PD Dr. Katja Triplett

PD Dr. Katja Triplett

Research Fellow

Religionsgeschichte
Institutsgebäude
Schillerstraße 6
04109 Leipzig

Phone: +49 341 97-37160

Abstract

Since January 2020 Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for the Study of Religion.

Research focus: religion and society of Japan, religion and medicine, East Asian Buddhism.

2004-2005 Post-doctoral Fellow at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) London. 2007-2012 Associate Professor and Curator of the Museum of Religion in Marburg. 2012-2016 Professor for the Study of Religions, Göttingen. 2017 and 2018 Senior Fellow, Centre for Advanced Studies "Multiple Secularities" Leipzig.

2020 habilitation in the Study of Religions. Since 2021 Affiliate Professor.

Member of the Executive Committee of the International Association for the History of Religions (IAHR) since 2015.

Recent publication: "Religion and Medicine in Premodern Japan." In: Situating Religion and Medicine in Asia: Methodological Insights and Innovations, ed. by M. Stanley-Baker, 94–127 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2023).

Professional career

  • since 01/2023
    Director of research project "Mission as laboratory: Attempts to overcome competing world interpretations in Japanese translations of the early Jesuit mission" (funded by the DFG)
  • since 11/2020
    Affiliate Professor
  • since 08/2023
    Director of research project "Mission as Laboratory: Attempts to Overcome Competing World Interpretations in Japanese Translations of the Early Jesuit mission"
  • 01/2020 - 12/2022
    Director of research project "Japan's Translated Religion: : Christianity, Transculturality and Translation Cultures in the 16th-17th Century", Priority Program of the German Research Foundation (SPP 2130) "Early Modern Translation Cultures"
  • 10/2018 - 12/2019
    Director of research project "Intercultural Perspectives on Religion and the Diversification of Nutrition Styles", research cooperation on "Sustainable Nutrition Styles" funded by the Lower Saxony Ministry for Science and Culture and the Volkswagenstiftung, Leibniz University Hannover
  • 04/2018 - 09/2018
    Senior Fellow at the Centre for Advanced Studies in the Humanities and Social Sciences "Multiple Secularities - Beyond the West, Beyond Modernities", Leipzig University
  • 10/2017 - 03/2018
    Academic Visitor, Oriental Institute, University of Oxford
  • 04/2016 - 10/2016
    Senior Fellow at the Centre for Advanced Studies in the Humanities and Social Sciences "Multiple Secularities - Beyond the West, Beyond Modernities", Leipzig University
  • 10/2016 - 09/2018
    Associate Fellow at the Center for Modern East Asian Studies (CeMEAS), University of Göttingen
  • 11/2012 - 09/2016
    Professor for The Study of Religions (East Asian Religions), Department for East Asian Studies, University of Göttingen
  • 04/2009 - 03/2010
    Interim Professor for East Asian Religion and Philosophy, Department for Asian Studies, Center for Japanese Studies, LM University of Munich
  • 03/2007 - 09/2012
    Senior Lecturer, Department for the Study of Religions and Curator of the Religionskundliche Sammlung (Marburg Museum of Religion), University of Marburg
  • 04/2006 - 09/2006
    Interim professor for the Study of Religions, Philipps University Marburg
  • 09/2005 - 03/2007
    Research Associate at the Department for the Study of Religions, SOAS, University of London
  • 09/2004 - 08/2005
    Post-doctoral Research Fellow at the Centre for the Study of Japanese Religions, SOAS, University of London
  • 08/2002 - 07/2004
    Postdoctoral research associate (100%), research project "Notions of Fate and Life Management in Contemporary Japanese Religions" funded by the German Research Foundation, Philipps University Marburg

Education

  • 07/2020
    Habilitation, Study of Religions (Marburg)
  • 07/1996 - 10/2002
    PhD student in the Study of Religions, Philipps University Marburg (magna cum laude)
  • 10/1997 - 03/1998
    Doctoral stipend, Philipp-Franz-von-Siebold-Stiftung, German Institute for Japanese Studies (DIJ), Tokyo
  • 05/1997 - 09/1997
    Doctoral Fellow at the Shin Buddhist Comprehensive Research Institute, Ōtani University, Kyoto
  • 11/1991 - 03/1993
    Year Abroad, Buddhist University (Bukkyō daigaku), Kyoto, and Language School Kawarajuku
  • 10/1987 - 06/1996
    MA in Study of Religions, Japanese Studies (Linguistics), Tibetan Studies and Social/Cultural Anthropology, Philipps University Marburg

