TAMSIN JONES June, 2021

Associate Professor of Religion Department of Religion, McCook 203 Trinity College Hartford, CT 06106 [email protected]

EDUCATION

Th.D. Harvard Divinity School, 2008 (Theology) Dissertation: “Apparent Darkness: Jean-Luc Marion’s Retrieval of Greek Apophatic Tradition” M.T.S. Harvard Divinity School, 2000 (Christianity and Culture) B.A. (Honors) McGill University, 1998 (Religious Studies)

PROFESSIONAL EMPLOYMENT RECORD Associate Professor of Religion 2019-present Department of Religious Studies, Trinity College

Assistant Professor of Religion 2013-2019 Department of Religious Studies, Trinity College

Lecturer and Fellow 2011-2013 Religious Studies, University of Victoria

Lecturer on Religion 2008-2011 Committee on the Study of Religion, Harvard University

Director of Undergraduate Studies 2008-2011 Committee on the Study of Religion, Harvard University

Assistant Director of Undergraduate Studies 2005-2007 Committee on the Study of Religion, Harvard University

PUBLICATIONS

Books:

A Genealogy of Marion’s of Religion: Apparent Darkness, Series in Philosophy of Religion, Merold Westphal (ed), (Indiana University Press, 2011).

Tamsin Jones / p. 2 222

Chapters:

“Materialism, Social Construction, and Radical Empiricism: Debating the Status of ‘Experience’ in the Study of Religion” in Robyn Horner and Claude Romano (eds), The Experience of Atheism: Phenomenology, and Religion (Bloomsbury, 2021): 135-148. Invited and refereed.

“The Geography of the Rubicon: Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies in the American Context” in Martin Koci and Jason Alvis (eds), Transforming the Theological Turn: Phenomenology with Emmanuel Falque (London, UK: Rowman & Littlefield, 2020). Invited and refereed.

“New Materialism and the Study of Religion.” Introduction to Religious Experience and New Materialism: Movement Matters (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016): 1-23. Invited and refereed.

“Emmanuel Levinas and on Reading, Desire and Subjectivity,” in Scot Douglas and Morwenna Ludlow (eds), Reading Forwards and Reading Backwards: Conversations about Reading the Church Fathers (T&T Clark/Continuum, 2011): 63-81, 157-161. Invited and refereed.

Articles (Peer reviewed):

“Can Victims Make Sense of Trauma?” 65, no. 4 (August 2021).

“A Phenomenology of the Liturgy of Maundy Thursday” Religions 12, no. 8: 608 (August 2021). https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12080608

“The Political Theology of Jean-Luc Marion,” Political Theology Network (July 2021): https://politicaltheology.com/jean-luc-marion.

“The Particular Sacrality of the Secular,” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 89, no. 1 (March 2021): 336-341.

“Is Academic Theology an Answer to the Problem of the Philosophy of Religion?” Journal of Religious and Cultural Theory (Oct. 2019): 415-428.

“Responsible Subjects: On the Ability to Respond to Transcendence,” Diakrisis Yearbook of Theology and Philosophy 1 (2018): 61-75.

“Questions from the Borders: A Response to Kevin Hart’s Kingdoms of God,” 56, no.1 (March 2017): 5-14.

Tamsin Jones / p. 3 333 “Bearing Witness: Hope for the Unseen,” Political Theology 17, no. 2 (April 2016): 137-150.

“Traumatized Subjects: Continental Philosophy of Religion and the of Alterity,” Journal of Religion 94, no. 2 (April 2014): 143-160.

“The Material Conditions for Theorizing Maternality, or Why is it so difficult to think about being a mother?” Journal of Theology and Sexuality 19, no. 3 (2013): 283-294.

“Dionysius in and Jean-Luc Marion,” in Modern Theology 24/4 (Blackwell, 2008); subsequent inclusion in Sarah Coakley and Charles M. Stang (eds), Re-Thinking Pseudo-Dionysius (Blackwell, 2009), pp. 213-224.

