August 10, 2013
By: James Miller
James Miller, Dan Smyer Yu and Peter van der Veer, eds. 2014. Religion and Ecological Sustainability in China. New York: Routledge. This book sheds light on the social imagination of nature and environment in contemporary China. It demonstrates how the urgent debate...
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July 9, 2013
By: James Miller
At the end of June I had the privilege of speaking at the Chautauqua Institution in upstate New York. The topic for the week was the film Journey of the Universe, by Brian Swimme and Mary Evelyn Tucker. If you...
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May 25, 2013
By: James Miller
[caption id="attachment_646" align="alignright" width="300"] A view over the Forbidden City in Beijing[/caption] In a recent column in Nature, Qiang Wang argues that responsibility for transforming China's environment lies with its citizens. He points to several instances in which local protests...
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March 16, 2013
By: James Miller
Daniel M. Murray and James Miller. 2013. "The Daoist Society of Brazil and the Globalization of Orthodox Unity." Journal of Daoist Studies 6: 93-114. Abstract Taken out of Chinese cultural context, Daoism is often associated with physical cultivation practices such as qigong...
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August 16, 2012
By: James Miller
In 2012 students at Queen's University interviewed me for a video project to help introduce new students to life at Queen's. Here are some of the clips that focus on my approach to teaching. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSmSWGaw9w0?rel=0&w=480&h=360]
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June 26, 2012
By: James Miller
In an online report on Religious Innovation for Sustainable Future (no longer available), Nina Witoszek (Oslo University) surveys a "pastoral renaissance" taking place across the globe. [caption id="attachment_619" align="alignright" width="300"] Image from www.ceres21.org[/caption] This renaissance, she declares, is "not just...
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June 7, 2012
By: James Miller
A recent news story on Reuters, headlined Thou Shalt Not Launch IPOs, China tells temples, reports that the State Administration for Religious Affairs (SARA) has issued an injunction against temples listing on the stock exchange. SARA official Liu Wei is...
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March 26, 2012
By: James Miller
A conservation biologist by training, I first arrived in Xishuangbanna because of my interest in the ecological value of sacred groves called “holy hills,” fragments of old-growth rainforest that remain protected by indigenous Dai people despite rapid deforestation due to...
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March 1, 2012
By: James Miller
For the past six months I've been working with Dan Smyer Yu from the Max Planck Institute for Religious and Ethnic Diversity on a conference which is finally taking place next week at Minzu University in Beijing. The title of...
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February 12, 2012
By: James Miller
This term I have the privilege of co-teaching a new seminar course at Queen's (with Emily Hill) on the topic of Green China: Environment, Culture, Politics. The course examines the intersections between religion, culture, politics, and the natural environment in China...
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