Paul Reasoner

Biography for Paul Reasoner, Ph.D.

Born and raised in Tokyo, Japan, he came to America to take his undergraduate B.A. (1975) at Bethel College with majors in Philosophy and English literature. His M.A. (1980) thesis in the Department of Comparative Culture (Asian Thought and Religion) at Sophia University (Tokyo) centered on Kamakura Buddhism of the 12-13th centuries C.E. and was entitled "The Myth of the Eternal Return and Kamakura Buddhism." Subsequently he did an M.A. (1982) and Ph.D. (1987) in Philosophy at the University of Minnesota completing his dissertation on "Japanese Poetry, Objectivity in Aesthetics, and the Aesthetic." He has taught at Bethel since 1985 and currently serves as Chair of the Philosophy Department.

He is fluent in Japanese and frequently returns to Japan for research. He was an Associate Professor from 1990-1992 at Seitoku University (Matsudo, Japan). In 1995 he founded the St. Paul Intercultural Institute which develops and runs programs for Japanese university students at Bethel College in the summers. Current programs work with students from Rikkyo University (Tokyo) and Kumamoto Gakuen University (Kumamoto). On a recent trip to Japan (January 2004), he gave an invited lecture at Kumamoto Gakuen University on "Cross-Cultural Communication and The Lord of the Rings."

He teaches Asian Thought and Philosophy of Religion in the Religious Studies program and sustains research interest in Buddhism, Japanese religions (including New Religions), and Japanese religiosity. He is a member of the Society for Asian and Comparative Philosophy, the Society for Buddhist-Christian Studies, the American Academy of Religion, the Society of Christian Philosophers, and the American Philosophical Association.

He is currently working on completion of an introductory text on Buddhism. Publications include "Sincerity and Japanese Values", in Philosophy East and West, Vol. XL, No. 4 (October, 1990).

A love of bicycles nurtured during his youth in Japan has endured, and he continues to particularly enjoy long bike rides and fixing bikes; no trip to Japan is complete without a long bike ride with old friends.