Benjamin David Penny (born 27 October 1959) is an Australian

academic An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

specialising in religious and spiritual movements in modern and contemporary China. He is a Harold White Fellow at the

National Library of Australia The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "mainta ...

.Harold White Fellow
Retrieved 14 January 2015 His area of speciality is Falun Gong as well as the interpretation of Chinese religions by westerners and the history of the religions of Chinese Australians. ''

The Times Literary Supplement ''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp. History The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''The Times'' but became a separate publication ...

'' states that in ''

The Religion of Falun Gong ''The Religion of Falun Gong'' is a 2012 nonfiction book by Benjamin Penny, published by the University of Chicago Press, that discusses the Falun Gong's belief system. The publisher stated that sources often did not include much analysis of Fal ...

'' Penny "makes a good case for defining Falun Gong as a modern Chinese religion. . . . eprovides an admirable guide to the short history of Falun Gong and the eclectic complexities of its doctrine, which he sets within the framework of indigenous religious belief over the centuries."

Family and education

Penny is the younger brother of professor Simon Penny (born 1955) who is a theorist, curator and teacher in the field of Interactive Media Art. Benjamin Penny was born in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

and attended

Newington College Newington College is a multi-campus Independent school, independent Uniting Church in Australia, Uniting Church Single-sex education, single-sex and Mixed-sex education, co-educational Pre-school education, early learning, Primary school, primar ...

(1972–1977). He was awarded a Bachelor of Arts from the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

, a

Master of Philosophy A Master of Philosophy (MPhil or PhM; Latin ' or ') is a postgraduate degree. The name of the degree is most often abbreviated MPhil (or, at times, as PhM in other countries). MPhil are awarded to postgraduate students after completing at leas ...

from

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

and a PhD from the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public university, public research university and member of the Group of Eight (Australian universities), Group of Eight, located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton, A ...

. Benjamin has a son.

Career

After university study, Penny was a post-doctoral fellow at the ANU. From 1999 until 2005, he was the first Executive Officer of the Herbert and Valmae Freilich Foundation. During the years 2003 and 2004 he was a research fellow at the Centre for Cross-Cultural Research. Penny was appointed to the Division of Pacific and Asian History in October 2005. Since January 2010 he has been Deputy Director, and a Research Fellow, at the School of Culture, History & Language ANU College of Asia and the Pacific.

Awards

*Harold White Fellow * ''The Religion of Falun Gong'' won Choice Magazine's Outstanding Academic Title Awards.

Selected publications

* "On the Acquisition of Moral Character", in Geremie R. Barmé and Jeremy Goldkorn (eds.), ''China Story Yearbook 2014: Shared Destiny'', Canberra: Australian Centre on China in the World 2014.
"An Exemplary Society"
in Geremie R. Barmé and Jeremy Goldkorn (eds.), ''China Story Yearbook 2013: Civilising China'', Canberra: Australian Centre on China in the World, 2013.
"Searching for a Sage Today"
in Geremie R. Barmé with Jeremy Goldkorn, Carolyn Cartier and Gloria Davies (eds.), ''China Story Yearbook 2012: Red Rising Red Eclipse'', Canberra: Australian Centre on China in the World, 2012. * ''The Religion of the Falun Gong'', Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2012. * "Karmic Retribution, Animal Spirits, Falun Gong and the State", in Mayfair Yang, ''Chinese Religiosities: Afflictions of Modernity and State Formation'', Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008. * "Master Li Encounters Jesus: Christianity and the Configurations of Falun Gong", W. Smith, M. Tomlinson, and L. Manderson (eds.), ''Beliefs beyond Borders: Faith, Spiritual Practice and Communities in Asia/Pacific'', New York: Springer, 2012.
"More than One Adam?: Revelation and Philology in Nineteenth-Century China"
''Humanities Research'', XIV, 2007. * "An Immigrant Chinese Sea God in Australia: The Chinese Background to Sydney's Retreat Street Temple", ''Chinese Southern Diaspora Studies'', 2, 2008. * ''Daoism in history: essays in honour of Liu Ts'un-Yan'' London: Routledge, 2006. * ''Religion and biography in China and Tibet'' Richmond, Surrey: Curzon, 2002.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Penny, Benjamin 1959 births Living people Australian educators People educated at Newington College Academics from Sydney People from Canberra University of Sydney alumni Alumni of the University of Cambridge Australian National University alumni