My name is Dr. Kegan Chandler (PhD, Religious Studies, University of Cape Town). I am currently a researcher at the Centre for the Study of Asian Religions (CSAR) in the Department for the Study of Religions at the University of Cape Town.
My specializations are in History of Religion, Comparative Religion, Philosophy of Religion, and Moral Philosophy.
My particular areas of research include: Japanese religions; Confucianism; New Religious Movements; Monotheism; Christology; History of Christianity; Graeco-Roman religions; Unitarian theology; Trinitarian theology; Original sin; Constantine the Great; Christianity in Japan; Millenarianism; Method and theory in the study of religions; and Moral philosophy.
My doctoral research (2023) was centered on monotheism in Japanese religions, namely in Japan’s early shinshūkyō (new religions 新宗教) or new religious movements, e.g. Nyoraikyō, Kurozumikyō, Tenrikyō, Konkōkyō, Ōmotokyō; and also in historical Japanese Neo-Confucian, nationalist (Kokugaku), Kakure Kirishitan (Hidden Christian), and Shinto-related movements. My research also focused heavily on methodology and taxonomies in the study of religions. I had the honor of being supervised by Prof. Elisabetta Porcu, author of Pure Land Buddhism in Modern Japanese Culture (Brill 2008) and founding editor of Brill’s Journal of Religion in Japan.
A book based on my dissertation is now under contract with Routledge, to be published in the Routledge Studies in Religion series. Title: Monotheism in the New Religious Movements of Japan: Historical and Taxonomical Challenges in Western Studies (abstract here; release date TBD).
So far my research in the history of religion has focused largely on the development, transmigration, and transformation of monotheism in various global contexts (e.g. the Roman empire in the fourth century; first-century Israel; early modern England; and early modern Japan). These explorations have produced a variety of publications in academic journals (see here for my Academia.edu page). Alongside this continued focus on issues related to monotheism (and Christology), my current research areas also include methodological and theoretical issues in the study of religions (including the category of ‘religious syncretism’; the treatment of new religious movements; issues related to “Orientalism” and postcolonial theory), and also questions in the Philosophy of Religion (including theistic metaphysics; the challenge of religious diversity), as well as other issues in Philosophy, namely ethics and moral philosophy and the philosophy of mind.
Supplementing specific questions of Christian doctrine (especially the history of unitarian theology), my past research has also pursued Hermetic and other so-called “gnostic” concepts in late antiquity, mapping their developmental relationships with Christian doctrines like the doctrine of the trinity and the doctrine of original sin. My Master’s thesis at Campbellsville University’s School of Theology (“Origins of Sin: The Novi Heretici and the Metaphysics of Disobedience”) was on the historicity of the claims of Augustine of Hippo to hold to the earliest Christian doctrine of sin and the relationship between his thought and Manichaen-gnostic moral philosophy, a project supervised by Church historian Dr. Joseph Early Jr., author of A History of Christianity (B&H Academic 2015) and Because of Eve (Universal 2022). During my Masters, I also conducted supervised research on “pagan monotheism” and Hermeticism in relationship to the religion of fourth-century Roman emperor Constantine. Receiving also the guidance of Dr. Dale Tuggy (then professor of Philosophy of Religion at SUNY Fredonia, author of What is the Trinity?, 2017), this research was published as Constantine and the Divine Mind: The Imperial Quest for Primitive Monotheism (Wipf and Stock 2019) (see here), and a portion of this research was also published in the Journal of Early Christian History (here) in 2021.
Alongside my work as a scholar of religion, I’ve also been known to lead a double life as a theologian and amateur philosopher operating somewhere in the nexus between Confucianism and unitarian Christian theology, and I am currently serving as the Vice Chair of the Unitarian Christian Alliance, an educational and networking organization formed in 2019. I am also the host of Exploring Religion, an academic YouTube Channel/Podcast (see here).
My personal inspirations in the study of religions include Elisabetta Porcu, Pier Franco Beatrice, Higashibaba Ikuo, Bryan Van Norden, Thomas A. Lewis, and Kevin Schilbrack. My philosophical inspirations include Confucius, Mencius, Wang Yang-ming, Ramanuja, and the Japanese Neo-Confucian Nakae Toju; as well as contemporary philosophers Michael Slote and Dale Tuggy.
Outside of these interests, I am also a collector of classic Chinese and Japanese movies, classic video games, science fiction novels, and anything Godzilla-related. My wife and I are also avid watchers of sumo. We have also been blessed with four incredible sons.
With so many interests and responsibilities I don’t have as much time as I would like to update this website; nevertheless, I hope you will be blessed by what is available. I apologize in advance for any deficiencies in my scholarship as I continue to improve my own understanding of the study of religion and our religious world. Know that any errors you may encounter here or elsewhere are entirely my own and are not the fault of those who have kindly advised and supervised me during my travels.
KC
Kegan Chandler, PhD 