BA (Bowdoin) MA (Sydney) MA PhD (Chicago)
Professor of Buddhist Studies & Asian Religions
Affiliate Professor in Law
Head of the Religion Programme
Co-Director Otago Centre for Law and Society
Richardson 5C19, 5th Floor, Richardson Central Tower
Tel +64 3 479 8795
Email ben.schonthal@otago.ac.nz
academia.edu (to access many of Ben's publications)
Ben is Professor and the Head of the Religion Programme at Otago, and Affiliate Professor in the Law School. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, where his dissertation received the international 2013 Law & Society Association Dissertation Award.
Ben's research examines the intersections of religion, law and politics in late-colonial and contemporary South and Southeast Asia. He has been President of the New Zealand Association for the Study of Religions, a visiting fellow at Northwestern University and the Institute for Advanced Study in Bielefeld, Germany and visiting Lecturer in Law at the University of Chicago Law School.
He co-directs the Otago Centre for Law and Society (OCLaS) and serves as Associate Editor for South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies and Buddhism, Law & Society .
South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies
Buddhism, Law & Society
He is a board member of the Indian Law Review, the Australian Association of Buddhist Studies and the MF Center for the Advanced Study of Religion in Norway.
Ben is the author of Buddhism, Politics and the Limits of Law (Cambridge University Press 2016) and more than 40 scholarly chapters and articles in journals such as Modern Asian Studies, The Journal of Asian Studies, Journal of the American Academy of Religions, the American Journal of Comparative Law and the International Journal of Constitutional Law. With Tom Ginsburg, he co-edited Buddhism and Comparative Constitutional Law (Cambridge University Press 2023).
His current research project, Law's Karma, examines the politics and practice of Buddhist law in contemporary South and Southeast Asia. It is supported by the Royal Society of New Zealand.
Royal Society of New Zealand
Awards
In 2016 he received the Otago University Award for Distinction in Research (Early Career).
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In 2021, he won the Rowheath Trust Award and Carl Smith Medal.
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Ben has won several awards for his teaching and supervision at the University of Chicago and Otago, including being named one of the "top ten teachers" and finalist for "supervisor of the year" by the Otago University Students Association and receiving the Division of Humanities' Teaching Excellence Award.
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In 2019, he received the University of Otago Excellence in Teaching Award.
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Teaching
Papers taught in 2024
- RELS 102 Hinduism and Buddhism
- RELS 236 / RELS 336 Buddhism, State and Society
- RELS239 / RELS314 Religion and Identity
Postgraduate supervision
Ben encourages inquiries from prospective PhD candidates working on topics in the areas of Buddhism, religion in colonial and contemporary Southern Asia (especially Sri Lanka), religion and law, or religion and politics.
Scholarships database
Otago's PhD programere
Current postgraduate students
- Gihani De Silva, PhD (primary supervisor) Vigilant Steps: Buddhist Nuns and Social Empowerment
- Sanjana Hattotuwa, PhD (co supervisor) Liking hate? Social media, politics and conflict in Sri Lanka
- Anushka Kahandagama, PhD (primary supervisor) Contemporary Buddhist Trends in Sri Lanka
Books
Buddhism, Politics, and the Limits of Law
New York: Cambridge University Press. November 2016.
Reviews
Sep 2019 in Commonwealth and Comparative Politics
Mar 2019 in Journal of Law and Religion
Jan 2019 in Asian Ethnology (PDF)
Aug 2018 in Law and Politics Book Review
Jun 2018 in International Journal of Constitutional Law
Aug 2017 in Asian Journal of Law and Society
Aug 2017 in Law & Society Review
Buddhism and Comparative Constitutional Law (with Tom Ginsburg).
New York: Cambridge University Press. January 2023.
Reviews
Dec 2022 in Democracy Paradox
May 2023 in Asian Journal of Law and Society
Jul 2023 in Journal of Buddhist Ethics
Jul 2023 in Thai Legal Studies
[Monograph in draft] Law's Karma: Buddhist Law in Modern Sri Lanka
Publications
Schonthal, B., & Ginsburg, T. (2024). Breaking the saffron wave? Sangha capture in South and Southeast Asia. Journal of Asian Studies, 11163169. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1215/00219118-11163169 Journal - Research Article
Ginsburg, T., & Schonthal, B. (Eds.). (2023). Buddhism and comparative constitutional law. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 384p. doi: 10.1017/9781009286022 Edited Book - Research
Schonthal, B. (2023). India’s quotidian constitution [Review of the book A people's constitution: The everyday life of law in the Indian republic]. Law & Social Inquiry. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1017/lsi.2022.109 Journal - Research Other
Ginsburg, T., & Schonthal, B. (2023). Introduction: Mapping the Buddhist-constitutional complex in Asia. In T. Ginsburg & B. Schonthal (Eds.), Buddhism and comparative constitutional law. (pp. 1-32). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/9781009286022 Chapter in Book - Research
Ramraj, V. V., Dorji, N., Parmar, P., & Schonthal, B. (2022). Legal pluralism and globalization from the Himalayas to Southeast Asia. Legal Pluralism & Critical Social Analysis, 54(1), 7-12. doi: 10.1080/27706869.2022.2089804 Journal - Research Article