James Miller | Scholars@Duke

James Miller
Professor of Humanities at Duke Kunshan University

James Miller is the inaugural Professor of Humanities at Duke Kunshan University, Associate Dean for Interdisciplinary Strategy, and co-director of the DKU Humanities Research Center . Prior to his appointment at Duke Kunshan, Dr. Miller served as the director of the interdisciplinary graduate program in cultural studies, and as the director of the School of Religion, at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada.

Dr. Miller's research is based in the study of Chinese philosophy, theology, and religion, with an emphasis on philosophy of nature, environmental ethics, and the intersection of religion and ecology in China. He is known worldwide as a scholar of Daoism, China's indigenous religion, and especially its relation to ecology. He has published six books including, most recently, China's Green Religion: Daoism and the Quest for a Sustainable Future (Columbia 2017).

Current Appointments & Affiliations

Professor of Humanities at Duke Kunshan University, DKU Faculty, Duke Kunshan University 2018
Professor of the Practice of Global Studies, DKU Visiting Faculty, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 2021

Contact Information

Background
Education, Training, & Certifications
- Ph.D., Boston University 2000
Leadership & Clinical Positions at Duke
- Associate Dean, Interdisciplinary Strategy, Duke Kunshan University (2020-)
  Chair, Arts and Humanities Division, Duke Kunshan University (2018-2020)
  Co-Director, Duke Kunshan University Humanities Research Center (2018-)
Expertise
Subject Headings
Global Scholarship
- Expertise
  - China (Country)
- Research
  - China (Country)
- Teaching
  - Canada (Country)
  - China (Country)
Publications & Artistic Works
Selected Publications
- Books
  - The Coronavirus. Springer Singapore, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-9362-8.
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  - Miller, James. China’s green religion : Daoism and the quest for a sustainable future. New York: Columbia University Press, 2017.
  - Miller, James, Peter van der Veer, and Dan Smyer Yu, eds. Religion and Ecological Sustainability in China. Routledge, 2014.
  - Miller, James, Peter van der Veer, and Dan Smyer Yu, eds. Religion and Ecological Sustainability in China. Routledge, 2014.
  - Miller, James, Peter van der Veer, and Dan Smyer Yu, eds. Religion and Ecological Sustainability in China. Routledge, 2014.
  - Miller, James. Daoism; A Beginner’s Guide. Oneworld Publications, 2008.
  - Miller, James. The Way of Highest Clarity Nature, Vision and Revelation in Medieval China. Magdalena: Three Pines Press, 2008.
  - Miller, James, ed. Chinese Religions in Contemporary Societies. Abc-clio, 2006.
  - Miller, James. Daoismo. Una introduzione. Translated by M. Ghilardi. Vol. 101. Fazi Editore, 2005.
  - Miller, James. Daoism: A Short Introduction. Oxford: OneWorld Publications, 2003.
  - Girardot, Norman, james Miller, and Xiaogan Liu, eds. Daoism and ecology: ways within a cosmic landscape. Vol. 6. Harvard Univ Ctr for the Study of World Religions, 2001.
  - Girardot, Norman, james Miller, and Xiaogan Liu, eds. Daoism and ecology: ways within a cosmic landscape. Vol. 6. Harvard Univ Ctr for the Study of World Religions, 2001.
- Academic Articles
  - Miller, J. “Life/Time Reflections on Contemporary Scholarship in Jewish Environmentalism.” Worldviews: Environment, Culture, Religion 26, no. 2 (January 1, 2022): 163–67. https://doi.org/10.1163/15685357-02601015.
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  - Miller, J. “Editorial.” Worldviews: Environment, Culture, Religion 24, no. 1 (January 1, 2020): 1–3. https://doi.org/10.1163/15685357-02401002.
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  - Lemche, J., and J. Miller. “Global capital, local conservation, and ecological civilization: The tiejia ecology temple and the chinese daoist association’s green agenda.” Religions 10, no. 10 (October 1, 2019). https://doi.org/10.3390/rel10100580.
    Full Text Open Access Copy
  - Miller, James, and 苗建時 James. “Transfiguration, Spirituality and Embodiment: Perspectives from Christian and Daoist Scriptures.” 宗教哲學, 2016, 49–73.
    Open Access Copy
  - Murray, Daniel M., and James Miller. “TRADUÇAO: A Sociedade Taoísta do Brasil e a globalizaçao do Daoismo da Ortodoxia Unitária.” Religare: Revista Do Programa De Pós Graduaç Ao Em Ciências Das Religi Oes Da Ufpb 12 (2016): 315–43.
    Open Access Copy
  - Miller, James. “Time, and Again, and Forever: The Somatic Experience of Time in Daoist Philosophy and Religion.” Kronoscope Journal for the Study of Time 15 (2015): 13–25.
    Open Access Copy
  - Miller, James. “Authenticity, Sincerity and Spontaneity: The Mutual Implication of Nature and Religion in China and the West.” Method & Theory in the Study of Religion 25 (2013): 283–307.
    Open Access Copy
  - Miller, James. “Is Green the New Red? The Role of Religion in Creating a Sustainable China.” Nature + Culture 8 (2013): 249–64.
