Gil Raz

|Associate Professor
Academic Appointments

Associate Professor of Religion

Gil Raz specializes in Chinese Religion, with a particular interest in Daoism, and the interaction between Daoism, popular religious practices, and Buddhism. Between studies in History and Religious Studies in Hebrew University (B.A., 1992) and Chinese Religions in Indiana University (M.A., 1996; Ph.D., 2004), he spent several years in China and Taiwan, studying and working with Daoist priests. His recent book Emergence of Daoism: Creation of Tradition (Routledge, 2012) examines the formation of the Daoist religious tradition between the second and fifth centuries C.E. His research interests include Daoist ritual, both historical and contemporary, Daoist sacred geography and mythology, traditional divination systems, and concepts of the body and sexual practices in Chinese religions.

Contact

646-9390
Thornton, Room 312
HB 6036

Education

  • B.A. Hebrew University, Jerusalem
  • M.A. Indiana University
  • Ph.D. Indiana University

Selected Publications

  • “Imbibing the Universe: Methods of Ingesting the Five Sprouts,” Asian Medicine, Tradition and Modernity 7 (2013).

    “The Way of the Yellow and the Red: Sexual Practice in Early Daoism,” Nan Nü, Men, Women and Gender in China 10 (2008).

    “Time Manipulation in Early Daoist Ritual: The East Well Chart and the Eight Archivists,” Asia Major 18 (2005)

  • The Emergence of Daoism: Creation of Tradition. (London: Routledge Press, 2012).