Hugh Urban
Professor
431 Hagerty Hall
1775 College Road
Columbus, OH 43210
614-292-9855
urban.41@osu.edu
Office Hours
Tuesday and Thursday 9-12:30 and by appointment
More information:
http://people.cohums.ohio-state.edu/urban41
Teaching and Research
Comparative Religions, Religions of South Asia, New Religious
Movements, Colonial and Post-Colonial Studies, Secrecy, Sexuality,
Religion and Politics.
Hugh B. Urban is interested in the study of secrecy in religion,
particularly in relation to questions of knowledge and power.
Focusing primarily on the traditions of South Asia, he is
author of Tantra: Sex, Secrecy, Politics and Power in the Study of Religion (2003) and Magia Sexualis: Sex, Magic, and Liberation in Modern Western Esotericism (2006), among other books. He has a strong secondary interest in contemporary new religious movements, and has published articles on Heaven's
Gate, Scientology and modern Western magic.
PUBLICATIONS
Books
2001 The Economics of Ecstasy: Tantra, Secrecy and Power
in Colonial Bengal (New York: Oxford University Press).
2001 Songs of Ecstasy: Tantric and Devotional Songs from
Bengal (New York: Oxford University Press).
2003 Tantra: Sex, Secrecy, Politics and Power in the Study
of Religion (University of California Press).
2006 Magia Sexualis: Sex, Magic
and Liberation in Modern Western Esotericism (University
of California Press).
2007 The Secrets of the Kingdom: Religion and Concealment in the Bush Administration (Rowman & Littlefield).
2009 The Power of Tantra: Religion, Sexuality and the Politics of South Asian Studies (I.B. Tauris).
Articles
2008 "Secrecy and New Religious Movements: Religious Secrecy and Privacy in a New Age of Information,” Religion Compass,2, no.1, pp.66-83.
2008 "Matrix of Power: Blood, Kingship and Sacrifice in the Worship of Mother Goddess Kamakhya," South Asia (in press).
2007 “Machiavelli Meets the Religious Right: Michael Ledeen, the Neoconservatives, and the Political Uses of Fundamentalism.” Journal of Ecumenical Studies, 42, 1: 76-97.
2006 “The Secrets of the Kingdom: Spiritual Discourse and Material Interests in the Bush Administration.” Discourse 27, 1: 141-159.
2006 “Fair Game: Secrecy, Security and the Church of Scientology in Cold War
America.” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 74, no.2: 356-389.
2006 “America Left Behind: Bush, the Neoconservatives and Evangelical Christian Fiction.” The Journal of Religion and Society, 8 (2006).
2005 "Politics and Religion: An Overview."
The Encyclopedia of Religion. Lindsay Jones, ed. New York:
MacMillan, v.11, pp.7248-7260.
2005 "Religion and Secrecy in the Bush Administration:
The Gentleman, the Prince and the Simulacrum, " Esoterica
7: 1-38. On-line at http://www.esoteric.msu.edu/VolumeVII/Secrecy.htm
2004 "Magia Sexualis: Sex, Secrecy and
Liberation in Modern Western Esotericism." The Journal
of the American Academy of Religion 72: no.3: 695-731.
2004 “Songs of Ecstasy: Mystics, Minstrels
and Merchants in Colonial Bengal.” The Journal of
the American Oriental Society123, no.3: 493-519
2003 "The Power of the Impure: Transgression,
Violence and Secrecy in Bengali Tantra and Modern Western
Magic." Numen 50: 269-308.
2003 "Sacred Capital: Pierre Bourdieu and the Study of
Religion." Method & Theory in the Study of Religion
15, no.4: 354-389.
2003 "The Beast with Two Backs: Aleister Crowley, Sex
Magick and the Exhaustion of Modernity." Nova Religio
7, no.3: 7-25.
2003 “An Avatar for our Age: Sathya Sai Baba and the
Cultural Contradictions of Late Capitalism.” Religion
33: 73-93.
2003 "Unleashing the Beast: Aleister Crowley,
Tantra and Sex Magic in late Victorian England." Esoterica:
The Journal of Esoteric Studies 5 (2003): 138-92. On-line at:
http://www.esoteric.msu.edu/VolumeV/Unleashing_the_Beast.htm
2002 “India’s Darkest Heart: Kali in the Colonial
Imagination.” In Encountering Kali: In the Margins,
at the Center, In the West. Edited by Jeffrey J. Kripal
and Rachel Fell McDermott (Berkeley: University of California
Press).
