Takashi James Kodera, M.A.R. | M.A., M.Phil., PhD

After spending a year at YDS, 1969-70, I transferred to Columbia to pursue graduate work in the historical and comparative study of religion with a focus on Buddhism. While still working on my dissertation on Dogen, the 13th century monk who introduced the Soto School of Zen Buddhism from China to Japan, I started teaching at Oberlin in 1973. Upon finishing the degree while learning how,and what, to teach at Oberlin, I came to Wellesley, where I remain. In 1979, I became a naturalized US citizen as a conscientious objector. In 1985, I was ordained deacon and a year later priest in the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts as the first Asian American ordained since its inception in 1784. I served in a few parishes part time. Since 2000, I have been a part-time Rector at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Hudson, MA. I remain at Wellesley full-time as Professor of Religion. I also started a program in Asian American Studies and Peace & Justice Studies. I am married to a former missionary from the Philippines to the Anglican Church of Japan. She started a social agency to help “sex workers” in Japan.