Franz Aubrey Metcalf
2001 Morgan Hill Dr., Los Angeles, CA, 90068-3618 323.467.3267
Education
Ph.D. 1997, University of Chicago, The Divinity School
Ph.D. Area: Religion and the Human Sciences
Secondary Area: History of Religions
Dissertation: “Why Do Americans Practice Zen Buddhism?”
Dissertation Advisor: Peter Homans
M.A. 1988, Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, California
Area: History and Phenomenology of Religion
Thesis: “Contexts for Conversion, the Spiritual Exercises
of St. Ignatius Loyola and the Modern Rinzai Sesshin”
B.A. 1985, University of California, Berkeley
Field Major in the Humanities
Teaching Competence
Primary: Buddhisms; Comparative Religion; Psychology,
Anthropology, and Sociology of Religion; Religion in America
Secondary: Asian Religions; Native American Religions;
Conversion; Depth Psychology; Mysticism; Abrahamic Religion
Teaching Experience
California State University Los Angeles, 1998-present
RELS 200: Introduction to Comparative Religions
RELS 325: Themes of Adulthood in the World’sReligions
RELS 335: Gender in the Diversity of World Religions
Loyola University Chicago, Fall Semester 1990
Theology 277: Eastern Religions
Professional Experience
Editor/Researcher: Office for Programs in Comparative Religion
Graduate Theological Union, 1987-1988
Assistant to coordinator of Third International Buddhist-Christian Dialogue Conference, 1987
Publications: Books
Just Add Buddha: Quick Buddhist Solutions for Hellish Bosses, Traffic Jams, Stubborn Spouses, & Other Annoyances of Everyday Life, Berkeley: Ulysses Press, 2004
Buddha in Your Backpack: Everyday Buddhism for Teens, Berkeley: Seastone Press, 2002
What Would Buddha Do at Work? 101 Answers to Workplace Dilemmas, co-authored with BJ Gallagher Hateley, Berkeley and San Francisco: Seastone Press and Berrett-Koehler Press, 2001
What Would Buddha Do? 101 Answers to Life’s Daily Dilemmas, Berkeley: Seastone Press, 1999
Publications: Chapters and Articles
“The Value of Western Society for Buddhism,” Bridges, 13, 3-4, Fall/Winter 2006
“Illusions of the Self in Buddhism and Winnicott,” in Buddhism and Psychotherapy in the 21st Century, Wisdom Publications: Boston, 2006
“An Object-Relations Psychology of Zen Practice,” in From Ancient India to Modern America: Buddhist Studies in Honor of Charles Prebish, RoutledgeCurzon: London, 2006
“The Encounter of Buddhism and Psychology,” in Westward Dharma: Buddhism Beyond Asia, Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002
“Buddhism and Psychology: a Perspective at the Millennium,” in Religious Studies Review, Fall 2001
“Zen in the West,” in Buddhist Spirituality: Ch’an, East Asian, Contemporary, New York: Crossroad Publishing, 1999
Publications: Reviews
Leighton, Bodhisattva Archetypes (2000), Prebish, Luminous Passage (2000), and Prebish and Tanaka, Faces of American Buddhism (2000), in Journal of Buddhist Ethics; Seager, Buddhism in America (2001), Faure, The Will to Orthodoxy (1999), Wilson and Dobbelaere, A Time to Chant (1995), and Yagi and Swidler, A Bridge to Buddhist-Christian Dialogue (1993), in Journal of Religion; Williams and Queen, American Buddhism (2001), in Japanese Journal of Religious Studies.
Publications: Editorial
Journal of Global Buddhism, Founding Book Review Editor, 2000-present
Forge Guild of Spiritual Leaders and Teachers, Newsletter Editor, 1999-present
Association of Educational Therapists, Directory, 1997
A Bibliographic Guide to the Comparative Study of Ethics, Cambridge University Press, 1991. Editorial Associate
Honors and Awards
Dissertation approved with distinction, 1997
Charlotte W. Newcombe Fellowship, alternate, 1996
Doctoral examinations passed with distinction, 1993
University of Chicago Divinity School Continuing Fellowship in Ph.D. Studies, 1990-1991
University of Chicago Divinity School Entering Fellowship in Ph.D. Studies, 1988-1989
Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley Scholarship, 1987
Papers and Talks
“A Winnicottian Transpersonal Theory,” American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, November 2003
“Peace and Harmony, Then and Now,” Los Angeles Buddhist Federation Hanamatsuri Commemorative Lecture, April 2003
Presider, various sessions of the Person, Culture, and Religion Group, AAR Annual Meetings, 1998-2002
“Buddhism and Psychology: A Personal View of the Field and Its Implications,” AAR Western Region Annual Meeting, April 2000
“Attachment and Religion,” AAR Western Region Annual Meeting, April 1999
“Buddhist Tales and Teaching Circles,” Forge Institute Western Meeting, July 1998
“Toward a Cultural Psychology Grounded in Object Relations,” AAR Annual Meeting, November 1997
Session organizer and chair, “Problems of Sex and Power in American Buddhism,” Society for the Scientific Study of Religion/Religious Research Association Annual Meeting, November 1997
“‘We Think Your Behavior is Harming the Buddhadharma’, a Zen Intervention,” SSSR/RRA Annual Meeting, November 1997
“On the Irrelevance of Mysticism for Zen Practitioners,” Forge Institute Annual Meeting, October 1996
Memberships
Person, Culture, & Religion Group of the American Academy of Religion; national steering committee co-chair, 2000-2003; steering committee member, 1997-2003
Person, Culture, & Religion Group of the American Academy of Religion; Western regional chair, 2006-present
Forge Guild of Spiritual Leaders and Teachers, 1996-present
Founding member, Workshop on Psychotherapy and Religion, University of Chicago
Languages
Good French, reading German, rudimentary Japanese, superior Macintosh and internet skills
References
Professor Peter Homans, University of Chicago
Professor Frank E. Reynolds, University of Chicago
Professor Charles S. Prebish, Utah State University
Dr. Robert Forman, The Forge Institute
Professor Gilbert Herdt, San Francisco State University