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{{Short description|American philosopher}}
{{about||the English cricketer|Paul Griffiths (cricketer, born 1979)|the British businessman and organist|Paul Griffiths (CEO)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{BLP sources|date=December 2012}}
{{BLP sources|date=December 2012}}
{{Infobox academic
'''Paul J. Griffiths''' (born 1955) is an English-born American [[theologian]]. He is the Warren Professor of Catholic Thought at [[Duke Divinity School]].
| name = Paul J. Griffiths
| image =
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| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1955|11|12|df=yes}}
| birth_place = [[London]], England
| death_date = <!-- {{death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} (death date then birth date) -->
| death_place =
| nationality = {{hlist | American | English}}
| home_town =
| spouse = {{marriage|Judith Heyhoe|1975}}
| children =
| parents =
| awards = <!--notable national-level awards only-->
| website = {{official URL}}
| alma_mater = {{ubl | [[University of Oxford]] | [[University of Wisconsin–Madison]]}}
| thesis_title = Indian Buddhist Meditation-Theory<ref>{{cite thesis |last=Griffiths |first=Paul J. |title=Indian Buddhist Meditation-Theory: History, Development and Systematization |degree=PhD |location=Madison, Wisconsin |publisher=University of Wisconsin–Madison |oclc=232359896}}</ref>
| thesis_year = 1983
| school_tradition =
| doctoral_advisor =
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| influences = <!--must be referenced from a third-party source-->
| era =
| discipline = {{hlist | [[Religious studies]] | [[theology]]}}
| sub_discipline = {{hlist | [[Buddhist studies]] | [[philosophical theology]]}}
| workplaces = {{ubl | [[University of Wisconsin–Madison]] | [[University of Chicago]] | [[University of Notre Dame]] | [[University of Illinois at Chicago]] | [[Duke University]]}}
| doctoral_students = <!--only those with WP articles-->
| notable_students = <!--only those with WP articles-->
| main_interests =
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| signature =
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}}
'''Paul J. Griffiths''' (born 1955) is an English-born American [[theologian]]. He was the Warren Professor of Catholic Thought at [[Duke Divinity School]].


==Career==
==Life and career==
Griffiths has held appointments at the [[University of Notre Dame]], [[University of Illinois at Chicago]] and the [[University of Chicago]]. A scholar of [[Augustine of Hippo|Augustine]], Griffiths' main interests and pursuits are [[philosophical theology]] and the [[philosophy]] of [[religion]]&mdash;particularly [[Christianity]] and [[Buddhism]]. He received a doctoral degree in Buddhist Studies in 1983 from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and his early works established him as one of the most incisive interpreters of [[Yogācāra]] Buddhist philosophy. His works on [[Buddhism]] include ''On Being Mindless'' (Lasalle, IL: Open Court, 1991) and ''On Being Buddha'' (Albany: SUNY Press, 1994). After converting from [[Anglicanism]] to [[Roman Catholicism]] and accepting the Schmitt Chair of Catholic Studies at UIC, he has largely given up his work in Buddhist Studies. His recent books include: ''Problems of Religious Diversity'' (Oxford: Blackwell, 2001); ''Philosophy of Religion: A Reader'' (co-edited with Charles Taliaferro) (Oxford: Blackwell, 2003); and, ''Lying: An Augustinian Theology of Duplicity'' (Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2004). His latest book deals with curiositas and the nature of intellectual appetite; its title is: ''Intellectual Appetite: A Theological Grammar''.
Griffiths was born in [[London]], England, on 12 November 1955. Griffiths has held appointments at the [[University of Notre Dame]], [[University of Illinois at Chicago]], and the [[University of Chicago]]. A scholar of [[Augustine of Hippo]], Griffiths' main interests and pursuits are [[philosophical theology]] and the [[philosophy of religion]]&nbsp;particularly [[Christianity]] and [[Buddhism]]. He received a doctorate in Buddhist studies in 1983 from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and his early works established him as one of the most incisive interpreters of [[Yogācāra]] Buddhist philosophy.{{citation needed|date=February 2018}} His works on [[Buddhism]] include ''On Being Mindless'' (Lasalle, IL: Open Court, 1991) and ''On Being Buddha'' (Albany: SUNY Press, 1994). After converting from [[Anglicanism]] to [[Roman Catholicism]] and accepting the Schmitt Chair of Catholic Studies at UIC, he has largely given up his work in Buddhist studies. His recent books include: ''Problems of Religious Diversity'' (Oxford: Blackwell, 2001); ''Philosophy of Religion: A Reader'' (co-edited with Charles Taliaferro) (Oxford: Blackwell, 2003); and, ''Lying: An Augustinian Theology of Duplicity'' (Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2004). His latest book deals with curiositas and the nature of intellectual appetite; its title is: ''Intellectual Appetite: A Theological Grammar'' ([[Catholic University of America Press]]). According to the faculty pages at Duke Divinity School, Griffiths has published ten books as sole author and seven more as co-author or editor.