“Revealing the Invisible: Gregory of Nyssa on the Gift of Revelation,” Modern Theology 21/1 (Blackwell, 2005): 67-85.

Reviews and Interviews:

“The Geography of the Rubicon: Philosophy, Theology, and Religious Studies in the American Context”. In Syndicate Theology (Nov. 16, 2018--online).

Joseph Rivera, The Contemplative Self After Michel Henry: A Phenomenological Theology (University of Notre Dame Press, 2015). In Syndicate Theology (Oct. 9, 2017--online).

Jean-Luc Marion, Negative Certainties (University of Chicago, 2015). In The Journal of Religion 98, no. 2 (University of Chicago Press, 2018): 286-288.

“New Wine and Old Wineskins: A Response to F. Young’s God’s Presence: A Contemporary Recapitulation of Early Christianity.” In Syndicate Theology 3, no. 3 (May/June 2016): 4-7.

Jean-Yves Lacoste, From Theology to Theological Thinking (University of Virginia Press, 2014). In The Journal of Religion 96, no. 4 (University of Chicago Press, 2016): 566-567.

“Silence, Prayer and Desire: An Interview with Sarah Coakley,” The Journal of Cultural and Religious Theory.

Kevin Hart (ed), Counter-Experiences: Reading Jean-Luc Marion (University of Notre Dame Press, 2007). In Modern Theology 24/2 (Blackwell, 2008): 309-311.

Works in Progress:

Traumatic Religion/Sacred Trauma: Truth and Subjectivity in the Face of Excess (monograph in progress).

“Incarnational Phenomenology” in Routledge Handbook for Phenomenology and Theology Tamsin Jones / p. 4 444 (forthcoming)

PROFESSIONAL PRESENTATIONS

Professional Conferences: “The Prophetic Thought of Richard Kearney”. European Center for the Study of War and Peace: Kearney Workshop, Vis, Croatia (and online), July 5-6, 2021.

“Dissecting the Difference between Phenomenology and Theology (Again): A Response to Amber Bowen”. “Phenomenology and Theology Make Two: A Seminar on the Occasion of the 30th Anniversary of Dominique Janicaud’s ‘Tournant théologique’”. International Network in Philosophy of Religion. (May 19, 2021 online).

“Ethics, Subjectivity, and Ascetic Practice: A Roundtable Discussion of Niki Kasumi Clement’s Sites of the Ascetic Self”. (Presider). Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion (Dec. 7, 2020, online).

“Making Sense of Traumatic Violence”. Presented at the International Network of Philosophy of Religion, Paris, France (June 21, 2019).

“Making and Unmaking: Maternality and the Risk of Creation”. Presented as part of the “Theopoetics, Mysticism, and Anatheism Panel,” Annual Conference of Mystical Theology Network, Boston College (Feb. 28, 2019).

“Materialism, Social Construction, and Radical Empiricism: Debating the Status of ‘Experience’ in the Study of Religion” to be presented at the Rome Seminar: Atheism, Religion, and Experience, Australian Catholic University (Jan.11, 2019).

“Sacrality, Secularity, and the Study of Religion: A Response to Onishi’s The Sacrality of the Secular”. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion, Denver, CO (Nov. 18, 2018).

“Why Should We Talk about God at all?”. Presented at the Westar Institute Seminar on God and the Human Future, Denver, CO (Nov. 16, 2018).

“The Geography of the Rubicon: Philosophy, Theology, and Religious Studies in the American Context”. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Phenomenology and Existentialist Philosophy, Memphis, TN (Oct. 19, 2017).

“Responsible Subjects: On the Ability to Respond to Transcendence”. Presented at the International Network of Philosophy of Religion, Paris, France (June 23, 2017).

“Religious , Theology, and the Humanities”. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Tamsin Jones / p. 5 555 American Academy of Religion, San Antonio, TX (Nov. 19, 2016).

