Pauline C. Lee

Pauline C. Lee is an Associate Professor in Theological Studies at Saint Louis University's College of Arts and Sciences. Her work bridges Chinese thought, ethics, philosophy, and religious studies, with a focus on interdisciplinary approaches to Confucianism and Late Ming China.

• A.B., Stanford University (English Literature)
• M.T.S., Harvard Divinity School (Comparative Religions)
• Ph.D., Stanford University (Religious Studies)

Lee's research examines intersections of ethics, self-expression, and desire in Chinese philosophical and religious traditions. She co-founded Saint Louis University's Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (AMES) Center and co-directs the Lived Religion in the Digital Age initiative, supported by a Henry R. Luce Foundation Grant. Her broader interests include feminisms, digital humanities, democracy in China, and public-facing art.

Lee's publications center on the iconoclastic 16th-century thinker Li Zhi, including analyses of his critiques of Confucian ethics, syncretism, and dissent in Late Ming China. Her work spans books, translations, and critical essays, reflecting interdisciplinary engagement with philosophy, literature, and religious texts.

She has served as Co-Chair of the American Academy of Religion's Confucian Traditions Unit and explores cultural conceptions of play through her current project Play in China: The Trifling, the Wicked, and the Sacred, analyzing religious and philosophical classics alongside visual artifacts.

Lee remains an avid figure skater in her spare time.