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Daniel Perdue, PhD
Assistant Professor of Religious Studies |
Since joining the faculty in Religious Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University in 1999, Daniel Perdue has been able to develop several new courses that are now regular offerings in the University Bulletin and which are cross-referenced in several majors and minors.
First is Religious Studies 322 "Tibetan Buddhism," which is generally offered in Fall semesters. His graduate studies focused on South Asian religions, especially Hinduism and Buddhism, and within that especially on Tibetan Buddhism, so this course is a natural
fit for him and is one of those courses in which the professor is able to speak out of a wealth of understanding and perspective that is greater than one can easily convey in one semester. Second is Religious Studies 342 "Buddhist Reasoning and Debate." The
subject of his masters thesis and dissertation at the University of Virginia was the ancient system of philosophical debate practiced in Buddhist India prior to the Mughal invasions of the ninth century and later in the monastic universities of Tibet up until the
present day. This is an unusual four-credit course reflecting the intensity of the requirements and the workload. This class is always limited to no more than twenty students in order to allow more interaction between the students and him, and among the students.
Also, since this course emphasizes the development of verbal skills for rational discourse, it is like a language course. As one former student said, "This course is like learning a new language and then having to learn new concepts in that language." Almost
everyone who has ever taken this course at VCU describes it as challenging but rewarding. Third is Religious Studies 368 "Asian Religions and Asian Medical Systems." The course begins with a consideration of the separation of science and spirituality in the
modern American setting and then surveys three important medical systems developed in Asia --Hindu Ayurveda, Chinese Daoist medicine, and Tibetan Buddhist medicine--against the backdrop of their underlying religious traditions. Fitting with the placement of this course
in the Religious Studies catalog, the theme of the course is the possibility of an "ultimate wellness," a state of abiding and stable wellness beyond the threat of any illness, a state that these spiritual systems say one may gain through liberation, as
indicated in the medical analogy of the four noble truths. This course fits in with VCU's emphasis on the life sciences.
In addition, Daniel Perdue has developed an innovative new International Studies focus called "Health in Global Perspective," which includes study in several areas: (1) images of health and wellness as defined in different cultures, (2) issues of medical morality
such as abortion, cloning, stem cell research, and distribution of health care services, (3) the meeting of traditional spirituality and science as seen in discussions of such topics as evolution and identification of the nature of life, and (4) complementary and
alternative medicine. The program is a gathering of interdisciplinary topics related to the life sciences. |
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