Jim Kanaris

Associate Professor

B.A. (Concordia), M.A., Ph.D. (McGill)

Specialization

Philosophy of Religion, methodology, relationship of philosophy and theology, Continental thought, Bernard Lonergan

Biography

A native of Montreal, Jim Kanaris gained a B.A. in theology and philosophy from Concordia University in 1993. He continued his studies in philosophy of religion at McGill (M.A. 1995, Ph.D. (Hon) 2000). Since 2000, Professor Kanaris teaches classes in the areas of theory and method, and philosophy of religion at McGill.

Courses

  • RELG 207 Intro to Study of Religions 3 Credits
      Offered in the:
    • Fall
    • Winter
    • Summer

  • RELG 382 Contemporary Theory of Relg 3 Credits
      Offered in the:
    • Fall
    • Winter
    • Summer

  • RELG 456 Theories of Religion 3 Credits
      Offered in the:
    • Fall
    • Winter
    • Summer

  • RELG 535 Currents in Philosophy of Relg 3 Credits
      Offered in the:
    • Fall
    • Winter
    • Summer

  • RELG 745 Understanding Relig Studies 3 Credits
      Offered in the:
    • Fall
    • Winter
    • Summer

Research areas

Philosophy of Religious Studies
Methods in theology and religious studies
Philosophical and theological hermeneutics
Modernity/Postmodernity

Research interests and current work in progress

Professor Kanaris’s area of specialty is the thought of Canadian philosopher-theologian Bernard Lonergan (1904-84). He has published numerous books and articles on the topic, including the co-edited volume entitled In Deference to the Other: Lonergan and Contemporary Continental Thought (2004). He has also edited volumes of philosophy of religion such as Polyphonic Thinking and the Divine (2013) and Reconfigurations of Philosophy of Religion: A Possible Future (2018), both based on symposia held at the School of Religious Studies.

His research interests center on broaching problematic methodological and epistemological issues that intersect with the study of “religion”. In the area of religious studies per se, this translates into the interface of religion and the sciences, social and natural. In philosophy of religion the topic converges on an analysis of different thinking styles, analytic and continental.

Professor Kanaris mitigates these issues through a differentiated appreciation of knowledge acquisition located in self-critical reflexivity, which he calls “enecstasis”. While facilitated by protracted study of Lonergan, this programmatic interest has evolved in conversation with the work of poststructuralist philosophers. A book-length treatment is available entitled Toward A Philosophy of Religious Studies: Enecstatic Explorations.

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