    Open Access Copy
  - Murray, Daniel M., and James Miller. “The Daoist Society of Brazil and the Globalization of Orthodox Unity Daoism.” Journal of Daoist Studies 6 (2013): 93–114. https://doi.org/10.1353/dao.2013.0003.
    Full Text Open Access Copy
  - Miller, James. “Chinese Cultural Factors Favouring Biotechnology Research.” Worldviews: Global Religions, Culture, and Ecology 14 (2010): 96–105.
    Open Access Copy
  - Miller, James. “Humans Must Conquer Nature: Philosophical and Religious Sources of China’s Anti-Environmental Ideology,” 2010.
  - Miller, J. “All nature was a mirror: A response to "All nature was a garden" by Augustin Berque.” Western Humanities Review 63, no. 3 (September 1, 2009): 23–29.
  - Miller, James, and Elijah Siegler. “Of Alchemy and Authenticity: Teaching About Daoism Today.” Teaching Theology & Religion 10 (April 2007): 101–8. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9647.2007.00323.x.
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  - Miller, James. “The pristine Dao: Metaphysics in early Daoist discourse.” Journal of Asian Studies 66 (2007): 1122–24.
  - Miller, James. “Mysticism and Kingship in China: The Heart of Chinese Wisdom. By Julia Ching; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997. xxi, 302 pages. $74.95 (cloth); $27.95 (paper).” The Journal of Asian Studies 60, no. 4 (November 2001): 1146–47. https://doi.org/10.2307/2700041.
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  - Miller, J. “Envisioning the Daoist body in the economy of cosmic power.” Daedalus 130, no. 4 (September 1, 2001): 265–82.
    Open Access Copy
- Book Sections
  - Miller, J. “China: Landscapes, cultures, ecologies, religions,” 181–89, 2016.
  - Miller, James. “Ecology, Aesthetics and Daoist Body Cultivation.” In Environmental Philosophy in Asian Traditions of Thought, edited by J Baird Callicott and James McRae, 225–44. SUNY Press, 2014.
  - Miller, James. “Connecting Religion and Ecology.” In Controversies in Contemporary Religion : Education, Law, Politics, Society, and Spirituality, edited by Paul Hedges. Santa Barabra, CA: Praeger, 2014.
  - Smyer Yu, Dan, James Miller, and Peter van der Veer. “Introduction: The diversity of eco-religious practice in China.” In Religion and Ecological Sustainability in China, 1–16. Routledge, 2014.
  - Xia, C., P. Guoxiang, and J. Miller. “‘Hard-hearted’ and ‘soft-hearted’ ecologies: A rereading of Confucian and Daoist classics.” In Religion and Ecological Sustainability in China, edited by James Miller, Dan Smyer Yu, and Peter van der Veer, 71–83. Routledge, 2014. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203739549.
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  - Miller, J. “Nature, impersonality, and absence in the theology of highest clarity daoism,” 669–80, 2013.
  - Miller, J. “Monitory democracy and ecological civilization in the people’s republic of China,” 7:137–48, 2013.
  - Miller, J. “Daoism and development,” 113–23, 2013.
  - Miller, J. “Nature.” edited by Randall L. Nadeau, 349–68, 2012.
  - Miller, James. “Monitory Democracy and Ecological Civilization in the People’s Republic of China.” In Civil Society in the Age of Monitory Democracy, edited by Lars Trägårdh, Nina Witoszek, and Bron Taylor, Vol. 7. Berghahn Books, 2012.
  - Miller, James. “Religion, Nature and Modernization in China.” In Technology, Trust and Religion: Roles of Religion in Controversies on Ecology and the Modification of Life, edited by Willem B. Drees, 107–22. Leiden: Leiden University Press, 2009.
    Link to Item
  - Miller, J. “Daoism and Nature,” 2009.
  - Miller, James. “The Historical Legacy of China’s Religious Traditions.” In Chinse Religions in Contemporary Societies, edited by James Miller, 9–30, 2006.
  - Miller, James. “The Historical Legacy of China’s Religious Traditions.” In Chinse Religions in Contemporary Societies, edited by James Miller, 9–30, 2006.
  - Xiang, He, and James Miller. “Confucian Spirituality in an Ecological Age.” In Chinese Religions in Contemporary Societies, edited by james Miller, 55–67. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2006.
  - Xiang, He, and James Miller. “Confucian Spirituality in an Ecological Age.” In Chinese Religions in Contemporary Societies, edited by james Miller, 55–67. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2006.
  - Miller, James. “Manifesto for a Daoist Theology of Messianic Wisdom,” 22:283–283. CRVP, 2004.
  - Miller, James. “Daoism and Nature.” In Science Across Cultures: The History of Non-Western Science, 393–409. Springer Netherlands, 2003. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-0149-5_20.
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  - Kohn, Livia, and James Miller. “Truth in Chinese Religion.” In Religious Truth: A Volume in the Comparative Religious Ideas Project, edited by Robert Cummings Neville. State University of New York Press, 2001.
  - Miller, James. “Respecting the Environment, or Visualizing Highest Clarity.” In Daoism and Ecology: Ways within a Cosmic Landscape, edited by Norman Girardot, James Miller, and Xiaogan Liu, 351–60. Cambridge: Harvard University Center for the Study of World Religions, 2001.