2002 "Spiritual Identity in a Transnational Age: Reflections
on Religion and Globalization." Ohio State University
Humanities Exchange 18: 13-14.
2002 “The Conservative Character of Tantra: Secrecy,
Sacrifice and This-Worldly Power in Bengali Sakta Tantra."
The International
Journal of Tantric Studies 6, no.1.
2002 "Oblatio Rationabilis: Sacrifice in East and West."
Sophia: The Journal ofTraditional Studies, v.8, no.1:
153-196.
2002 “A Dance of Masks: The Esoteric Ethics of Frithjof
Schuon." In Crossing Boundaries: Ethics in the History
of Mysticism, edited by G. William Barnard and Jeffrey
J. Kripal (New York: Seven Bridges Press), pp.406-440.
2001 "The Omnipotent Oom: Tantra and its Impact on Modern Western Esotericism,"
Esoterica: The Journal of Esoteric Studies 3: 218-259.
On-line at
http://www.esoteric.msu.edu/VolumeIII/HTML/Oom.html
2001 “The Marketplace and the Temple: Economic Metaphors and Religious Meanings in the Folk Songs of Colonial Bengal. ” The Journal of Asian Studies
60, no.4: 1085-1114.
2001 “The Path of Power: Impurity, Kingship and Sacrifice
in Assamese Tantra.” The Journal of the American
Academy of Religion 69, no.4: 597-637.
2001 “The Adornment of Silence: Secrecy and Symbolic
Power in American Freemasonry.” The Journal of Religion
and Society 3: 1-27. On-line at: http://moses.creighton.edu/JRS/toc/2001.html
2001 “Syndrome of the Secret: Eso-centrism and the Work
of Steven Wasserstrom.” The Journal of the American
Academy of Religion 69, no.2: 439-449.
2000 “Making a Place to Take a Stand: Jonathan Z. Smith
and the Politics and Poetics of Comparison.” Method
& Theory in the Study of Religions 12, no.3: 339-378.
2000 “The Cult of Ecstasy: Tantrism, the New Age and
the Spiritual Logic of Late Capitalism,” History
of Religions 39: 268-304
2000 “The Devil at Heaven’s Gate: Rethinking the
Study of Religion in the Age of Cyber-Space,” Nova
Religio 3, no. 2: 268-302.
1999 "The Politics of Madness: The Construction and Manipulation
of the 'Baul' Image in Modern Bengal," South Asia
12, no.1: 13-46.
1999 “The Extreme Orient: The Construction of ‘Tantrism’
as a Category in the Orientalist Imagination,” Religion
29: 123-146.
1998 “The Torment of Secrecy: Ethical and Epistemological
Problems in the Study of Esoteric Traditions,” History
of Religions 37, no.3: 209-248.
1997 “Elitism and Esotericism: Strategies of Secrecy
and Power in South Indian Tantra and French Freemasonry,”
Numen 44: 1-38.
1997 “The Poor Company: Economics and Ecstasy in the
Kartabhaja Sect of Colonial Bengal,” South Asia
19, no.2: 1-33.
1997 “Disinterested Judgment and its Social Interests,
in Kant and Abhinavagupta: A New Approach to Comparative Aesthetics,”
The Comparative Civilizations Review 35: 15-41.
1996 “Zorba the Buddha: Capitalism, Charisma and the
Cult of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh,” Religion 26:
161-182.
1995 “The Strategic Uses of an Esoteric Text: The Mahanirvana
Tantra,” South Asia 18, no.1: 55-81.
1995 “The Remnants of Desire: Sacrificial Violence and
Sexual Transgression in the Cult of the Kapalikas and in the
Writings of Georges Bataille” Religion 25:
67-90.
1995 “Secret Bodies: Re-Imagining the Body in the Vaisnava-Sahajiya
Tradition of Bengal,” The Journal of South Asian
Literature 28, nos.1&2.
1994 “What Else Remains in Sunyata? An Investigation
of Terms for Mental Images in the Madhyantavibhaga Corpus”
(with Paul J.Griffiths), Journal of the International
Association of Buddhist Studies 17, no1.
Book Reviews and Review Articles
Review of David Gordon White, Kiss of the Yogini: Tantric Sex in its South Asian Contexts. History of Religions 45, no.3 (2006).