==Duke controversy==
Griffiths acted as an adviser for the pope during his state visit to the UK.{{citation needed|date=October 2012}}
Griffiths resigned from Duke Divinity School in May 2017 after being reprimanded by Duke Divinity School administration.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/duke-professor-resigns-after-facing-discipline-for-challenging-diversity-training/118283 |title=Duke Professor Resigns After Facing Discipline for Challenging Diversity Training |publisher=Chronicle of Higher Education |access-date=May 23, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191012023832/https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/duke-professor-resigns-after-facing-discipline-for-challenging-diversity-training/118283 |archive-date=October 12, 2019 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The reprimand stemmed from his response to a faculty-wide mass-email urging members to participate in voluntary Racial Equity training. Griffiths had replied with his own mass-email that called such training "anti-intellectual", that it had "illiberal roots and totalitarian tendencies", and that such "(Re)trainings of intellectuals by bureaucrats and apparatchiks have a long and ignoble history."<ref name=Dreher>{{cite web|title=Duke Divinity Crisis: The Documents Are Out|date=May 7, 2021|author=Rod Dreher|publisher=The American Conservative|url=https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/duke-divinity-crisis-griffiths-documents/}}</ref><ref name=Schmidt>{{cite web|title=Duke Professor Resigns After Facing Discipline for Challenging Diversity Training|author=Peter Schmidt|date=May 9, 2017|publisher=The Chronicle of Higher Education|url=https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/duke-professor-resigns-after-facing-discipline-for-challenging-diversity-training}}</ref> When disciplinary proceedings began over the professionalism of his conduct, Griffiths sent out another email saying that the proceedings were an effort "not to engage and rebut the views I hold and have expressed about the matters mentioned, but rather to discipline me for having expressed them. …In doing so they act illiberally and anti-intellectually; their action shows totalitarian affinities in its preferred method, which is the veiled use of institutional power."<ref name=Dreher/>
He lambasted those behind the proceedings saying "The convictions that some of my colleagues hold about justice for racial, ethnic, and gender minorities have led them to attempt occupation of a place of unassailably luminous moral probity. That’s a utopia, and those who seek it place themselves outside the space of reason. Once you’ve made that move, those who disagree with you inevitably seem corrupt and dangerous, better removed than argued with, while you seem to yourself beyond criticism. What you do then is discipline your opponents."<ref name=Dreher/> He called on them to "reconsider, repent, make public apology to me and our colleagues for the damage done, and re-dedicate themselves to the life of the mind."<ref name=Dreher/>

In an essay about his resignation Griffiths stated that his words and behavior were "in critique of university diversity policies and practices, in support of particular freedoms of expression and thought, and against legal and disciplinary constraints of those freedoms. My university superiors, the dean and the provost, have been at best lukewarm in their support of these freedoms, preferring to them conciliation and accommodation of their opponents."<ref name=resigned>{{cite web|title=Why I resigned from Duke|publisher=The Chronicle of Higher Education|date=June 25, 2017|author=Paul J. Griffiths|url=https://www.chronicle.com/article/why-i-resigned-from-duke/}}</ref> He held that élite universities no longer have "tolerance for argument."<ref name=resigned/>


