The Pluralism Project at Harvard University

Dr. Paul D. Numrich

University of Illinois – Chicago
Buddhist Chicago Project: A Scholarly Study of
Chicago-area Buddhists and their Organizations

The Buddhist Chicago Project seeks an "on the ground" contextualization of Buddhism as a social system within a particular American metropolis. The project investigates several key issues, including how Buddhist groups within a metropolitan region interrelate. An affiliate grant from the Pluralism Project is funding an inital canvassing of Buddhist Chicago as a foundation for further funding of the complete study.

I have contacted or visited 63 Buddhist temples, centers, and groups in the 6-county region.

Paul D. Numrich, Ph.D., is a research associate professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Loyola University Chicago, conducting research out of the department's McNamara Center for the Social Study of Religion. Dr. Numrich co-directs the Religion, Immigration and Civil Society in Chicago Project, a three-year scholarly investigation of religion's role in the social engagement of recent immigrant groups, and also directs projects on culturally competent health care for immigrant patients and local Christian responses to increasing religious diversity.

Dr. Numrich's publications include an award-winning book, Old Wisdom in the New World: Americanization in Two Immigrant Theravada Buddhist Temples (University of Tennessee Press, 1996); portions of the volume Buddhists, Hindus, and Sikhs in America in the acclaimed Religion in American Life Series (Oxford University Press, 2001); and numerous essays. Dr. Numrich also serves as an advisor and consultant for projects and initiatives, such as the Pluralism Project at Harvard University, the Religion, Culture, and Family Project at the University of Chicago, and the US State Department's Buddhist Roundtable.

Curriculum Vitae
Online Directory from the Midwest Buddhist Information Center