Review of Georges Bataille, unfinished system of nonknowledge. Southern Humanities Review 37, no.2 (2003): 178-80.
Review of Edward C. Dimock, trans., The Caitanya Caritamrta
of Krsnadasa Kaviraja. History of Religions (2002).
Review of Rachel Fell McDermott, Daughter of My Heart, Mother
of My Dreams and Singing to the Goddess. History of Religions(2002).
Review of Kathleen Taylor, Sir John Woodroffe: An Indian Soul
in a European Body? South Asia Research (2002).
Review of Georges Bataille, unfinished system of nonknowledge.
Southern Humanities Review (2002).
2002 "Playing the Field, Taking a Stand: A Response to
Sam D. Gill." Method & Theory in the Study of
Religion 14: 226-230.
2001 “Scholar-Tracking: The Ethics and Politics of Studying
‘Others’ in the Work of Sam Gill.” Review
Article for Method & Theory in the Study of Religion
13: 110-136.
1999 Review of Jeffrey J. Kripal, Kali’s Child:
The Mystical and the Erotic in the Life and Teachings of Ramakrishna.
The Middle East and South Asia Folklore Bulletin
15, nos.1-2: 3-4.
1999 Review of David Kinsley, Tantric Visions of the Divine
Feminine: The Ten Mahavidyas. Journal of Religion
79, no.1: 179-181.
1998 Review of Jeffrey J. Kripal, Kali’s Child:
The Mystical and the Erotic in the Life and Teachings of Ramakrishna.
Journal of Religion 78, no.2.
CONFERENCES ORGANIZED
2004 "Religion, Secrecy and Security: Feligious Freedom
and Privacy in a Global Context." an Interdisciplinary
Conference held at Ohio State University, April 16-18.
PAPERS AND PRESENTATIONS
2007 “The Beast with Two Backs: Kabbalah and Tantra in Late Victorian Sexual Magic.” Paper presented at the American Academy of Religion Conference, San Diego, November 18.
2007 “Religion and Secrecy in the Bush Administration: Moses, Machiavelli and the Religious Right.” Presented at UNC Greensboro, March 20, 2007.
2007 “Tantra, American Style: From the Path of Power to the Yoga of Sex.” Presented at UNC Greensboro, March 21, 2007.
2006 “Blood for the Goddess: Impurity, Kingship and Power in Assamese Tantra.” Presented at the American Academy of Religion Conference, November 2006.
2006 “Machiavelli Meets the Religious Right: Michael Ledeen, the Neoconservatives and the Political Uses of Fundamentalism.” Presented at the forum on Fundamentalism at Ohio State University, April, 2006.
2005 “Matrix of Power: Blood, Kingship and Sacrifice in the Worship of Mother Goddess Kamakhya.” University of Chicago, March 7, 2005.
2005 “Religion and Secrecy in the Bush Administration: Gentleman, Prince and Prodigal Son.” Presented at the American Academy of Religion Conference,
Philadelphia, PA, November 21.
2005 “America Left Behind: Bush, the Neocons and Evangelical Christian Fiction.” Presented at the conference “Examining the Real Agenda of the Religious Far Right” in New York City, April, 2005.
2004 “The Menstruating Goddess: Ritual Violence and Sexual Transgression in the Worship of Mother Goddess Kamakhya.” Presented for the “Religion and Violence” series at Ohio State University, May 19, 2004.
2003 "Tantra, American Style: Sexuality, Orientalism and the Spiritual Logic of Late Capitalism." Presented at the conference "(De)Colonizing Religion" at the University of California, Santa Cruz, April 5, 2003.
2002 "The Power of the Impure: Transgression, Violence and Secrecy in the Comparative Study of Religion." Presented for the University of Chicago Divinity School Annual Lecture in the History of Religions, November 14, 2002.
2002 "Osho: Transnationalism and Tantric Sex, from East to West and Back Again." Presented at the American Academy of Religion conference, Toronto, Canada, November, 2002.
2002 "The Stinking Fruit in the Garden of Love: The Ambivalent
Place of Tantra in Colonial Bengal." Presented at the
American Academy of Religion conference, Toronto, Canada,
November, 2002.
2002 "The Power of the Impure: Sex, Violence and Secrecy
in Bengali Sakta Tantra and Modern Western Magic." Presented
at the Tantric Studies Conference, Flagstaff, AZ, October,
2002.
