Contemplative Studies

Contemplative Studies (CS/COST) is an emerging interdisciplinary field dedicated to research and education on contemplative practice and contemplative experience, including the possible relevance and application to a wide variety of undertakings. It is closely associated with other fields of inquiry such as consciousness studies, mysticism studies, psychology, neuroscience, Religious Studies, and so forth. The field of Contemplative Studies is in its formative phase, and its parameters are still being established. One approach emphasizes the development of awareness in each and every area of inquiry, including teaching and learning (“contemplative pedagogy”). From this perspective, contemplative practice might encompass art, dance, movement awareness, music, photography, theatre, and so forth. A more narrowly focused and Religious Studies approach seeks to map the entire breadth and depth of contemplative practice and contemplative experience as documented within and transmitted by religious adherents and communities, including in new religious movements (NRMs) and among the “spiritual, but not religious” (SBNR). In any case, Contemplative Studies recognizes the importance of third-person, second-person, and critical first-person approaches; it makes space for direct personal experience with specific forms of practice. In this way it challenges the denial of embodied experience and subjectivity within much of academic discourse and brings the issue of adherence in Religious Studies and the academy into high relief.

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You may access the video of my “Contemplative Studies: An Overview and Current State of the Field,” the framing address to the Contemplative Studies Think Tank at Brown University (September 22, 2017), here.

Please also consider reading my “Contemplative Studies: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)” and “Contemplative Studies: A New Vision.”

For the first and only book-length introduction to the field see my Introducing Contemplative Studies (Wiley-Blackwell, 2018). Read “Chapter 1: Contemplative Studies.” Download “Contemplative Studies as Interdisciplinary Field” diagram.

Individuals interested in accessing contemplative literature written by international experts on the associated texts, traditions, and critical issues may consult my edited volume Contemplative Literature: A Comparative Sourcebook on Meditation and Contemplative Prayer (State University of New York Press, 2015), which includes my own introductory theoretical chapters as well as my chapters on Daoist internal alchemy and modern therapeutic meditation.