  - Miller, James. “Respecting the Environment, or Visualizing Highest Clarity.” In Daoism and Ecology: Ways within a Cosmic Landscape, edited by Norman Girardot, James Miller, and Xiaogan Liu, 351–60. Cambridge: Harvard University Center for the Study of World Religions, 2001.
- Book Reviews
  - Miller, James. “Celestial Masters: History and Ritual in Early Daoist Communities by Terry F. Kleeman.” China Review International. University of Hawai’i Press, 2015.
  - Miller, James. “Daoism in History: Essays in Honour of Liu Ts\textquotesingleun-Yan âÂÂ Edited by Benjamin Penny.” Religious Studies Review. Wiley-Blackwell, December 2009. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1748-0922.2009.01392_11.x.
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  - Miller, James. “Cultivating Perfection: Mysticism and Self-transformation in Early Quanzhen Daoism.” Sophia, 2009.
  - Miller, James. “The Encyclopedia of Taoism.” Religious Studies Review. Wiley-Blackwell, December 2008. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1748-0922.2008.00312.x.
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  - Miller, James. “Book Review: Overcoming Our Evil: Human Nature and Spiritual Exercises in Xunzi and Augustine.” Theological Studies. SAGE Publications, February 2008. https://doi.org/10.1177/004056390806900120.
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  - Miller, James. “Book Review: Overcoming Our Evil: Human Nature and Spiritual Exercises in Xunzi and Augustine.” Theological Studies. SAGE Publications, 2008.
  - Miller, James. “The Pristine Dao: Metaphysics in Early Daoist Discourse. By THOMAS MICHAEL. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2005. xii, 170 pp. $64.50 (cloth); $21.95 (paper).” The Journal of Asian Studies. Cambridge Univ Press, 2007.
  - Miller, James. “Taoism: The Enduring Tradition (review).” China Review International. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006. https://doi.org/10.1353/cri.2007.0037.
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  - Miller, James, and Erin M. Cline. “Daoism: A Short Introduction.” Journal of Chinese Philosophy. Brill, December 2004. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6253.2004.00170_4.x.
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  - Miller, James. “The Tao of the West and the Emerging Discipline of Daoist Studies.” Religious Studies Review. COUNCIL OF SOCIETIES FOR THE STUDY OF RELIGION, 2002.
  - Miller, James. “Wandering at Ease in the Zhuangzi (review).” Philosophy East and West. Project Muse, 2001. https://doi.org/10.1353/pew.2001.0012.
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  - Miller, James. “Mysticism and Kingship in China: The Heart of Chinese Wisdom. By Julia Ching; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997. xxi, 302 pages. $74.95 (cloth); $27.95 (paper).” The Journal of Asian Studies. Cambridge Univ Press, 2001.
  - Miller, James. “Asceticism in early Taoist religion.” Philosophy East and West. University of Hawaii Press, 2000.
- Reports
  - Miller, James. “Chinese Sexual Yoga and the Way of Immortality,” 2012.
  - Miller, James. “China’s Quest for an Ecologically Sustainable Culture.” Atlantic-Community. org, 2009.
- Conference Papers
  - Miller, James. “Creating Cultures of Ecological Sustainability,” 2012.
  - Miller, James. “Liminal animals: exotic, endangered and transgenic creatures,” 2012.
  - Miller, James. “Religion, Ecology and the Future of the Human Species,” 2012.
  - Miller, James. “Religión, Naturaleza y Modernidad: la búsqueda para un futuro sostenible en la República popular de China,” 2012.
  - Miller, James. “TRANSFIGURED SPACE The Education and Cultivation of Perfected Purple Yang,” 2012.
  - Miller, James. “The Economy of Cosmic Power: A Vision for a Daoist Theology of Religion,” 2012.
  - Miller, James. “The Space of Nature and the Nature of Space in the Esoteric Biography of Perfected Purple Yang 紫陽真人內傳,” 2012.
  - Miller, James. “The Symbolic and Environmental Value of Water in Daoism,” 2012.
  - Miller, James, and W. A. Vashon Island. “Living Light: Shangqing Daoist Cultivation in Theory and Practice,” 2001.
- Theses and Dissertations
  - Miller, James. “The economy of cosmic power: a theory of religious transaction and a comparative study of Shangqing Daoism and the Christian religion of Augustine of Hippo,” 2000.
Teaching & Mentoring
Recent Courses
Scholarly, Clinical, & Service Activities
Service to the Profession
- Co-Director. Religion and Ecology Unit. American Academy of Religion. 2016 - 2018 2016 - 2018

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Education, Training, & Certifications

Leadership & Clinical Positions at Duke

Subject Headings

Global Scholarship

Expertise

Research

Teaching

Selected Publications

Books

Academic Articles

Book Sections

Book Reviews

Reports

Conference Papers

Theses and Dissertations

Recent Courses

Service to the Profession