio State University, Newark branch campus; Newark, Ohio (February 25, 2008).

“On Juxtaposition: New Uses of Old Buildings at the Archaeological-Tourist Site of Monte Albán, Oaxaca, Mexico;” inaugural lecture (on the occasion of promotion to full professor) in The Ohio State University College of Humanities; Columbus, Ohio (October 15, 2007).

“Revalorizations of a Ruin: Uses, Re-uses and/or Abuses of Monte Albán, Oaxaca, Mexico;” keynote talk at a conference entitled “Loci Sacri: Sacred Places and their Secrets;” Leuven, Belgium (September 28, 2007).

“Reworking Mircea Eliade’s Encyclopedia of Religion;” presentation in connection with a panel on “Mircea Eliade and His Legacy” at the 6th Congress of the European Association for the Study of Religions, sponsored by the Romanian Association for the History of Religions; Presidential Palace in Bucharest, Romania (September 21, 2006).

“Mixed Media, Mixed Merits: Teaching Beyond the Text;” session on “Visual Culture and Religion;” annual meeting of the American Society for the Study of Religion (ASSR); Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts (April 30, 2006).

“The Study of Religion in the 21st Century: Contemporary Issues, Future Directions;” invited lecture at Capital University, Columbus, Ohio (March 22, 2006).

“Architecture as Conversation Partner: The Necessity—and Diversity—of Effective Strategies of Allurement;” contribution to a summer public lecture series, Catholic University of America, School of Architecture and Planning; Washington. D.C. (July 14, 2005).

“Remaking an Encyclopedia: Reflections on a Revised Second Edition of Mircea Eliade’s Encyclopedia of Religion;” plenary address at the annual conference of the American Theological Library Association; Austin, Texas (June 18, 2005).

“We Ought To Know Better: Reflections on a Revision of Mircea Eliade’s Encyclopedia of Religion;” presentation at the Harvard Divinity School, Harvard University (April 8, 2005).

“Reflections on Comparative Religion and New Years Celebrations;” presentation to The Ohio State University Honors and Scholars “Unity” Group; Columbus, Ohio (December, 2, 2003).

“The (Re)Making of an Encyclopedia: Two Hands on a Revision of Mircea Eliade’s Encyclopedia of Religion;” Annual Meeting of the Ohio Theological Library Association; Pontifical College Josephium; Columbus, Ohio (October 3, 2002).

“Popol Vuh and The Books of Chilam Balam: One Historian of Religions’ Take on Teaching Two Maya Texts;” contribution to a session on “Teaching Indigenous ‘Literatures;’” Institute for Collaborative Research and Public Humanities; The Ohio State University (April 26, 2002).

“Puzzling Pivots: Queries into Maya Preoccupations with the Center;” invited lecture at the 19th Annual Maya Weekend; University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology; Philadelphia (March 24, 2001).

“Sacred Architecture and Authority: Alternatives and Illustrations from Mesoamerica and Elsewhere;” invited lecture at the School of Asian, African, and Amerindian Studies; Leiden University, Netherlands (March 20, 2001).

“Zapatistas as a Problem in the History of Religions;” a presentation in the Institute of Philosophy; University of Tsukuba, Japan (May 12, 2000).

“Who’s Who in Chiapas?: Indians, Christians and Rebels;” a presentation for the Columbus, Ohio chapter of Amnesty International (May 5, 1998).

“The Christianities of Chiapas, Mexico: Catholics, Protestants, Zapatistas and Others;” Latin American Lecture Series at The Ohio State University (April, 24, 1998).

“Why Bother Understanding Other Religions?;” a presentation for the Interfaith Association of Central Ohio in observance of World Religions Day (January 18, 1998).

“Spoils of Victory, Costs of Defeat: Ancient Maya Ballgames as Recreation, Ritual or the Resolution of Conflict?;” Humanities Hoopla Lecture at The Ohio State University; Columbus, Ohio (January 21, 1996).

