Eric Swanson

Eric Haruki Swanson is an Assistant Professor of Theological Studies at Loyola Marymount University. He received his B.A. in Religion from Indiana University Bloomington, his M.A. in Esoteric Buddhist Studies from Koyasan University in Japan, and Ph.D. in East Asian Languages and Civilizations, with a concentration on Religion and Philosophy, from Harvard University. He is a historian of religion who studies religious traditions of Japan through the examination of literature, visual material, ritual practices, and performance arts, and considers the role of religious institutions and its actors within broader cultural patterns, political agendas, and expressions of religious identity. His current projects include a study of scholar-monk Jien (1155-1225) and his establishment of Buddhist ritual programs for the restoration of social order in the Kamakura period (1185-1333), and discourses on “peace of mind” (anjin) and the negotiation of salvation among Shingon Buddhist priests within the rapidly changing social landscape of Meiji Japan (1868-1912).