CURRICULUM VITAE
George M. Williams
Department of Religious Studies
Chico, CA 95926, USA
(530) 898-5662
Email:gwilliams@csuchico.edu

EDUCATION

Ph.D., History of Religions, The University of Iowa, 1972
M.Div. Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 1965
B. A. Grand Canyon University, 1962

HONORS

• Awarded Doctor Honoris Causa from the United Protestant Seminary of Cluj [Kolozsvar], Romania, October 17, 1996
• Awarded Litterarum Humanorum Doctor by Starr King School for the Ministry, Berkeley, May 1994.
• Received a National Endowment for the Humanities summer teaching grant at the University of Hawaii to study religion and material culture, 1993.
•  Distinguished Service Award from the American Chapter of the International Association of Religious Freedom, 1989.
• Emeritus Professor, California State University, Chico. 1998.

PUBLICATIONS

Books (Partial List)

• 1972. The Quest for Meaning of Svâmî Vivekânanda (New Horizons Press)
• 1984. Liberal Religious Reformation in Japan (American Chapter of IARF)

Articles (Some Recent)

• "The Bodhisattva Way of Peace," which appeared in Studia Missionalia (Vol. 38, 1989).
• "The World Parliament of Religion: A Triumph or a Failure?" Religious Traditions (Vol. 17, 1994, pp. 76-82, reprinted in IARF newsletter.
• "The Ramakrishna Movement: A Study in Religious Change" (Chapter 3), newly revised and enlarged in the third edition of Robert Baird (ed.), Religion in Modern India (New Delhi: Monohar, 1994), pp. 57-79.
• "Svâmî Vivekânanda" (Chapter 13), newly revised and enlarged in the third edition of Robert Baird (ed.), Religion in Modern India (New Delhi: Monohar, 1994), pp.313-342.
• Two essays were recently published in Japan and Hungary: "Free Religion" was published in Japanese translation and "Limits of Toleration" was published in Hungarian.
• Citation of Williams' work on Vivekananda as "pioneering" by Narasingha P. Sil, "Vivekananda's Ramakrishna: An Untold Story of Mythmaking and Propaganda," Numen (1993, pp. 38ff.)
• "The World Parliament of Religion: A Triumph or a Failure?" Religious Traditions (Vol. 17, 1994, pp. 76-82.). Reprinted in IARF World.
• "National Institute of Advanced Studies Pan Indian Rare Manuscripts Initiative," NIAS Publication 2 (Bangalore: NIAS, 1998).
• "Vivekananda's Modifications of Vedanta" in Ashok Vohra, Indian and Global Realities: Dharma and Religious Perspectives. Delhi: Indian Council of Philosophical Research, 1998.
• "Response of Prof. George Williams" in Proceedings of the 2000th Year Anniversary of Tsubaki Grand Shrine International Symposium on Shinto (Tokyo, 1998), p. 82.
• "A hála a hiteles vallás alapköve," [published speech given at reception upon receipt of honorary doctorate, United Protestant Seminary, Kolozsvár, Romania], Keresztény Magvetö (Kolozsvár, Romania: Volume 103, 3-4, 1997), pp. 254-7.

FILMS AND VIDEOS (Selective)

• 1986. "Bodhisattva Way of Peace."
• l988. "Shinichiro Imaoka: Emerson of Japan."
• 1993. "Lamp of the Dharma."
• 1990s. Five part series on Shinto
• 1990s. Videos on the Transylvanian Unitarian Partner Church movement.
• 2000. "History of IARF"
• 2000. "Yukitaka Yamamoto: Martin Luther of Shrine Shinto."
• 2001. "Hoza"

PROJECTS (Selective)

• Comparative World Religions, Starr King Seminary of Graduate Theological Union, 1998-.
• Sir S. Muherjee Chair at National Institute of Advanced Studies, National Science Campus, Bangalore, June through August, 1998.
• Doctoral Committee for David Keyes, San Francisco Theological Seminary of the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, 1997-8.
• Doctoral Committee for Bihn T. Quach, Graduate Theological Union, 1998-2002.
• Project of preservation, digital archiving, translation and preparation of a comprehensive database of the Bhagavad Gita at the National Institute of Advanced Studies, National Science Campus, Bangalore, June through August, 1998.
• Workshops on use of the internet for research and publication, CD ROM publication, digital archiving at the National Institute of Advanced Studies, National Science Campus, Bangalore
• Digitizing extant works of Raja Rammohan Roy (English, Sanskrit, Arabic, Persian, Bengali) in India, 2001.
• Taught a model course in the academic study of religion at József Attila University, Szeged, Hungary, 1992.
• Taught courses in Asian religions, training faculty about the teaching of religion academically, at state universities of Szeged and Pecs in Hungary, fall of 1993

INVITED LECTURES

• Guest lectures at a number of universities and seminaries in the U.S.. (including Harvard), Canada (at McGill University, Montreal, as a Distinguished Scholar), India, Japan, Hungary and Romania.
• Lectured on liberal religion before religious groups, such as the keynote address on Swami Vivekânanda and the activity of the Ramakrishna Mission in the United States at Vedanta Society's annual retreat near Chicago in August, 1988.
• Workshops at the UUA General Assembly for IARF, PCC, Collegium and the Center for Free Religion.

MEMBERSHIPS (Selective)

• American Academy of Religion
• Association for Asian Studies
• Collegium
• International Association for Religioius Freedom

COURSES TAUGHT

• Asian Religions
• Buddhism
• Hinduism
• Mysticism East and West
• Religion in China
• Religion in Japan
• Religion in India
• Religion and Personality
• Religions of the Pacific
• World Religions
• Comparative Religions
• Numerous seminars