HighlightsIntegrates deep expertise in East Asian religions, film studies, and comparative theology to advance understanding of religion's role in contemporary culture; recognized for methodological innovation and interdisciplinary scholarship; active in academic service, manuscript review, and public outreach; multilingual and adept at cross-cultural engagement.
Focused research areas include Intersections of Buddhism, cinema, and modernity in China; religious folklore in film; adaptive fidelity and vocation in religious texts; spatial trajectories and themes in religion and film; environmental crisis through Buddhist and Christian lenses; comparative hermeneutics in East Asian literature and theology.
- Start-Up Research Grant ($3,000), Singapore Management University (2022-24)
- Overseas Postgraduate Scholarship (full tuition and stipend), Singapore Management University (2021-22)
- Annual Meeting Travel Grant (US$500 pre-pandemic), American Academy of Religion (2020)
- Merit Scholarship (full tuition and stipend), Georgetown University Graduate School of Arts & Sciences (2016-21)
- John E. Thayer Scholarship for Meritorious Students (US$11,000), Harvard University Committee on General Scholarships (2013)
Showing up to 6 latest publications from the past 5 years.
- Full Circle: Historiography, Missiology, and Theology in Lin Yutang’s From Pagan to Christian [2025]TK NgThe Journal of World Christianity 15 (2), 170-200, 2025
- TK NgJournal of Religion & Film 29 (2), Article 10, 2025
- Vocation in the Analects [2025]TK NgJournal of Religious Ethics 53 (2), 282-300, 2025
- TK NgHandbook of the Geographies of Religion, 1233-1247, 2024
- Of Light and Shadows: Buddhism, Cinema, and the Question of Diffused Religion in Modern China [2024]TK NgInternational Journal of Buddhist Thought & Culture 34 (1), 55-98, 2024
Teng Kuan Ng joined SMU in 2022. He received his Ph.D. in Theological & Religious Studies from Georgetown University. An interdisciplinary scholar of religion, his primary research focuses on the interrelations between religion and cinema in Asia. His work – which extends to the fields of Buddhist studies, Chinese and comparative philosophy, religion & economics and World Christianity – appears in a variety of venues, including Literature and Theology, the Journal for Religion, Film and Media, the International Journal of Buddhist Thought & Culture, The Journal of World Christianity (forthcoming), and the Journal of Religious Ethics (forthcoming). His current book project explores the ways that Buddhist wisdom is diffused and cultivated in contemporary China through film and its related media practices. He also holds an A.B. in comparative literature from Princeton University, an M.A. in theology from Fuller Seminary, and an M.T.S in East Asian religions from Harvard Divinity School, where he was awarded the John E. Thayer Scholarship for highest scholastic achievement. Before becoming an academic, he worked in study abroad administration and experiential learning at Princeton in Beijing and Yale-NUS College.
Qualifications
- PhD (Theological & Religious Studies), Georgetown University, USA, 2022
- MTS (East Asian Religions), Harvard Divinity School, USA, 2013
- MA (Theology), Fuller Theological Seminary, USA, 2010
- AB (Comparative Literature), Princeton University, USA, 2005
Research Interests
- Religion and Cinema
- Theories and Methods in the Study of Religion
- World Christianity
- Chinese and Comparative Philosophy
- East Asian Cinema
Course(s) Taught in SMU
- Big Questions