Young-chan Ro (노영찬)

Dr. Young Chan Ro’s research interest is in the history of religion, philosophy of religion, comparative religion, Chinese philosophies and religious traditions, and cross-cultural study of religions. Dr. Ro received his BA from Yonsei University (Korea), an MTh from Union Theological Seminary, Richmond, VA, and his Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Dr. Ro has written The Korean Neo-Confucianism of Yi Yulgok (SUNY Press) and co-authored The Four-Seven Debate: An Annotated Translation of the Most Famous Controversy in Korean Neo-Confucian Thought (SUNY Press). He is working on a new translation of Dao De Jing.

Dr. Ro also published several book chapters in Neo-Confucianism including “Ecological Implications of Yi Yulgok’s Cosmology” Confucianism and Ecology, edited by Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Berthrong (Harvard University Press 1998), and “Morality, Spirituality, and Spontaneity in Korean Neo-Confucianism” Confucian Spirituality, Volume Two, edited by Tu Weiming and Mary Evelyn Tucker (The Crossroad Publishing Company, 2004). He has published many articles in Korean studies, Confucian studies, and comparative religion. He is a recipient of the 2004 Yulgok Scholarly Award, the most prestigious academic award in Confucian studies in Korea.

Dr. Ro recently completed a book manuscript, Thinking of the Way and the Way of Thinking: A cross-cultural commentary on the Dao De Jing. yro@gmu.edu, https://religious.gmu.edu/people/yro.