located in Hua Mak with a new campus in Bang Na, started master’s degree
courses in philosophy and religious studies in June 1993. Starting with a
Christian outlook, the university’s Graduate School of Philosophy and Religion,
‘strives to form graduates trained in philosophy and religion, with high
intellectual, moral and human values, who can be a beacon of light in their
own communities’ (www.philo-religion.au.edu/). The postgraduate program
in the school is defined by inter-disciplinarity and pluralism, grounded in the
‘harmony between Eastern and Western thought in philosophy, religion and
science’ (ibid.). It offers both masters and doctoral degrees in Philosophy and
Religious Studies. All classes are conducted in English, and the school boasts
an international student body. In addition to holding regular lecture series,
conferences, and workshops, the school is unique in having founded a journal,
Prajna Vihara (from the Sanskrit meaning ‘temple of wisdom’). This biannual
publication is defined as a ‘multicultural, pluralistic journal of philosophy and
religious studies dedicated to the promotion of mutual understanding among
the peoples of the world’, in addition to being ‘a forum for frank but responsible
discussion of issues in philosophy and religion’ (ibid.). Here, too, the listed
modules of study encompass a huge range of philosophies and religious
traditions. The sheer number of courses on offer is staggering: 105 at both at
the MA and PhD levels.
The following illustrative selective listing by no means does justice to what
is offered: ‘Methodology for Research in Philosophy and Religion’, ‘Seminar
in Process Studies’, ‘Phenomenology’, ‘Seminar in Psychology of Religion’,
‘Interfaith Dialogue’, ‘Zen and Comparative Studies’, ‘Tripitika Studies’,
‘Feminism and Religion’, ‘Liberation Theology’, ‘Buddhist Ethics’, ‘The Koran
Studies’, and ‘Religion and Science’. In my assessment, in the Southeast Asian
region, this graduate program comes closest to classical formulations of the
field of ‘Religious Studies’ in encapsulating this sweep of disciplines (history,
psychology, philosophy, sociology, and anthropology) and religious traditions
(Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, Catholicism, Hinduism, Taoism, etc.) in the
spirit of mutual appreciation and inter-religious dialogue.
The second of the Thai tertiary institutions, Mahidol University, is also
something of a pioneering entity, having spearheaded the institutionalization
of the academic study of religion. The university has deep historical roots, going
back to 1889 in the founding of Siriraj Hospital, the first medical school in
the country. The full-fledged ‘Mahidol University’ was established in 1969 and
has expanded to a full tertiary institution. The Department of Humanities in
the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities offers a comprehensive MA in
comparative religion. The objectives of this program are cogently expressed
in the department website and worth citing in full:
The Program marks a significant step in the University’s effort to implement
a program of research and teaching which cover [sic] the whole range of
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