Benjamin James Nourse
Associate Professor, Buddhist Studies
What I do
Benjamin Nourse is an Associate Professor of Buddhist Studies at the University of Denver.
Professional Biography
Benjamin Nourse has a BA in Asian Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a PhD in Religious Studies with a focus on Buddhist Studies from the University of Virginia. He has lived and conducted research in India, Nepal, and China, including as a Fulbright-Hays Fellow in China in 2010-11. He has also received grants and fellowships from the Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation, the Rare Book School, the University of Wisconsin Libraries, and the Asian Division of the Library of Congress.
Degree(s)
- Ph.D., Religious Studies, University of Virginia, 2014
- MA, Religious Studies, University of Virginia, 2009
- BA, Asian Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2002
Professional Affiliations
- American Academy of Religion
- Association for Asian Studies
- International Association for Tibetan Studies
- Society of Fellows in Critical Bibliography
Research
I am a historian of religion with a particular focus on the history of Buddhist literature and printing in Tibet. My first book, The Power of Publishing in Early Modern Tibetan Buddhism (Lexington Books, 2025), explores the growth and impact of Tibetan woodblock publishing from the seventeenth through eighteenth centuries. I am also working on a study of Chinese and Tibetan manuscripts of the Heart Sūtra recovered at Dunhuang. I have been active in promoting the study of Tibetan book history through the hosting of conferences such as The Symposium on the Tibetan Book (University of Virginia, 2014) and Buddhist Book Cultures (University of Denver, 2017) as well as teaching a course at the Rare Book School on the history and culture of Tibetan books. Recently, I have also begun to engage in research on the history of Buddhism in the US, especially in Colorado.