2001 "Power Still Dwells: The Ethics and Politics of
the Comparative Study of Religions." Presented at the
Conference of the American Academy of Religion, Denver, 2001.
2001 "Tantra, American Style: Neo-Orientalism, Globalization
and the Western Appropriation of Tantra." Presented at
the Conference of the American Academy of Religion, Denver,
2001.
2000 Discussant for a Panel with Johannes Fabian on his book,
Out of Our Minds: Reason and Madness in the Exploration of
Central Africa. American Folklore Society Conference, Columbus,
OH, October 29.
2000 Respondent for the Panel, “Spirituality, Community
and Self-Fashioning.” . American Folklore Society Conference,
Columbus, OH, October 26.
1999 “A Place on which to Take a Stand: Jonathan Z.
Smith and the Politics and Poetics of Comparison,” presented
at the Conference of the American Academy of Religion, Boston,
November 1999.
1999 “Ceremonies Subversive of Every Moral Principle:
Tantrism, the Bengal Renaissance and its Legacy in the Modern
Western Imagination,” presented at the Conference of
the American Academy of Religion, Boston, November 1999.
1999 Response to Steven Wasserstrom’s book, Religion
after Religion, presented at the Conference of the American
Academy of Religion, Boston, November 1999.
1999 "Religion for the Age of Darkness: 'Tantrism' in
the Methods and Paths, Works and Lives of the History of Religions."
Paper presented at the Conference: "Method as Path: Religious
Experience and Hermeneutical Discourse," New York University
, April 16-18, 1999.
1997 "The Stinking Fruit in the Garden of Love: The Kartabhaja
Sect and the Ambivalent Role of 'Tantra' in Colonial Bengal."
Paper presented at the Conference, "Eros, Secrecy and
Power: Vernacular Tantra in Bengal," University of Pennsylvania,
September, 1997.
1996 “The Extreme Orient: The Construction of ‘Tantrism’
as a Category in the Orientalist Imagination,” presented
at the Conference of the American Academy of Religion, New
Orleans, November 1996.
1994 “Elitism and Esotericism: Strategies of Secrecy
and Power in South Indian Tantra and French Freemasonry.”
Presented at the Conference of the American Academy of Religion,
Chicago, November 1994.
AWARDS AND HONORS
2007 Annual Teaching Award, Department of Comparative Studies, OSU.
2004 Thomas Robbins Award for Excellence in the Study of New Religious Movements
1998 Doctoral Dissertation accepted with Distinction, University
of Chicago Divinity School
1995 Pass with Distinction, Ph.D. Qualifying Exams, University
of Chicago Divinity School
1990 Phi Beta Kappa
1990 Summa Cum Laude (George Washington University)
GRANTS AND FELLOWSHIPS
2005 American Academy of Religion Research Grant
2003-4 Fulbright Senior Research Grant, India
2003-4 Ohio State University Office of International Affairs,
Grant for an Interdisciplinary Conference on an International
Theme
2002 Ohio State University Office of International Affairs,
International Travel Grant
2001 Ohio State University College of Humanities Grant-in-Aid
2000 National Endowment for the Humanities Senior Research
Grant
2000 Faculty Innovator Grant, OSU Instructional Technologies
Advisory Committee
1999 American Academy of Religion Research Grant
1999 Ohio State University Seed Grant
1996-7 Junior Fellow in the Institute for the
Advanced Study of Religion, University of Chicago
1995-6 Social Science Research Council Dissertation Fellowship,
Bangladesh
1994 Social Science Research Council Pre-Dissertation Research
Fellowship, Bangladesh
1993-5 Title VI (FLAS) Language Fellowship for Bengali
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
2007- present Professor, Department of Comparative Studies, Ohio State University
2003-7 Associate Professor, Department of Comparative Studies, Ohio State University
1998-2002 Assistant Professor, Department of Comparative Studies, Ohio State University
1997-8 Instructor of Continuing Studies, University of Chicago
LANGUAGES
Bengali -- speaking and writing ability; extensive experience
in India and Bangladesh
Sanskrit -- reading competence
Hindi -- reading ability and some speaking competence; experience
in India
Assamese -- reading and some speaking competence; experience
in India
French -- reading and speaking
German, Latin, Spanish -- reading proficiency
