Chen Weigang

Education
Ph.D (2000) in Religious Studies, Harvard University (Advisors: Professor Francis Fiorenza and Professor Tu Weiming)

M.A (1987) in Philosophy, Beijing University, Beijing, China

B.A (1982) in Literature, Sichuan Foreign Languages Institute, Chongqing, China

Professional Experience
Since 2007, Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies, the University of Macau, Macau. Teaching “Introduction to Asian Philosophy,” “Philosophy and Religion,” “Philosophy of Education,” and “Human Rights and Cultural Values.”

2006-2007, Adjunct Professor, Department of Philosophy and Religion, Wabash College, Crawfordsville, Indiana. Taught “Islam & Religions of India,” “Religions of China and Japan,” and “Asian Americans.”

1999-2006, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, the University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont. Taught “Globalization, Human Rights, and Asian Values,” “The Sociology of Religion,” “Introduction to Asian Cultures and Religions,” “Religion in China,” and “Asian Americans: Culture and Ethnic Identity.”

Twice nominated for the UVM Kroepsch-Maurice Excellence in Teaching Award (2004, 2006).

1998-1999, Assistant Professor of Religion, Macalester College, Saint Paul, Minnesota. Taught “Introduction to Non-Western Religions,” “Religions of East Asia,” and “Confucianism and Human Rights.”

1995-1998, Teaching Fellow for Harvard College Core Courses, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts. Conducted discussion sessions for “Confucian Humanism” (Professor Tu Weiming) and “Ancient Chinese Art and Religion” (Professor Wu Hong).

1987-1989, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Foreign Philosophy Institute, Peking University.

Research

Book
Religion, Hegemony, and Global Justice: A Study of the Marxist Tradition of Public Hegemony (Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, forthcoming, 2009).

Articles (selected)
“Peripheral Justice: The Marxist Tradition of Public Hegemony and Its Implications in the Age of Globalization,” in Positions: East Asia Cultures Critique 13/2 (Fall 2005), pp. 329-379.

“Liberal Globalization and Peripheral Justice,” in Peace and Conflict Studies 11/2 (Fall 2004): 1-12.

“Culture and Peripheral Justice (2),” in Reading (Beijing, China), no. 11, 2004: 145-150.

“Culture and Peripheral Justice (1),” in Reading (Beijing, China), no. 10, 2004: 138-143.

“Communism and Religion: The Problem of Popular Religion for Chinese Marxist Ideology,” in Iva Dolezalova, Luther H. Martin, and Dalibor Papousek (eds.), The Study of Religion during the Cold War: East and West (New York: Peter Lang, 2001), pp. 59-81.

“Intellectuals and Ideology: A Critical Reflection on Alvin Gouldner’s Theory of New Class,” in Reading (Beijing, China), no. 7, 1996: 38-46.

“Religion and the Public Life: On Thomas Luckmann’s Thesis of Invisible Religion,” in Invisible Religion (Chinese version), pp. xi-xxviii. Hong Kong: Excellence Book House, 1995.

Translations
Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (co-translator). Xian, China: Shanxi Normal University Press, 2006.

B. F. Skinner, Beyond Freedom and Dignity (co-translator). Guiyang, China: Guizhong People’s Publisher, 2006.

Max Weber, Inner-World Asceticism: Rationalization and the Disenchantment of the World (co-translator). Xian, China: Shanxi Normal University Press, 2003.

Martin Buber, Ich und Du. Beijing, China: Joint Publishing Company, 2002 (from German into Chinese).

Sandra B. Rosenthal, Classical American Pragmatism and Its Contemporary Vitality. Beijing, China: Kaiming Publisher, 1992.

Selected Presentations
“Legitimacy and State-Building: The Challenge of the Beijing Consensus,” presented at International Conference on the Age of Human Rights, Center for Chinese Studies, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, February 1-2, 2008.

“Theodicy, Buddhism, and Civil Society,” presented at The 2nd Symposium on Buddhism and Civil Society, Center for the Study of Humanistic Buddhism, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, November 29-30, 2007.