“Cracks in the Kingdom: A Response to Kevin Hart’s Kingdoms of God”. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Phenomenology and Existentialist Philosophy, Atlanta, GA (Oct. 9, 2015).

“Why Matter Matters: New Materialism and the Study of Religious Experience”. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion, Baltimore, MD (Nov. 26, 2013).

“Bearing Witness: Responding to Trauma and Religious Experience”. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Canadian Society for the Study of Religion, Congress 2013 of the Humanities and Social Sciences, Victoria, BC (June 4, 2013).

“How to Avoid Idolatry: A Comparison of ‘Apophasis’ in Gregory of Nyssa and Pseudo- Dionysius”. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Canadian Society of Patristic Studies, Congress 2013 of the Humanities and Social Sciences, Victoria, BC (June 6, 2013).

“Beyond Truth: Trauma Theory and Religious Experience.” Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion, Chicago, IL (Nov. 2012).

“The Material Conditions for Theorizing Maternality, or Why is it so difficult to think about being a mother?” Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion, Chicago, IL (Nov. 2012).

“Heidegger and MacIntyre on the Philosophical Function of the University: A Response to Robert Piercey.” Presented at the Western Canadian Philosophical Association Conference, Victoria, BC (Oct. 21, 2012).

“Personhood – Past and Present: A Response to Lucian Turcescu.” Presented at the Fourth Annual Logos Workshop on Philosophical Theology, Center for Philosophy of Religion at the University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, (May 2012).

“Hospitality in a Strange World: The Hope of Richard Kearney’s Anatheism.” Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion, San Francisco, CA (Nov. 2011).

“Paradoxicality and Certainty: A Response to C. Stephen Evans.” Presented at the Third Annual Logos Workshop on Philosophical Theology, Center for Philosophy of Religion at the University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, (May 2011).

“Resurrecting the Subject: Philosophy of Religion and Trauma.” Presented at Postmodernism, Culture and Religion IV: The Future of Continental Philosophy of Religion, Syracuse, New York (April 2011).

“The Trauma of Revelation: Jean-Luc Marion’s ‘Saturated’ Reading of the Crisis of Christ’s Tamsin Jones / p. 6 666 Resurrected Body.” Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion, Montreal, Quebec (November, 2009).

“Emmanuel Levinas and Gregory of Nyssa on Reading, Desire and Subjectivity.” Presented at Reading Then and Now: An International Symposium of Postmodern Readings of the Church Fathers, Boulder, CO (May 2009).

“Jean-Luc Marion’s Retrieval of Dionysius the Areopagite.” Presented at the Annual Meeting of the North American Patristics Society, Chicago, IL (May 2008)

“Contra Eunomium II: A Theological Reading.” Presented at the Oxford International Patristics Conference, Oxford, UK (July, 2007)

“Darkness within the Contours of a Hierarchical Cosmos: Structure and Meaning within the Corpus Dionysiacum.” Presented at the Patristic, Medieval, and Renaissance Studies Conference, Villanova University, PA (Oct. 2006).

“Allegorical Interpretation and the Performance of Early Christian Identity.” Presented at the Patristic, Medieval, and Renaissance Studies Conference, Villanova University, PA (Oct. 2005).

“The End of Desire: The Eschatological Interruption of Eros.” Presented at Identifications: Faith, Theory and Identity-Making Conference, Purdue University, IN (Feb., 2004).

“Revealing the Invisible: Gregory of Nyssa on the Gift of Revelation.” Presented at Harvard-Yale-Chicago Conference on the “Gift”, Harvard Divinity School, Cambridge, MA (2003).

Invited Lectures and Talks:

“Should ‘Religious Insiders’ Teach Religious Studies?” A panel discussion with Victor Hori and Russell McCutcheon, Centre for Studies in Religion and Society, University of Victoria (Oct. 15, 2020).

“The Place of Theology and Philosophy of Religion within the Study of Religion,” University of Chicago Divinity School (Feb. 13, 2019).