== Buddhist hybrid English ==
== Buddhist hybrid English ==


Griffiths coined the term ''Buddhist hybrid English'' as an analogy to [[Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit]] to designate the often incomprehensible result of attempts to faithfully translate Buddhist texts into English.<ref name=arnold>{{citation | year=2005 | title = Buddhists, brahmins, and belief: epistemology in South Asian philosophy of religion | author1=Daniel Anderson Arnold | publisher=Columbia University Press | isbn=9780231132800 | page=223 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4YE9H1B7BMEC&pg=PA223&dq=%22buddhist+hybrid+english%22}}</ref> This effort often involves the creation of entirely new English phrases for [[Sanskrit]], [[Standard Tibetan|Tibetan]], [[Standard Mandarin|Chinese]], or [[Japanese language|Japanese]] phrases, the use of English words in uncharacteristic ways, and heavy reliance on [[calque]]s.
Griffiths coined the term ''Buddhist hybrid English'' as an analogy to [[Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit]] to designate the often incomprehensible result of attempts to faithfully translate Buddhist texts into English.<ref name=arnold>{{citation | year=2005 | title = Buddhists, Brahmins, and Belief: Epistemology in South Asian Philosophy of Religion | author1=Daniel Anderson Arnold | publisher=Columbia University Press | isbn=9780231132800 | page=223 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4YE9H1B7BMEC&q=%22buddhist+hybrid+english%22&pg=PA223}}</ref> This effort often involves the creation of entirely new English phrases for [[Sanskrit]], [[Pali]], [[Standard Tibetan|Tibetan]], [[Standard Mandarin|Chinese]], or [[Japanese language|Japanese]] phrases, the use of English words in uncharacteristic ways, and heavy reliance on [[calque]]s.


An example Buddhist Hybrid English phrase is "own-being" to translate Sanskrit ''svabhāva'' in contexts where it is used as a technical philosophical term, equivalent to English ''essence''.<ref name=arnold/>
An example Buddhist Hybrid English phrase is "own-being" to translate Sanskrit ''svabhāva'' in contexts where it is used as a technical philosophical term, equivalent to English ''essence''.<ref name=arnold/>

== Bibliography ==
{{Incomplete list |date=June 2023}}{{bots|deny=Citation bot}}

===Books===
* ''On Being Mindless'' (Lasalle, IL: Open Court, 1991)
* ''On Being Buddha'' (Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 1994)
* ''Problems of Religious Diversity'' (Oxford: Blackwell, 2001)
* ''Philosophy of Religion: A Reader'' (co-edited with Charles Taliaferro) (Oxford: Blackwell, 2003)
* ''Lying: An Augustinian Theology of Duplicity'' (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2004)
* ''Intellectual Appetite: A Theological Grammar'' (Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 2009)
* ''Song of Songs'' (Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible) (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Publishing Group, 2011).
* ''The Practice of Catholic Theology: A Modest Proposal'' (Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2016).
* ''Christian Flesh'' (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2018)
* ''Regret: A Theology'' (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2021)
* ''Why Read Pascal?'' (Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2021)
* ''Israel: A Christian Grammar'' (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2023)

=== Articles ===
* Griffiths, Paul J. (1981). "Buddhist Hybrid English: Some Notes on Philology and Hermeneutics for Buddhologists" ''The Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies'' 4(2): 17-32

===Book reviews===
{|class='wikitable sortable' width='90%'
|-
!|Year
!class='unsortable'|Review article
!class='unsortable'|Work(s) reviewed
|-
|2023
|{{cite journal |author=Griffiths, Paul J. |date=January 2023 |title=Mourned or lamented? |journal=Commonweal |volume=150 |issue=1 |pages=54–56 |url=https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/mourning-lament-jonathan-lear-paul-griffiths |url-access=limited <!--|access-date=2023-06-07-->}}<ref group=lower-alpha>Online version is titled "The philosophy of mourning".</ref>
|{{cite book |author=Lear, Jonathan |author-mask=Jonathan Lear |title=Imagining the end : mourning and ethical Life |publisher=Harvard University Press |date=2022}}
|}
———————
;Notes
{{reflist|40em|group=lower-alpha}}


