[Buddha-l] Question for acedemic teachers of Buddhism

[Alex Wilding]

First I must point out that I'm not qualified by any means to sit in
judgement. A perusal of Eckel's own write-up at "The Teaching Company"
offers no solid evidence, but does have a certain aroma to it - there are
grounds for wondering.
Specifically:
> Malcolm David Eckel is Associate Professor of Religion at Boston
University.
> He holds two bachelors degrees, one in English from Harvard University
> and a second in Theology from Oxford University. Professor Eckel earned
> his Masters in Theology at Oxford and his Ph.D. in the study of
Comparative
> Religion at Harvard.

> In addition to his position at Boston University, he has held teaching
positions
> at Ohio Wesleyan University, Middlebury College in Vermont, and the
Harvard
> Divinity School, where he served as Acting Director of the Center for the
Study
> of World Religions.

> At Boston University, Professor Eckel teaches courses on Buddhism,
> comparative religion, and the religions of Asia.

Very good. As an alumnus of Oxford myself, however, I think I'm empowered to
declare a whiff of the old-school Christianity-centred treatment of other
religions - the "museum curator" approach. The whiff could, of course, be
misleading, but it is there.
That he *did* (past tense) a doctorate in "Comparative Religion" is not
strange - presumably that was many years ago. That he still does choose the
flag of "comparative religion" for his field is, if not damning, at least
consistent with the whiff.
                                    
Off to find some frangipanis,
Alex Wilding