“Confucian Marxism and the Protestant Ethic Thesis,” presented at the 68th Annual Meeting of the Association for the Sociology of Religion, Montreal, Canada, August 10-12, 2006.

“Peripheral Justice and the ‘Civilizational Conflicts’ in the Age of Globalization,” presented at the 9th Congress of the International Association for the History of Religion, Tokyo, Japan, March 21-24, 2005.

“Confucian Modernity and the Weberian Legacy,” presented at Symposium on Confucianism, Harvard-Yenching Institute, Harvard University, March 16, 2004.

“Confucian Ethic and the Idea of Public Hegemony,” presented at the 9th International Conference of the Association of Chinese Professors of Social Sciences in the United States, the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, October 24-26, 2003.

“Cultural Nationalism and Confucian Modernity,” presented at Department of East Asian Civilizations and Cultures, Columbia University, December 12, 2002.

“Religion and Cognition: Weber and Whitehouse,” presented at the International Conference on Cognition and the History of Religion, the University of Vermont, August 10, 2002.

“Asian Americans: Rethinking the Model of Minority: Facts and Myths,” presented for the Center for Cultural Pluralism,” the University of Vermont, January 31, 2001.

“Landscape Painting and Confucian Literati Identity: Cultural Hegemony in Late Imperial China,” presented for the Fleming Museum’s exhibition “Heritage of the Brush,” the University of Vermont, November 29, 2000.

“Subculture or Public Culture: The Model Minority Thesis Reconsidered,” presented at Symposium on Asian Americans, the University of Vermont, October 27, 2000.

“The Study of Religion in Communist China,” presented at the Regional Conference of the International Association for the History of Religion, Bruno, Czech Republic, August 12, 1999.

"Marxism and Peripheral Religious Radicalism: The Case of Confucian Marxism," presented at the 61st Annual Meeting of the Association for the Sociology of Religion, Chicago, August 5-7, 1999.

“Compliments and Social Equilibrium: A New Approach to the Differences in Politeness Rituals in the United States and China,” presented at Workshop on Chinese Cultural Studies, Harvard University, May 3, 1996.

“Intellectuals: A Cross-Cultural Perspective,” presented at Symposium on Modernity and Modern Chinese History,” Institute of Modern China Studies, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, May 25-30, 1995.

Professional Service
Since 2000, Deputy Chief Editor, Modern Society and Human Development Series, China

Since 2006, Editorial Board, Tao: Comparative Studies of Philosophy, Springer, Netherlands

Since 2005, Editorial Board, China Book Review, Beijing, China

Since 2004, Publication Reviewer, Positions: East Asia Cultures Critique, Duke University Press

Since 1995, Publication Reviewer, China Scholarship, Beijing University, Beijing, China

1994-2004, Editorial Board, Chinese Academic Library of Christian Thought Series, Hong Kong

1986-1989, Editorial Board, Culture: China and the World Series, Joint Publishing Company, Beijing, China

Academic Honors
2005-2006, Nominated for the Kroepsch-Maurice Excellence in Teaching Award, the University of Vermont.

2003-2004, Nominated for the Kroepsch-Maurice Excellence in Teaching Award, the University of Vermont.

1994-1995, Andrew Mellon Dissertation Fellowship, Harvard University

1990-1996, Harvard Fellowship offered by the Graduate School of Harvard University.

1989-1994, Harvard-Yenching Doctoral Fellowship, Harvard University

1989-1990, Doctoral Fellowship offered by the Center for the Study of World Religions, Harvard University

Language Skills
Native speaker: Chinese
Reading knowledge: German, Japanese, and French

Professional Associations
Since 1999, Member, The Association for the Sociology of Religion

Since 1999, Member, The International Association for the History of Religion

Since 1997, Member, American Academy of the Study of Religion

Since 2003, Member, The Association of Chinese Professors of Social Sciences in the United States

1989-1993, Doctoral Fellow, the Center for the Study of World Religions, Harvard University