== References ==
== References ==
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== External links ==
== External links ==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20190527005754/https://pauljgriffiths.net/ Official website]
* [http://theotherjournal.com/2008/08/07/whither-the-university-a-conversation-with-paul-griffiths-on-theology-and-education/ An Interview with Paul Griffiths]
* [http://theotherjournal.com/2008/08/07/whither-the-university-a-conversation-with-paul-griffiths-on-theology-and-education/ An Interview with Paul Griffiths]
* Griffiths. Paul J. (1981) ‘Buddhist Hybrid English: Some Notes on Philology and Hermeneutics for Buddhologists.’ ''[http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/ojs/index.php/jiabs/article/download/8546/2453 Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies]'' 4(2): 17-32.
{{Authority control}}
{{Authority control}}


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[[Category:1955 births]]
[[Category:1955 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:20th-century American Roman Catholic theologians]]
[[Category:21st-century American Roman Catholic theologians]]
[[Category:American Buddhist studies scholars]]
[[Category:American religion academics]]
[[Category:British religion academics]]
[[Category:British scholars of Buddhism]]
[[Category:Catholic philosophers]]
[[Category:Commonweal (magazine) people]]
[[Category:Converts to Roman Catholicism from Anglicanism]]
[[Category:Converts to Roman Catholicism from Anglicanism]]
[[Category:Duke University faculty]]
[[Category:Duke Divinity School faculty]]
[[Category:English Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:English Roman Catholic theologians]]
[[Category:Roman Catholic philosophers]]
[[Category:University of Chicago Divinity School faculty]]
[[Category:University of Chicago Divinity School faculty]]
[[Category:University of Illinois at Chicago faculty]]
[[Category:University of Illinois Chicago faculty]]
[[Category:University of Notre Dame faculty]]
[[Category:University of Notre Dame faculty]]
[[Category:University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni]]
[[Category:University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni]]
[[Category:University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty]]

Latest revision as of 19:57, 14 March 2024

Paul J. Griffiths
Born (1955-11-12) 12 November 1955 (age 68)
London, England
Nationality
  • American
  • English
Spouse
Judith Heyhoe
(m. 1975)
Academic background
Alma mater
ThesisIndian Buddhist Meditation-Theory[1] (1983)
Academic work
Discipline
Sub-discipline
Institutions

Paul J. Griffiths (born 1955) is an English-born American theologian. He was the Warren Professor of Catholic Thought at Duke Divinity School.

Life and career

[edit]

Griffiths was born in London, England, on 12 November 1955. Griffiths has held appointments at the University of Notre Dame, University of Illinois at Chicago, and the University of Chicago. A scholar of Augustine of Hippo, Griffiths' main interests and pursuits are philosophical theology and the philosophy of religion – particularly Christianity and Buddhism. He received a doctorate in Buddhist studies in 1983 from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and his early works established him as one of the most incisive interpreters of Yogācāra Buddhist philosophy.[citation needed] His works on Buddhism include On Being Mindless (Lasalle, IL: Open Court, 1991) and On Being Buddha (Albany: SUNY Press, 1994). After converting from Anglicanism to Roman Catholicism and accepting the Schmitt Chair of Catholic Studies at UIC, he has largely given up his work in Buddhist studies. His recent books include: Problems of Religious Diversity (Oxford: Blackwell, 2001); Philosophy of Religion: A Reader (co-edited with Charles Taliaferro) (Oxford: Blackwell, 2003); and, Lying: An Augustinian Theology of Duplicity (Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2004). His latest book deals with curiositas and the nature of intellectual appetite; its title is: Intellectual Appetite: A Theological Grammar (Catholic University of America Press). According to the faculty pages at Duke Divinity School, Griffiths has published ten books as sole author and seven more as co-author or editor.