“Responsible Subjects: On the Ability to Respond to Transcendence,” Department of Philosophy, Boston College (April 27, 2018).

“Call, Responsibility, and Subjectivity,” at the Yale Center for Faith and Culture, Yale University (Dec. 2, 2016).

Tamsin Jones / p. 7 777 “Trauma and Religious Subjectivity,” at Fordham University, Department of Theology, Colloquium on Religion and Theory (Mar. 15, 2016).

“Bearing Witness: Hope for the Unknown” at Brown University’s Religion and Critical Thought Colloquium, (Nov. 10, 2015).

“Pedagogical Challenges: Teaching Today’s Youth,” at the Centre for Studies in Religion and Society, University of Victoria (Aug. 4, 2015).

“Witnessing at the Canadian Truth and Reconciliation Commission,” at the Centre for Studies in Religion and Society, University of Victoria (July 31, 2015).

“Apophasis in Gregory of Nyssa, Dionysius Areopagite and ” at Hellenic College and Holy Cross Greek Orthodox Seminary (Nov. 12, 2014).

“Giving Testimony: The Production of Truth in Response to Religious and Traumatic Experience.” Presented at the University of Victoria, John Albert Hall Lecture Series, Victoria, BC (Sept. 2012).

“Phenomenology versus ,” at the Centre for Studies in Religion and Society, University of Victoria (Dec. 5, 2011).

“Resurrecting the Subject: Philosophy, Religion and Trauma.” Presented at the University of Victoria’s Centre for Studies in Religion and Society Public Lecture Series, Victoria, BC (Sept. 2011); earlier versions of the paper were presented at McGill University (Mar. 2011) and Syracuse University (Feb. 2011).

Lectures and Panel Discussions on Trinity Campus: “Imagining our Community of Learners in the Aftermath of the Pandemic: A Conversation in Four Questions,” Center for Teaching and Learning (May 19, 2021).

“Christian Theodicy in Camus’ The Plague,” Trinity Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies panel discussion (July 30, 2020).

“Contemplatio with Katherine of Alexandria,” Essay for the Dedication of Saint Katherine, Trinity Chapel, (Feb. 5, 2020).

Center for Teaching and Learning panel discussion on Relationship Rich Learning Environments (Nov. 14, 2019).

Trinity Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies forum, “Beauty, Culture, Freedom: Who decides what ‘progress’ and ‘empowerment’ mean for women’s bodies?” (Oct. 9, 2014)

“Holocaust on Parade: Artistic Representations of Suffering in the 20th Century” (Sept. 26, 2013) Tamsin Jones / p. 8 888

TEACHING

Courses:

Introduction to Religious Studies (Trinity College) Christianity in the Making (Trinity College) Introduction to Christianity (Trinity College) Christian Mysticism (Trinity College) Major Religious Thinkers in the West (Trinity College) Suffering Religion: Pain and its Transformations (Trinity College, University of Victoria) Women, Gender and Sex in Religion (Trinity College; University of Victoria) First Year Seminar: God and Sex (Trinity College) Select Topics in Religious Studies: Existentialism (University of Victoria) Theory and Method in the Study of Religion (Harvard University) Existentialism and Religion (Trinity College, Harvard University) An Introduction to Christian Thought (Harvard University) The “Death of God”? Modern and Postmodern Responses to Religion (Harvard University)

Tutorials and Independent Studies: Gender, Sexuality and Mormonism (Fall 2019, Trinity College) Gender, Religion, and Witch-hunts (Fall 2015, Trinity College) Modern Christian Thought (Spring 2013, University of Victoria) Slavoj Zizek: Writings and Influences (Spring 2011, Harvard University) Genealogies of Subjectivity and Conversion in the Study of Religion (Spring 2006, Harvard University) Imago Dei? Post-Enlightenment Conceptions of the Self (Spring 2003, Harvard University)