“Old and New Stories of the Great Serpent Mound;” NEH Teachers’ Institute on “Narrating Our Lives: Myths, Values, and Community in Multicultural America;” Serpent Mound State Memorial; Bratton Township, Ohio (July 28, 1994 and June 27, 1995).

“Oglala Myths of Inclusion and Exclusion;” NEH Teachers’ Institute on “Narrating Our Lives: Myths, Values and Community in Multicultural America;” Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio (June 24, 1993); The Ohio State University (July 29, 1994); and University of Cincinnati (June 22, 1995).

“Aztec Myths of Inclusion and Exclusion;” NEH Teachers’ Institute on “Narrating Our Lives: Myths, Values and Community in Multicultural America;” Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio (June 23, 1993); The Ohio State University (July 27, 1994); and University of Cincinnati (June 21, 1995).

“Self-Congratulations and the Myth of Multiculturalism: One Native American Perspective on ‘American Civil Religion;’” NEH Teachers’ Institute on “Narrating Our Lives: Myths, Values, and Community;” The Ohio State University (August 11, 1994).

“The Museumification of American Indian Culture;” NEH Teachers’ Institute on “Narrating Our Lives: Myths, Values, and Community;” The Columbus Museum of Art; Columbus, Ohio (July 29, 1994).

“Native American Attitudes toward Nature;” NEH Teachers’ Institute on “Narrating Our Lives: Myths, Values and Community in Multicultural America;” Case Western Reserve University; Cleveland, Ohio (July 8, 1993).

“Astronomical Insights: Native American Architecture, Ritual, and the Sky;” The Ohio State University College of Humanities Saturday Scholars Series; Columbus, Ohio (March 6, 1993).

CONFERENCE  PRESENTATIONS:

“From the Pillar of Death to the Cross of Miracles: Shifting Roadways to the Underworld in Mitla, Oaxaca;” presentation in a Mesoamerican Archive and Research Project conference in honor of Saburo Sugiyama entitled “As Above, So Below: Cosmic Roads to Mesoamerican Underworlds;” Harvard University’s Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology (October 22, 2016).

“‘Locative’ versus ‘Utopian’: Two Competing Approaches to Sacred Space;” presentation in an international symposium on “Utopia, Architecture & Spirituality;” eighth annual meeting of the Architecture, Culture and Spirituality Forum (ASC8); New Harmony, Indiana (June 25, 2016).

“The Encyclopedia of Religion in the Digital Age: Entries Not Found, Treasures Not Mined;” contribution to a panel on “Editing Encyclopedias and Handbooks in Religious Studies in the Twenty-first Century: Aims and Challenges;” Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion; San Diego (November 22, 2014).

“Pilgrimage, Multiculturalism and Sharing at the Earthworks of Newark, Ohio: Ancient Models and Future Prospects;” presentation in an international symposium on “The Architecture of Spirituality in a Multicultural Setting;” sixth annual meeting of the Architecture, Culture and Spirituality Forum (ASC6); University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada (June 6, 2014).

“From Surveyors’ Marker to ‘Cross of Miracles’: The Remarkable and Ongoing Life of a Simple Stone Monument in Southern Mexico;” presentation in the Oxford Symposium on Religious Studies at the Old Library of the University Church of St. Mary the Virgin; University of Oxford, Oxfordshire, England (December 3, 2013).

“An Anti-Tour: Reflections on the Rewards of Visiting Chichén Itzá;” presentation on-site at the fourth annual meeting of the Architecture, Culture and Spirituality Forum (ASC4); Chichén Itzá, Quintana Roo, Mexico (April 5, 2012).

“Putting a Pedigree at Peril: Comments on Ivan Strenski’s Why Politics Can’t Be Freed from Religion;” presentation in a panel on religious studies methodology, sponsored by the Center for the Study of Religion; The Ohio State University (May 14, 2010).

“The Fake and the Real at Archaeological-Tourist Sites in Southern Mexico;” a lecture presentation at the annual meeting of the American Society for the Study of Religion (ASSR); University of Chicago (April 24, 2009).

