Canterbury Christ Church University |

Reader in Religious Studies
Professor of Indo-Tibetan Studies
(ITAS, Velez-Malaga, Spain)

Personal

MA (Münster, Germany), PhD (Groningen, The Netherlands)

Burkhard Scherer came to Christ Church in summer 2003, having previously been a visiting scholar at the University of Washington in Seattle and Lecturer in both Classics (Greek and Latin) and Indian Religions (Hinduism and Buddhism) in Groningen.

He teaches among other things:

• Indian Traditions
  
• Tibetan Buddhism

His doctoral thesis dealt with questions of myth and literary criticism; additionally he has published considerably in the field of Buddhism, Hinduism and on Interfaith Issues. He holds a strong interest for Historical Anthropology, Classical and Indian literature, Buddhist Philosophy and the Indo-Tibetan Mahāmudrā tradition. Among other projects, he is currently preparing the edition and translation of medieval Indian and Tibetan texts.

Publications:

Books 

• Queering Paradigms (editor). Oxford: Peter Lang (in press).
• Mythos Helena (co-edited with Ludger Scherer). Stuttgart: Reclam, 2008. 
• Mythos, Katalog und Prophezeiung. Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag 2006 (Palingenesia. 87).                                      Reviews: 
  Markus Aspen, Classical Review 57n2 (2007), pp. 344-345.
  Roxana B. Martínez Nieto, Emerita 75n2 (2007), pp. 354-357.
  Evina Sistakou, Gnomon 80 (2008), pp. 640-642.
• Buddhismus, Gütersloh 2005.                                              Second, revised edition 2008.  With a foreword by HH the 14th Dalai Lama.                                                                       Polish translation: 2009 (Byddyzm, Kęty: Derewiecki). 
• 108 vragen over Boeddhisme, Amsterdam 2003. 
• Die Weltreligionen: Zentrale Themen im Vergleich, Gütersloh 2003.                                                                                      Portuguese translation 2005 as                                                As grandes Religiões, Petrópolis: Ed. Vozes (Brasil).                Reviews: Katholisches Sonntagsblatt 28 August 2005
  Zeitschrift für Missionswissenschaft 89 (2005), pp. 67-68.
• Het Boeddha basisboekje, Amsterdam 2002.
• 99 Fragen zum Buddhismus, Gütersloh 2002. 
• Buddha, Gütersloh 2001 (GTB 657. Basiswissen).
• Buddhistische Weisheiten, Gütersloh 2000.

Articles

• "Nāgārjuna and Nihilism: Remarks on the Ratnāvalī and Buddhist Andragogy" Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies. Special issue "Madhyamaka and Yogācāra Models of Truth or Reality in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism," ed. by Klaus-Dieter Mathes, forthcoming. 

• "Vertikale Hierarchie und archaische Sakralität: Zur mythopoësis des Fußes" Paragrana: Internationale Zeitschrift für Historische Anthropologie19 (2010), forthcoming.

• "Interpreting the Diamond Way: Contemporary Convert Buddhism in Transition" in Journal of Global Buddhism 10 (2009), pp. 17-48 (online).     

• "Tod, Schlafes Bruder: Intertextuelle Streifzüge und Fallstudien" in Paragrana: Internationale Zeitschrift für Historische Anthropologie 17.2 (2008), pp. 107-118.

• "Gender transformed and meta-gendered enlightenment: Reading Buddhist narratives as paradigms of inclusiveness" in Revista de Estudos da Religião – REVER 6.3 (2006), pp. 65-76; also online.

• "Kambala's Ālokamāla and the Perils of Philology" in Buddhist Studies Review 2006.2, pp. 121-126.

• "Aischylos in Wolkenkoekoeksland: Paratragodia in het koorlied Ar. Av. 1470vv.", Pomoerium 5 (2004-2006), pp. 1-10 [Download as PDF-file].

• "Der Tod des Zauberers: Die Orpheusepigramme in der Anthologia Palatina" Hellenistica Groningana 6 (2002), pp. 175-200.

• "Zur Funktion des zweiten Chorliedes in den Troades des Seneca", Mnemosyne 52 (1999), pp. 172-178.

Book Chapters

• "Introduction: Queering Paradigms" in B. Scherer (forthc., ed.) Queering Paradigms. Oxford: Peter Lang, pp. 1-7.

