Meir Shahar

Meir Shahar (Hebrew: מאיר שחר, born in 1959 in Jerusalem) is the Shaul Eisenberg Chair for East Asian Affairs at Tel Aviv University.

Academic career

Meir Shahar attended the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and then studied Chinese in Taipei. He obtained a PhD in Asian languages and civilizations at Harvard University in 1992.His research interests include the interplay of Chinese religion and Chinese literature, Chinese martial-arts history, Chinese esoteric Buddhism, and the impact of Indian mythology of the Chinese pantheon of divinities.

Published works

Books

  • Chinese and Tibetan Esoteric Buddhism. Co-edited with Yael Bentor. Leiden: Brill, 2017.
  • Oedipal God: The Chinese Nezha and his Indian Origins. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2015.
  • India in the Chinese Imagination: Myth, Religion, and Thought. Co-edited with John Kieschnick. Philadelphia: The University of Pennsylvania Press, 2013.
  • The Shaolin Monastery: History, Religion and the Chinese Martial Arts, The University of Hawai'i Press, 2008.
  • Monkey and the Magic Gourd (קוף ודלעת הקסמים) (in Hebrew). By Wu Cheng'en. Translated and Adapted by Meir Shahar. Drawings by Noga Zhang Shahar (נגה ג'אנג שחר). Tel Aviv: Am Oved, 2008.
  • Crazy Ji: Chinese Religion and Popular Literature, Harvard University Asia Center, 1998
  • The Chinese Religion (הדת הסינית) (in Hebrew). Tel Aviv: The Broadcast University Series Press, 1998.
  • Unruly Gods: Divinity and Society in China. Co-edited with Robert Weller. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 1996.

Essays

  • Shahar, Meir (2013). "Violence in Chinese Religious Traditions". In Jerryson, Michael; Juergensmeyer, Mark; Kitts, Margo (eds.). The Oxford Handbook of Religion and Violence. pp. 183–196. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199759996.013.0009. ISBN 978-0-19-975999-6.
  • Shahar, Meir (2014). "Indian Mythology and the Chinese Imagination: Nezha, Nalakūbara, and Kṛṣṇạ". India in the Chinese Imagination. pp. 21–45. doi:10.9783/9780812208924.21. ISBN 978-0-8122-4560-8.
  • Shahar, Meir (2012). "Religion in The Story of the Stone". In Schonebaum, Andrew; Lu, Tina (eds.). Approaches to Teaching The Story of the Stone. Modern Language Association. pp. 133–143. ISBN 978-1-60329-111-8.
  • Shahar, M (2012). "Diamond Body: The Origins of Invulnerability in the Chinese Martial Arts". In Lo, Vivienne (ed.). Perfect Bodies: Sports, Medicine and Immortality. British Museum. pp. 119–128. ISBN 978-0-86159-188-6. OCLC 823880846.
  • Shahar, Meir (1996). "Vernacular Fiction and the Transmission of Gods' Cults in Late Imperial China". In Shahar, Meir; Weller, Robert P. (eds.). Unruly Gods: Divinity and Society in China. University of Hawai'i Press. pp. 184–211. ISBN 978-0-8248-1724-4. JSTOR j.ctt6wr0f7.9. OCLC 45733689.
  • Shahar, Meir (2001). "Ming-Period Evidence of Shaolin Martial Practice". Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies. 61 (2): 359–413. doi:10.2307/3558572. JSTOR 3558572.
  • Shahar, Meir (2000). "Epigraphy, Buddhist Historiography, and Fighting Monks: The Case of The Shaolin Monastery". Asia Major. 13 (2): 15–36. JSTOR 41645561.
  • Shahar, Meir (1992). "The Lingyin Si Monkey Disciples and The Origins of Sun Wukong". Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies. 52 (1): 193–224. doi:10.2307/2719331. JSTOR 2719331. Gale A12559459.

Reviews

The Shaolin Monastery: History, Religion and the Chinese Martial Arts

  • Henning, Stanley E. (2008). "Review of The Shaolin Monastery: History, Religion, and the Chinese Martial Arts". China Review International. 15 (3): 423–430. doi:10.1353/cri.0.0177. JSTOR 23733226.
  • Chau, Adam Yuet (2009). "Review of The Shaolin Monastery: History, Religion, and the Chinese Martial Arts". The China Journal (62): 151–153. doi:10.1086/tcj.62.20648128. JSTOR 20648128.

Oedipal God: The Chinese Nezha and his Indian Origins

Crazy Ji: Chinese Religion and Popular Literature

  • Wang, Richard (2002). "Review of Crazy Ji: Chinese Religion and Popular Literature". History of Religions. 41 (3): 294–297. doi:10.1086/463687. JSTOR 3176537.
  • Kardos, Michael A. (2001). "Review of Crazy Ji: Chinese Religion and Popular Literature". Asian Folklore Studies. 60 (2): 366–368. doi:10.2307/1179071. JSTOR 1179071.

References