Duke controversy

[edit]

Griffiths resigned from Duke Divinity School in May 2017 after being reprimanded by Duke Divinity School administration.[2] The reprimand stemmed from his response to a faculty-wide mass-email urging members to participate in voluntary Racial Equity training. Griffiths had replied with his own mass-email that called such training "anti-intellectual", that it had "illiberal roots and totalitarian tendencies", and that such "(Re)trainings of intellectuals by bureaucrats and apparatchiks have a long and ignoble history."[3][4] When disciplinary proceedings began over the professionalism of his conduct, Griffiths sent out another email saying that the proceedings were an effort "not to engage and rebut the views I hold and have expressed about the matters mentioned, but rather to discipline me for having expressed them. …In doing so they act illiberally and anti-intellectually; their action shows totalitarian affinities in its preferred method, which is the veiled use of institutional power."[3] He lambasted those behind the proceedings saying "The convictions that some of my colleagues hold about justice for racial, ethnic, and gender minorities have led them to attempt occupation of a place of unassailably luminous moral probity. That’s a utopia, and those who seek it place themselves outside the space of reason. Once you’ve made that move, those who disagree with you inevitably seem corrupt and dangerous, better removed than argued with, while you seem to yourself beyond criticism. What you do then is discipline your opponents."[3] He called on them to "reconsider, repent, make public apology to me and our colleagues for the damage done, and re-dedicate themselves to the life of the mind."[3]

In an essay about his resignation Griffiths stated that his words and behavior were "in critique of university diversity policies and practices, in support of particular freedoms of expression and thought, and against legal and disciplinary constraints of those freedoms. My university superiors, the dean and the provost, have been at best lukewarm in their support of these freedoms, preferring to them conciliation and accommodation of their opponents."[5] He held that élite universities no longer have "tolerance for argument."[5]

Buddhist hybrid English

[edit]

Griffiths coined the term Buddhist hybrid English as an analogy to Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit to designate the often incomprehensible result of attempts to faithfully translate Buddhist texts into English.[6] This effort often involves the creation of entirely new English phrases for Sanskrit, Pali, Tibetan, Chinese, or Japanese phrases, the use of English words in uncharacteristic ways, and heavy reliance on calques.

An example Buddhist Hybrid English phrase is "own-being" to translate Sanskrit svabhāva in contexts where it is used as a technical philosophical term, equivalent to English essence.[6]

Bibliography

[edit]

Books

[edit]
  • On Being Mindless (Lasalle, IL: Open Court, 1991)
  • On Being Buddha (Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 1994)
  • Problems of Religious Diversity (Oxford: Blackwell, 2001)
  • Philosophy of Religion: A Reader (co-edited with Charles Taliaferro) (Oxford: Blackwell, 2003)
  • Lying: An Augustinian Theology of Duplicity (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2004)
  • Intellectual Appetite: A Theological Grammar (Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 2009)
  • Song of Songs (Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible) (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Publishing Group, 2011).
  • The Practice of Catholic Theology: A Modest Proposal (Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2016).
  • Christian Flesh (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2018)
  • Regret: A Theology (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2021)
  • Why Read Pascal? (Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2021)
  • Israel: A Christian Grammar (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2023)

Articles

[edit]
  • Griffiths, Paul J. (1981). "Buddhist Hybrid English: Some Notes on Philology and Hermeneutics for Buddhologists" The Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 4(2): 17-32

Book reviews

[edit]
Year Review article Work(s) reviewed
2023 Griffiths, Paul J. (January 2023). "Mourned or lamented?". Commonweal. 150 (1): 54–56.[a] Jonathan Lear (2022). Imagining the end : mourning and ethical Life. Harvard University Press.

———————

Notes
  1. ^ Online version is titled "The philosophy of mourning".

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Griffiths, Paul J. Indian Buddhist Meditation-Theory: History, Development and Systematization (PhD thesis). Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin–Madison. OCLC 232359896.
  2. ^ "Duke Professor Resigns After Facing Discipline for Challenging Diversity Training". Chronicle of Higher Education. Archived from the original on 12 October 2019. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
  3. ^ a b c d Rod Dreher (7 May 2021). "Duke Divinity Crisis: The Documents Are Out". The American Conservative.
  4. ^ Peter Schmidt (9 May 2017). "Duke Professor Resigns After Facing Discipline for Challenging Diversity Training". The Chronicle of Higher Education.
  5. ^ a b Paul J. Griffiths (25 June 2017). "Why I resigned from Duke". The Chronicle of Higher Education.
  6. ^ a b Daniel Anderson Arnold (2005), Buddhists, Brahmins, and Belief: Epistemology in South Asian Philosophy of Religion, Columbia University Press, p. 223, ISBN 9780231132800
[edit]