• "Karma: The Transformations of a Buddhist Conundrum / Карма: метаморфозы буддийской головоломки" in Chetyrova, L.B. et al. (2009, eds.). Vajrayana Buddhism in Russia: History and Modernity / Буддизм Ваджраяны в России: историяи современность, St. Petersburg: Unlimited Space Publishers (Publication of the Scientific Centre for Comparative Philosophy, Social Science and Humanities, St Petersburg State University, and the Russian State Museum of Religious History); pp. 259-270 (English) and pp. 270-285 (Russian).

• "Mahāyāna Philosophy and Mahāmudrā" in: Przybysławski, Artur (2007, ed.). From Buddhism to Science and back, Opole: Hung place & ITAS, Vélez-Málaga (ITAS Buddhism & Science series. 1), pp. 19-30.

• "Faith and Experience. Paradigms of spirituality" in: Greenstreet, W. (2006, ed.) Integrating Spirituality in Health and Social Care: Perspectives and practical approaches, pp. 216 [Chapter 7]. Oxford: Radcliffe, pp. 89-101 and 170-1.

Selected Reviews

• D. Provencher: Queer French: Globalization, Language, and Sexual Citizenship in France. Aldershot: Ashgate 2007, in: Theology and Sexuality 15.3 (2009), forthcoming.

• Chang-Quing Shih, The Two Truths in Chinese Buddhism. Delhi 2004, in: Buddhist Studies Review 2006.1, pp. 134-137, ISSN 0256 - 2897.

• L. Grey: A concordance of Buddhist Birth Stories, London 2000, in: Indo-Iranian Journal 46 (2003), 286-289.

• V. Fausbøll: Dhammapada (Pali/Latin). Reprint Mahendrabad 2000, in: Indo-Iranian Journal 44 (2001), 172-3.

Lectures and conference papers

Dr. Scherer has given twenty-four invited lectures, key note addresses and peer-reviewed conference papers in 2006-2008 alone. A list can be viewed here|.

Media and programme books

• "Orpheus' Leier und der Frieden unter den Religionen/Orpheus' lyre and the peace among the world's religions", in: Musica Sacra International, 9.-14. Mai 2008/May 9-14, 2008, pp. 26-35. (bilingual programme book of the renowned Inter-religious Music festival).
• "Alles in Buddha: Schwule und Buddhismus", Interview on Buddhism and Homosexuality for the German monthly Männer (May issue 2008), pp. 54-56.

• En el camino del diamante - 10mins Spanish TV feature/interview; Canal 2, broadcast 21 July 2007.

• "Glaube, Erfahrung und Musik: Religionsübergreifende Perspektiven/Faith, Experience, and Music: Comparative Perspectives", in: Musica Sacra International, 2.-9. Juni 2006/June 2-9, 2006, pp. 24-31 (bilingual programme book of the renowned Inter-religious Music festival).

• Radio Diamant, FRS 99.2 - 30mins long Radio Interview on Buddhism and Academic Research for the German Radio Diamant, in Heidelberg, 16 April 2006 (broadcasted 14 May 2006, 8pm).

• "Budisms nepazīst Dievu, dvēseli un grēku" Republika 19-25 Maijs, 2006, pp. 34-37. [Interview with the Latvian weekly Republika].

Research interests

As philologist and historian of religions, Dr. Scherer holds a strong interest of the Classical (Greek and Latin), the Indian (Sanskrit, Pali) and Tibetan religious traditions as well as in Historical Anthropology.

Apart from the narrative dimension of religions and the interplay of religion and gender, his particular focus is on the Indian Traditions: Hindu and Buddhist narratives and Philosophy, Tantra, and Indo-Tibetan Mahāmudrā.

First among his research students, in December 2007 Pulane E Motswapong (Lecturer in Religious Studies, University of Botswana) successfully defended her thesis on Hindu dowry. In 2009, his MPhil student Manfred Seegers succesfully completed with a thesis on the life and works of the Third Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje.  

Dr Scherer has acted as external examiner at - among others - Bath Spa University (Tibetan Buddhism) and Bielefeld University (Comparative Literature); since 2004, he is the external academic assessor of the International Institute for Tibetan and Asian Studies (ITAS). 

At the present, Dr Scherer supervises another internal full-time PhD student as well as several external PhD students in the areas of Tibetan Art and Contemporary Buddhism.

As a scholar and Buddhist, Dr. Scherer is active within the Inter-religious Dialogue.