About Roger Corless

Faith and Sobriety

“Being alcoholics in recovery was only one part of our friendship; but it was a big part.”

A Queer Dharmology

“Roger studied the ways that Christianity and Buddhism traditionally handled and mishandled the issue of sex.”

On Knowing Roger Corless

Roger remembered by his friends and colleagues

Roger: A Dialogian's History

Roger was baptized into the Roman Catholic church in 1964 after coming to the United States to pursue a Ph.D. in Buddhist Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. From there, he joined the Department of Religion at Duke University and remained there until his retirement in 2000.

In 1980, Roger took refuge as a Gelugpa Buddhist under Geshela Lhundup Sopa, having first obtained permission from his Catholic spiritual director and having explained to Geshela what he was doing. His refuge or dharma name was Lhundup Tashi, "spontaneous fortune" or "luck." Later, Roger also became a Benedictine oblate, taking Gregory as his Oblate name after Pope Gregory, whose instruction to Augustine of Canterbury was not to destroy the pagan temples, but to bring them into the church by trying to find what was good and preparatory to the Gospel.

Roger understood himself as a dual practitioner, but did not seek to blend the two practices or traditions. Rather, he sought to be present to each in their own irreconcilable differences and deep richness.

A longer biography is also available.