In my current research project “Mission as laboratory: Attempts to Overcome Competing World Interpretations in Japanese Translations of the Early Jesuit Mission" I explore, on the basis of Japanese translations from the late 16th and early 17th centuries, how Jesuits and Japanese converts dealt with competing world interpretations in an effort to create a new order of knowledge and values for a Catholic Japan that was to be uniform and harmonious. The focus of the research is on the translation into Japanese of compendia written in Latin, produced in the years 1593-1595 especially for the mission to Japan. The translated compendia are available in the form of manuscripts in European collections and will be examined in the project, also considering later sources, with regard to normative and cognitive ideas of the body and associated bodily practices.


The project is funded by the German Research Council (DFG).

  • Triplett, K.
    Religion and Medicine in Premodern Japan
    In: Stanley-Baker, M. (Ed.)
    Situating Religion and Medicine in Asia. Methodological Insights and Innovations. Manchester: Manchester University Press. 2023. pp. 94–127.
    show details
  • Triplett, K.
    Tradierung und Ausdifferenzierung religiösen und medizinischen Wissens im frühmodernen Japan am Beispiel der Ärzte Dōsan, Gensaku und Furusawa Gentai
    In: Deeg, M.; Freiberger, O.; Kleine, C.; Kollmar-Paulenz, K. (Eds.)
    Grenzen der Religion. Säkularität in der Asiatischen Religionsgeschichte. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht . 2023. pp. 281–306.
    show details
  • Triplett, K. (Ed.)
    Translated Religion: In a Forest of True Words. Translated by Chris Abbey. With contributions by Thandi Allen
    Leipzig: Universität Leipzig. 2023.
    show details
  • Triplett, K.
    Veganismus und pflanzenorientierte Ernährung in der aktuellen Nachhaltigkeitsdebatte als Themen der Religionswissenschaft
    Zeitschrift für Religionswissenschaft. 2022. 30 (1). pp. 110–134.
    show details
  • Triplett, K.
    Buddhism and Medicine in Japan: A Topical Survey (500-1600 CE) of a Complex Relationship
    Berlin : De Gruyter. 2019.
    show details

more publications

  • Religion and Culture in Japan

    Class, Marburg University 2023

  • The Lotus Sutra in Japanese Buddhism

    Class, Marburg University 2022

  • The Asian Buddhist Traditions

    Lecture, Marburg University 2021

  • Religions in Japan

    Class, repeatedly, last at Leibniz University Hannover in 2017/18

  • Buddhism and Law

    Class, Leibniz University Hannover 2017/18

  • Religions in Asia

    Lecture (co-taught with Fritz Heinrich and Robert Stephanus), University of Münster 2017


  • Religion, Science, Magic

    Class, repeatedly, last at Leibniz University Hannover 2016/17

  • Intellectual History of China I: Confucianism

    Lecture, repeatedly, last at Göttingen University in 2016

  • Buddhist Texts (set texts)

    Class, repeatedly, last at Göttingen University in 2016

  • Religion and Literature: Texts of the Near and Far East in Translation

    Class, Göttingen University 2016

  • Intellectual History of China III: Buddhism

    Lecture, repeatedly, last at Göttingen University in 2015/16

  • Modern China: Transformation Processes and Areas of Conflict

    Class, repeatedly, last at Göttingen University in 2015/16

  • Images of Asian Religions and Cultures (with poster exhibition)

    Class, Göttingen University in 2015

  • Asian Myths and Mythology and Their Study

    Class (co-taught with Katrin Killinger), Göttingen University 2015

  • Animals Ethics: Agricultural Science and the Study of Religion in Dialogue

    Class (co-taught with Jürgen Hummel and Achim Spiller), Göttingen University 2015

  • East Asia and the Power of Sacred Sounds

    Class (co-taught with Birgit Abels),  Göttingen University 2015

  • Introduction to the History of Religions

    Class, repeatedly, last at Göttingen University in 2014/15

  • Interdiscplinary Lecture: Introduction to Christianity

    Lecture, session on “Christians in Japan”, Göttingen University 2014/15

  • From Amida Buddha to Zen Garden: Visual and Material Aspects of Japanese Religions

