Department of Religious Studies and Arabic
| College of Human Sciences |
| School of Humanities |
| Department: Religious Studies and Arabic |
| Professor
|
| Tel: |
012 429 8983
|
| E-mail: |
masongj@unisa.ac.za
|
Qualifications
- Doctor of Literature and Philosophy in Religious Studies (UNISA)
- MA - Wits
- BA (hons) - Wits
Currently teaching
TMS3730, SDRELSD, RST1502, RST3708, RST3712
Fields of academic interests
- Formation of the religious self
- Private and public religious identities
- Religious subjectivity, self-writing and poetry
- Madhyamaka and Zen philosophy
Field of Specialisation
- Religious values of respect, tolerance and kindness
- Religion and education
- Religious experience
- Ecology, nature and sacredness
- Representations of religion in poetry, autobiography and biography
- Buddhism (Madhyamaka and Zen philosophy)
Books
- 2002: The road to Avalon: autobiographies of addiction and recovery, Dream Publications.
Book chapters:
- 1994 Ecological awareness through self-awareness: A dialogue between Albert Schweitzer’s mystical concept of “will-to-live” and General Systems theory, in The relevance of theology for the 1990s, ed. J. Mouton and J.C Lategan, Human Sciences Research Council, Pretoria.
- 2010 Hinduism and Buddhism, in Biblical Studies, Theology and Philosophy: An introduction for African universities, ed. J.N. Amanzi. 2010. Kijabe Printing Press. Kijabe.
- 2016: Mysticism of the heart and life: Schweitzer’s reverence for life as autobiographical philosophy in The legacy of Albert Schweitzer reconsidered, Studia Historiae Eccelsiasticae series, ed. J.J. Spanenberg, Aosis.
Journal articles
- 2014: Is Samsāra actually the same as Nirvāņa? A critical examination of Nāgārjuna’s provocative understanding of emptiness, Journal for the Study of Religion, Vol 27, no. 2.
- 2015: The moral rearmament activist: P.Q. Vundla’s community bridge-building during the boycotts on the Witwatersrand in the mid-1950s, Journal for the Study of Religion, Vol 28 no. 2.
- 2017: Writing against the grain: The challenge of modernism in the autobiographical writings of Francis Banks – Religious educator, Religion & Education, vol 44 Issue 1.
- 2017: A gift of grapes: What biography reveals of the uniquely religious-based frienship between P.Q. Vundla and Nico Ferreira, Journal for the Study of Religion vol 30. No 2. Pp 228-256.
- 2018: The difficulty of reconciliation after the St James Church attack, Religion and Theology 25(1-2), 1-30.
- 2020: Two Gates into Jane Hirshfield’s Poetry, Contemporary Buddhism 21 (1-2), 328-350.
- 2021: The self as a lens through which to study religion: Keiji Nishitani’s ‘Religion and Nothingness’ revisited, HTS 77(2), 1-7.
- 2022: Celebrating J.N. Findlay’s contribution to philosophy: A Mahāyāna Buddhist perspective, HTS 78(2), 1-7.
Paper presentations
ASRSA 43rd Conference 2022 - Celebrating J.N. Findlay’s contribution to philosophy: A Mahāyāna Buddhist perspective,
Professional positions, fellowships & awards
- Chair of Indological Society of Southern Africa 1996-1998
- ASRSA Exec member