Lucas Carmichael

Education

Ph.D., Religion and Literature, University of Chicago, 2014
M.A., Religion, University of Chicago, 2004
B.A., East Asian Studies, Stanford University, 1998

Research Interests

American interpretations of the Daode jing and the transmission of religious classics across geographic, cultural, and linguistic boundaries

Regional and Thematic Interests

East Asia
Religion

Profile

I left Colorado in 1994 to attend Stanford University. A year in China led to a BA in East Asian Studies with a focus on Chinese Religion. I continued these interests at the University of Chicago during a MA in Religion that included a year in Taiwan. My PhD research has taken a theoretical turn towards cross-cultural hermeneutics and the transmission history of the the Daode jing. I am thrilled to be teaching at CU Boulder while I finish the final stages of my dissertation, and I hope to be able to continue to teach in Colorado after I complete my degree.

Selected Publications

“Laozi and Lincoln: Congenial Religion in Witter Bynner’s Daode Jing,” in Cultural History of the Study of Religion Group, American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, November 2012

“Transmission, Translation and Transformation of the Daode Jing,” for “Religion and the Trans-“ Graduate Student Conference, Northwestern University, October 2012

“Diversity, Pluralism, and Monism in Paul Carus’ 1897 Translation of the Daode jing,” for Understanding Religious Pluralism Conference, Georgetown University, May 2012

“China on the Caspian: Perceptions of the Kitay in Central Asia,” in “Connections Between China and the Islamic World,” Middle East History and Theory Conference, University of Chicago, May 2010