معرفی
Steven Heine is Professor of Religious Studies and History at Florida International University, where he also directs the Institute for Asian Studies and serves as interim director of the Institute for Judaic and Near Eastern Studies. Additionally, he is associate director of the Center for Transnational and Comparative Studies. His research and teaching focus on Japanese religions—especially Zen Buddhism and the thought of Dōgen (1200-1253), founder of the Sōtō sect—as well as broader East Asian literature and comparative religion.
Education
- Japanese Religions
- Comparative Religious Thought
- Religion and the Social Sciences
Research Interests
Professor Heine’s scholarship centres on Japanese religions, with particular emphasis on Zen Buddhism and the thought of Dōgen. He explores East Asian literature from classical through modern times, employing comparative perspectives that connect Japanese culture with wider global contexts. His work also addresses worldwide mysticism, folk religions, religion and psychology, and the impact of modernization on religious traditions.
Publications & Trends
Across more than two decades, Heine has produced a steady stream of monographs, edited volumes, and peer-reviewed articles that illuminate Zen philosophy, koan literature, and the textual history of the Shōbōgenzō. His recent output (2019-2025) reveals intensified attention to Dōgen’s poetics, Chan/Zen hermeneutics, and the transmission of Chinese Chan texts to medieval Japan. Book-length studies such as Readings of Dōgen’s Treasury of the True Dharma Eye (2020) and Dōgen: Textual and Historical Studies (2012) are widely regarded as foundational resources in the field.
Grants & Fellowships
- National Endowment for the Humanities research fellowship (Spring–Fall 2001) for the project The Role of Zen Buddhist Koan Literature in Medieval China and Japan
Institutes & Programmes
Heine currently directs the Institute for Asian Studies, which oversees FIU’s new Bachelor of Arts in Asian Studies and coordinates interdisciplinary faculty working on globalization and Asia’s historical and contemporary impact. He is also interim director of the Institute for Judaic and Near Eastern Studies and associate director of the Center for Transnational and Comparative Studies, fostering collaborative research across departments and colleges.
