Department of Religious Studies
Department of Religious Studies
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Blaine Patrick Werner, Jr.

Doctoral Candidate
Email: bw2yb@virginia.edu

Education

  • University of Virginia - PhD, Religious Studies (expected completion 2028)
  • University of Virginia - MA, Religious Studies (2022)
  • Amherst College - BA cum laude, Psychology and Religion (2015)
  • Central University of Tibetan Studies - January Term Academic Exchange in Sarnath, India (2013)

Research Areas

  • Buddhist Modernities
  • Buddhist Studies
  • American Studies
  • Science and Religion
  • Postcolonial/Decolonial and Critical Theory

Research Topic

  • Compassion meditation traditions in the United States

Publications

  • “Revisiting Curators of the Buddha (1995): The Specter of Orientalism, Ambivalence, and the Upside of Melancholy,” The Pacific World: Journal of the Institute of Buddhist Studies Special Issue, forthcoming.

  • “How to Judge Attention: Mindfulness and Conscientiousness through the Prism of Śāntideva as Normative Attention and a Model for Responding to Climate Catastrophe,” Journal of Contemplative Studies 1:3, forthcoming.

  • “The Unfolding of Meditation: A Genealogy of ‘Concentrative vs. Opening-Up Meditation’ and the Legacy of Claudio Naranjo's Reformulation of Contemplative Practice for the Transformation of the Self at the Dawn of the New Age,” Master’s thesis, University of Virginia, May 3, 2022. https://doi.org/10.18130/h0t3-4831. 

Selected Fellowships, Grants, and Honors 

  • Albert Gallatin Graduate Research Fellowship in International Affairs, Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation, Inc., University of Virginia (2026)

  • Forum on Religion and Democracy (formerly Virginia Center for Study of Religion) Grant for Religious Studies Graduate Student Professional Development and Social Programming (2023-2026 annually)

  • Winter School in South Africa Fellow, at the Centre for Humanities Research Iyatsiba Lab at the University of the Western Cape, Institute of the Humanities & Global Cultures, University of Virginia (2025)

  • Teaching Assistant of the Year, UVA Department of Religious Studies (2023-2024)

  • Graduate Fellow, John L. Nau III History and Principles of Democracy Lab, Karsh Institute of Democracy, University of Virginia (2022-2023)

  • The Moseley Prize in Religion, Amherst College (2015)

Courses Taught

  • RELB 2900: Buddhist Meditation Traditions (TA for Professor Devin Zuckerman, Spring 2026)

  • RELG 1000: Questions in the Study of Religion (with Professor Kai Parker, Fall 2025)

  • RELG 1040: Introduction to Asian Religions (TA for Professor Michael Allen, Spring 2025)

  • RELB 2054: Tibetan Buddhism Introduction (TA for Professor Kurtis Schaeffer, Fall 2023)

  • RELG 1040: Introduction to Asian Religions (TA for Professor Michael Allen, Spring 2023)

  • AMST 2001: Introduction to American Studies (TA for Professors Grace Hale & Matthew Hedstrom, Fall 2022)

  • RELG 2210: Religion, Ethics, and Global Environments (TA for Professor Willis Jenkins, Spring 2022)

  • RELB 2165: Buddhist Meditation and the Modern Secular World (TA for Professors David Germano & Kurtis Schaeffer, January 2021)