Senior Thesis Faculty Advisor:

Augustine Daly, “Julian of Norwich: Her Theology of Suffering and Distinct Medieval Identity” (Trinity College, 2019). Lydia Herndon, “‘A True of Christ:’ Ambrose of Milan’s Reworking of Cicero’s De Officiis” (Trinity College, 2018). Alexandra DeNoto, “Discovering Mary Magdalene: Arguing for a Feminist Reading of the First Female Apostle” (Trinity College, 2018). Heewon Yang, “A Sustainable Relationship: The Symbiosis between Korean-American Protestant Churches and New Immigrants” (Trinity College, 2016). Gaia Cloutier, "From Holy to Hunted: The Early Modern Witch Trials as a Catholic Response to Female Mysticism" (Trinity College, 2016). Colin MacKichan, “America’s Gospel: How the American Dream Hijacked Tamsin Jones / p. 9 999 Christianity” (Trinity College, 2015). Emily Kleidon, "Profound Interpretations of Scripture: A Shift in the Biblical Understanding of Suffering" (Trinity College, 2013). Meghan Cleary, “Mystical Discourse and the Figure of the Female Mystic: A Comparison of Simone de Beauvoir and Simone Weil” (Harvard University, 2010- 2011). Natasha Platt, “In Search of God and Higher Selves: The Alchemy of Transcendence In Nietzsche and Osho” (Harvard University, 2009-2010).

SERVICE

Trinity: Chair, Department of Religious Studies, Spring 2020 and 2021-present Humanities Studies Gateway Committee, 2013-2019 Working group on Diversity and Campus Climate, 2015-2019 Jury Panel, Spring 2016-present Member, Faculty Conference, 2019-2021 Member, Admissions and Financial Aid Committee, 2018-present (Chair, 2019-2020) Member, TIIS Advisory Board, Trinity College, 2018-present Member, Chaplain’s Advisory Group, Trinity College, 2018-present Member, Trinity Program on Public Values Advisory Board, Trinity College, 2018-present Team-taught Human Rights 252: Issues in Gender, Power, and Expression at York Correctional Institution Search Committee, Department of Religious Studies, 2015-16, 2016-2017, 2017-2018.

Community: Reviewer, Columbia University Press Reviewer, Indiana University Press Reviewer, Modern Theology Reviewer, Journal of Religion Reviewer, Symposium: Canadian Journal of Continental Philosophy Reviewer, Political Theology Reviewer, Journal of the American Academy of Religion Member, Editorial Advisory Board, Studies in Religion Co-Chair, Steering Committee of Theology and Religious Reflection Section, American Academy of Religion, 2012-2018 Member, Steering Committee of Theology and Religious Reflection Section, American Academy of Religion, 2019-present Director of Editorial Committee, Crossings: The INPR Journal, 2019-present Founding and Steering Committee Member, International Network of Philosophy of Religion, 2017-present Chair, A.B. Subcommittee on the Study of Religion, Harvard University, 2008-2011 Search Committee for Assistant Director of Undergraduate Studies, Harvard University, 2010. Tamsin Jones / p. 10 101010

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS

American Academy of Religion Society of Phenomenology and Existentialist Philosophy Canadian Society for the Study of Religion

HONORS, AWARDS, AND FELLOWSHIPS

“50 for the Next 50” Honoree, Women at the Summit: 50 Years of Coeducation at Trinity College, 2020.

Arthur H. Hughes Award for Teaching Achievement, 2018.

Centre for Teaching and Learning Fellow, Trinity College, 2015-2016.

Visiting Faculty Research Fellow, Centre for Studies in Religion and Society, University of Victoria, 2014.

Derek Bok Center Award for Distinction in Teaching, Harvard University, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2006.

Dean’s Dissertation Fellowship, Harvard Divinity School, 2007-2008.

Doctoral Fellowship, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Government of Canada, 2004 – 2005.

LANGUAGES

French, German, Ancient Greek