“Apostle or Apostate?: Phenomenology—In and Out of the Closet;” a response to Thomas Csordas as part of “Mirrors and Compasses: An 85th Birthday Symposium for Erika Bourguignon;” The Mershon Center, The Ohio State University (February 20, 2009).

“Discoveries of Great Consequence: Juxtaposing the Templo Mayor and Monte Albán’s Tomb 7;” presentation in a conference entitled “From Coyolxauhqui to Tlaltecuhtli: Thirty Years at the Templo Mayor,” an event celebrating the 30th anniversary of the discovery of the Great Temple of the Aztecs; Templo Mayor Museum, Mexico City (April 26, 2008).

“Overdue and/or Too Soon: Reflections on the Work of Davíd Carrasco;” contribution to a joint session between the Indigenous Religious Traditions Group and the Latino/a Religion, Culture, and Society Group on “The Works and Scholarship of Davíd Carrasco;” Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion; Philadelphia (November 19, 2005).

Respondent in a Special Topics Forum sponsored by the AAR Publications Committee on “The Second Edition of the Encyclopedia of Religion;” Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion; Philadelphia (November 21, 2005).

“Earth and Sky as Ritual Context: Insights via Archaeo-astronomy in Mesoamerica and Elsewhere;” presentation at the Annual Conference of the CIC American Indian Studies Consortium entitled “Native Knowledge Written on the Land;” The Ohio State University, Newark branch campus (September 24, 2005).

“Thai Appearances, Surfaces, and Apparent Superficialities: Great or Little Insights into Bangkok Buddhism?” Response paper in an international conference on “The Religious Meaning of Urban Space in the Pacific Rim and Beyond;” University of Tsukuba; Tsukuba, Japan (September 22, 1999).

“150 Years of the History of Religions and Mesoamerican Studies: Separate Streams, Divergences, and Convergences;” presentation at a symposium on “Re-Imagining Mesoamerica: Archive, Community, and Interpretation: 15th Anniversary of the Moses Mesoamerican Archive and Research Project;” Princeton University (April 11, 1999).

“Suffering by Comparison: Marilyn Waldman’s Mentoring via Comparison and Qualified Agreement;” presentation in a Special Session Honoring the Scholarship of Marilyn Robinson Waldman; Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion; San Francisco (November 24, 1997).

“Theories of Maya-Mexican Interaction: Pre-Columbian and/or Modern Problems of ‘Ethnicity;’” presentation at Conference Two on “The Classic Heritage: From Teotihuacan to the Templo Mayor;” Moses Mesoamerican Archive and Research Project; Princeton University (October 20, 1996).

“Post-Colonial Approaches to Teotihuacan?: Problematizing and Contextualizing Architectural Meaning;” presentation at Conference One on “The Classic Heritage: From Teotihuacan to the Templo Mayor;” San Juan Teotihuacan, Mexico (January 11, 1995).

Respondent in a session on “History of Religions: Making the World in Theory and Practice;” Annual Meeting of the Mid-Atlantic American Academy of  Religion; Union Theological Seminary; New York, New York (March 17, 1994).

“The Architectural Enhancement of Nature: A Couple of Mesoamerican Examples;” presentation at the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religions; Kansas City, Missouri (November 25, 1991).

“The Sensitive Grid of the Aztecs;” presentation at Moses Mesoamerican Archive and Research Project conference on “Tradition and Innovation in Aztec Society;” University of Colorado at Boulder (July 3, 1991).

“The Place of Religious Studies in Comparative Studies: From Chicago to Columbus;” presentation at a conference on “Religiology;” The Ohio State University; Columbus, Ohio (April 29, 1991).

“Architectural Allurement: The Instigation of Ritual-Architectural Events at Chichén Itzá, Yucatan;” presentation at the Annual Meeting of the Midwest American Academy of Religion; Dayton, Ohio (April 6, 1991).

Respondent in a panel on “Cultural Contact, Contest and Conversion;” Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religions; New Orleans (November 18, 1990).

“Jewish Place and Placelessness: Historical and Academic Challenges;” presentation at a conference on “The Role of Geography in Jewish Civilization;” The Ohio State University; Columbus, Ohio (October  22, 1990).