Michael Walsh

Michael J. Walsh is an Associate Professor at Vassar College in the Department of Religion, as well as an active member of the Asian Studies Program. He teaches courses on the cultural history of the study of religion, China’s political and socioreligious culture, methods and theories in the study of religion, Buddhism and monastic life, colonialism and religion, violence and religion, and the production of sacred space and cultural geography. His first book Sacred Economies: Buddhist Monasticism and Territoriality in Medieval China is published by Columbia University Press. His most recent book, published in February 2020, also by Columbia University Press, is Stating the Sacred: Religion, China, and the Formation of the Nation-State. He is currently working on a biography of Buddhist temple space. At the College he has served on numerous committees including FASC and the President’s cabinet. He has also served as chair of the Religion department for four years, and Director of Asian Studies for three years. He is currently the Chair of the Religion Department.