Expertise

Global religion; Buddhism; Chinese religions; early Chinese Buddhist scriptures

At the Keough School

Alexander O. Hsu is an assistant teaching professor of global affairs in the Keough School of Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame. He is director of undergraduate studies at the Keough School’s Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies and academic advisor at the Ansari Institute for Global Engagement with Religion. He also manages Faith in the Story: Trialogues for Enhancing Religious Literacy with Mahan Mirza at the Ansari Institute.

Courses

• Connecting Asia: Pasts, Presents, Futures (undergraduate course in global affairs or Asian studies)
• Introduction to Buddhism (undergraduate course, Asian studies )
• Engaging Religions: An Introduction to Religion and Global Affairs (undergraduate course, global affairs)
• Asian Spiritualities and Global Affairs (undergraduate course, global affairs)

Biography

Hsu holds a PhD in history of religions from the University of Chicago Divinity School. His research focuses on early Buddhist scriptures in medieval China and employs perspectives from manuscript studies, genre theory, and cultural history in order to examine how the use of texts reflects transformations in religious reading practices. Hsu’s current book project examines why and how medieval Chinese Buddhists used anthologies to “economize” their gigantic scriptural canon.

Research and Publications

Journal Article: “Making Canon Practicable: Scaling the Tripiṭaka with a Medieval Chinese Buddhist Anthology.“ (History of Religions)

Journal Article: “Coming to Terms with ‘Engaged Buddhism’: Provincializing, Periodizing, and Politicizing the Concept.“ (Journal of Global Buddhism)