    Lecture, Göttingen University 2014

  • The Imagery of East Asian Buddhism

    Class, repeatedly, last at Göttingen University in 2014

  • Religion and Evolution

    Class, Göttingen University 2014

  • Oracles, Divination and Life Management in East Asian Religions

    Class, Göttingen University 2013/14

  • Indian Religions: Texts of Hindus, Jains, and Sikhs (set texts)

    Class, Göttingen University 2013/14

  • Neo-Confucianism in Japan

    Class, Göttingen University 2013

  • Religion and Healing: Asian Therapeutics and Concepts of Health

    Class, repeatedly, last at Göttingen University in 2013

  • New Religions in Japan

    Class, Göttingen University 2013

  • Critical Terms in the Study of Religions

    Class, Göttingen University 2013

  • East Asian Buddhist Traditions and Their Study

    Class, repeatedly, last at Göttingen University in 2012/13

  • Pilgrimage in China and Japan

    Class, Göttingen University 2012/13

  • Japanese Religion and Popular Culture (Film: Isao Takahata's And Hayao Miyazaki's Works)

    Class, Göttingen University 2012/13

  • Studies on Religion and Food Culture

    Class (two-term research training), last at Marburg University in 2012

  • Hermeneutics

    Class, repeatedly, last at Marburg University in 2012

  • Alternative Healing Concepts in Germany: Studies of Religion, Medicine, and Worldview

    Class (two-term research training), last at Marburg University in 2011

  • Exhibiting Asian Religions in the Museum

    Class, repeatedly, last at Marburg University in 2010/11

  • Shamanism in Asia: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy or Invented Tradition?

    Class, Marburg University 2010

  • Image Theory in the Study of Religion

    Class, Marburg University 2010

  • Methodological Approaches in the Study of Asian Buddhist Primary Sources

    Research Seminar (Buddhist Studies Doctoral Programme), Ludwig Maximilians University Munich 2010

  • Shingon: A School of Esoteric Buddhism in Japan

    Class, Ludwig Maximilians University Munich 2009/10

  • Pilgrimage as a Topic in the Comparative Study of Religion

    Class, Ludwig Maximilians University Munich 2009/10

  • Introduction to Japanese Studies

    Lecture (co-taught), sessions on Japanese religions, Ludwig Maximilians University Munich 2009/10

  • Exhibiting Pilgrimage in the Museum

    Class, Marburg University 2009/10

  • Zen Buddhism and Nationalism

    Class, Ludwig Maximilians University Munich 2009

  • Myths and the Study of Myths

    Class, Ludwig Maximilians University Munich 2009

  • Problems and Approaches in the Study of Non-European Religions and Cultures (Focus: Early Travelogues)

    Class (co-taught with Christoph Wagenseil), Marburg University 2008/9

  • Cosmic Mountains and Islands of Bliss: Conceptions of the World in Cultures and Religions in East Asia

    Class, Marburg University 2007/8

  • Alchemy as a Topic in the Study of Religion

    Class (co-taught with Christoph Wagenseil), Marburg University 2007/8

  • Preaching and Transmission of Religious Teachings in Asia

    Class, Marburg University 2007

  • Comparative Study of Myths and Religious Narratives in Asia

    Class, University of Basel 2006/7

  • Introduction to Theories of Myths

    Lecture, Marburg University 2006

  • Religion and Healing

    Class, Marburg University 2006

  • East Asian Religions in Past and Present

    Class, Marburg University 2006

  • Religious Systems of Modern Japan: Rituals and Annual Festivals

    Class, Marburg University 2006

  • Japanese Religions

    Centre for the Study of Religions, SOAS, University of London, thematic contributions (MA and BA), 2004/5

  • Religious Systems in Modern Japan I: E-Learning Unit

    Class (co-taught with Petra Kienle and Michael Pye), Marburg University 2004/5

  • Set Texts in the Study of Religion I: Eastern Texts

    Class, Marburg University 2004/5

  • Recent Research Literature in Modern Foreign Languages (Focus: Universalism and Culture Difference in Discourses in the Study of Religion

    Class (co-taught with Michael Pye), Marburg University 2004

  • Religious Systems in Modern Japan: E-Learning Unit II

    Lecture/Class (co-taught with Michael Pye), Marburg University 2004

  • Foundation Myths as a Topic in the Comparative Study of Religion

    Class, Marburg University 2003/04