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Ralph H. Craig III is a scholar of religion whose research focuses on pre-modern South Asian Buddhism and late nineteenth- and twentieth-century American religious history. He received his B.A. in Theological Studies at Loyola Marymount University and his Ph.D. in Religious Studies at Stanford University. His dissertation is a study of early medieval representations of Buddhist preachers across South Asian Buddhist literature. His research interests include religious authority, religious experience, religion and race, popular culture, memoir, metaphysics, meditation/yoga studies, ritual and performance studies, intellectual history, and philosophy. He has a forthcoming religious biography of Tina Turner titled, Dancing in My Dreams: A Spiritual Biography of Tina Turner (Eerdmans Publishing, 2023), which explores the place of religion in the life and career of Tina Turner and examines her development as a Black Buddhist teacher. His future projects include a monograph on Buddhist preachers in Mahāyāna Buddhist sūtras, a Black Buddhism documentary reader, and a monograph on the SGI-USA Nichiren Buddhist organization.
Religion
Dancing in My Dreams: A Spiritual Biography of Tina Turner (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishing, 2023). (also Amazon)
"How the practice of Nichiren Buddhism sustained Tina Turner for 50 years." Written by Ralph H. Craig III. The Conversation. May 26, 2023.
"Some Will Hear: Tina Turner, African American Buddhist Teacher." American Religion. Volume 4. Number 1. Fall 2022. 1–33. muse.jhu.edu/article/870277.
"Grace, Symbol, & Liturgy: Constructing the Theological Anthropology of Nichiren Daishonin." The Journal of Buddhist-Christian Studies. Volume 38. 2018. 267–285. 10.1353/bcs.2018.0023.
"Commentary: What Stories Do We Allow Ourselves to Hear?" Buddhadharma 20 (Winter 2022).