Department of Religion
Ripon College
300 Seward Street
Ripon, WI 54971
(920) 748-88765

E-mail: BairdR@ripon.edu

Education

• B.A., Houghton College
• B.D., Fuller Theological Seminary
• S.T.M., Southern Methodist University
• Ph.D., University of Iowa

Appointments

• Professor of the History of Religions, The University of Iowa, 1966-2001
• Leonard S. Florsheim Sr. Eminent Scholars Chair in the Liberal Arts and Sciences, New College, University of South Florida, 1988-1989
• Goodwin-Philpot Eminent Chair in Religion, Auburn University, 2001-2003

Concurrent Appointments

• Visiting Professor, University of California at Santa Barbara
• Visiting Professor, Grinnel College

Awards

• Ford Foundation Faculty Fellow in Indian Studies, University of Wisconsin, Summer 1965
• Post-doctoral Fellowship in Asian Religions, Society for Religion in Higher Education, 1965-66
• Ford Foundation Fellowship in south Asian Studies, University of Chicago, Summer 1966
• Faculty Fellowship, American Institute of Indian Studies, (12 months field work in India), 1972
• Senior Short-term Fellow (four months field work in India), 1992

Areas of Interest

• Asian religions
• Religion in India
• Religion and Law in India
• Methodology and the Academic Study of Religion

Recent Publications

• Editor & Contributor, Religion in Modern India, fourth edition, New Delhi, 2001
• Editor & Contributor, Religion and Law in Independent India, second edition, New Delhi, 2004
• Essays in the History of Religions, Toronto Studies in Religion, vol. 11, New York, 1991
• Editor & Contributor, Methodological Issues in Religious Studies, Chicago, 1975
• Co-author, Indian and Far Eastern Religious Traditions, New York, 1972
• Category Formations and the History of Religions, The Hague, 1971, paperback, 1991
• More than 30 scholarly articles

Current Courses Taught

• REL 110  Introduction to the Study of Religion
• REL 242  Modern Hinduism
• REL 252  The Buddhist Tradition Through Its Scriptures