Phone: (408) 554-4668
Office Hours: MWF 10:00-11:00 & by appt.
Room number: 311
Courses taught:
RSOC 9 Ways of Understanding Religion
RSOC 49 Religion, Politics & Civil Society
RSOC 99 Sociology of Religion
RSOC 54 Comparative Religions & Social Theory
Jason Smick, Ph.D.
Lecturer (Academic Year)
After earning an A.B. in Philosophy from the University of California at Berkeley, Jason earned an M.A. in Theology at the Graduate Theological Union. In 2007, Jason earned a Ph.D. in Religious Studies from the University of Virginia. He has taught at Santa Clara since 2007.
Courses
Courses taught at Santa Clara University
RSOC 9 Ways of Understanding Religion
RSOC 49 Religion, Politics, and Civil Society
RSOC 99 Sociology of Religion
RSOC 54 Comparative Religions and Social Theory
Research
Research Interests
Modern and postmodern Western philosophy and religious thought, history and theory of religious, philosophical and scientific practice, philosophical phenomenology and the phenomenology of religion, sociology of secular traditions and communities (esp. the relation of Western philosophy to contemporary humanist associations and communities), the role of deism and atheism in the construction of secular culture in the U.S. and France, extending Pierre Hadot's work on ancient philosophy and philosophical practice to modern and postmodern philosophical traditions, Jan Patocka's phenomenology of philosophy and religion, the new atheism in popular literature (Harris, Dawkins, Hitchens, Dennett) and philosophy (Badiou, Meillassoux, Brassier), religion and science, fundamentalism, the Kyoto School of Japanese religious philosophy, visibility as an ethical and political problem in the U.S. and the Netherlands, the democratic and autocratic tendencies of religious and philosophical traditions, the 'theological turn' in recent French phenomenology, religion in a postmodern context, methodology in the study of religion, comparative inter-religious/cross-cultural dialogue, the secularization thesis in light of the 'return of religion'
Journal Articles
"Political Phenomenology: Radical Democracy and Truth" (co-author, with Rocco Gangle). An article accepted for a special issue of the journal Political Theology (volume 10, issue 2) on "Theology and Democratic Futures"
Books
Phenomenological Askesis: The Spiritual Exercises of Phenomenology. Book manuscript (under review at Springer Publishers).
Activities
Professional Memberships
* American Philosophical Association
* American Academy of Religion
