Philip Deslippe
About:
I am a historian of American religion with a background in history, cultural studies, and literature, and am currently a doctoral candidate finishing a dissertation on the early history of yoga in the United States from the mid-nineteenth to mid-twentieth century.
My research on Asian, metaphysical, and marginal religions in modern America has been translated into nine languages and presented in eleven countries, I have published numerous articles and chapters for academic journals and edited volumes, written over two dozen articles for popular audiences, co-authored several investigative news features, and been interviewed for over two dozen podcasts. In 2011, I introduced a new and definitive edition of the metaphysical classic The Kybalion for Tarcher/Penguin.
Recently, I served as a historical and archival consultant and an on-camera subject matter expert on Kundalini Yoga and the Healthy, Happy, Holy Organization (3HO) for the 2024 docuseries Breath of Fire on HBO Max, and am co-creator and co-host of Temple of Steal, an unofficial companion podcast to Breath of Fire on Axis Mundi Media with Stacie Stukin.
Journal Articles:
- “Rinzai Monks of the Rosy Cross: The Buddhist Ordinations, Secret Order, and Global Journeys of Francis Ormsby and Lewis Colburn.” Japanese Religions, Special Issue: In Memory of Yoshinaga Shin’ichi 45:1-2 (2023): 77-102.
- “Doctorji the Divorce: Understanding Bhagat Singh Thind Through His Marriage to Inez Buelen.” Ethnic Studies Review, Special Issue: One Century After Thind 46:1-2 (2023): 52-68.
- “Past the Pejorative: Understanding the Word “Cult” Through Its Use in American Newspapers During the Nineties.” Implicit Religion, Special Issue: The Return of the Cult: Bad Religion in the Age of Trump and COVID 24:2 (2021): 195-217.
- “Bunko Bishop: Swami Mazziniananda, the Udana Karana Order, and the Buddhist Mission of North America.” Japanese Religions 44:1-2 (2021): 33-63.
- “The Swami Circuit: Mapping the Terrain of Early American Yoga.” Journal of Yoga Studies 01 (2018): 5-44.
- “Rishis and Rebels: The Punjabi Sikh Presence in Early American Yoga.” Journal of Sikh and Punjab Studies 23:01-02 (2016): 93-129.
- “The Hindu in Hoodoo: Fake Yogis, Pseudo-Swamis, and the Construction of African American Folk Magic.” Amerasia 40:01 (2014): 35-56.
- “Brooklyn Bhikkhu: How Salvatore Cioffi Became the Venerable Lokanatha.” Contemporary Buddhism 14:01 (2014): 169-186.
- “From Maharaj to Mahan Tantric: The Construction of Yogi Bhajan’s Kundalini Yoga.” Sikh Formations 08:03 (2012): 369-387.
Longform Articles:
- “3HO’s Boarding Schools Were A Living Hell” with Stacie Stukin for Baaz News (2024).
- “When Misseeing Is Believing: The Self-Reflected Image and Kundalini Yoga.” The Revealer (2023).
- “How ‘Siri Singh Sahib’ Yogi Bhajan Created An Empire.” with Stacie Stukin for Baaz News (2022).
- “The Many Lives of Mohan Singh, a Pioneering Aviator Who Conned America as a Yoga Guru.” Scroll.in (2019).
- “Bhagat Singh Thind in Jail.” Tides: The Magazine of the South Asian American Digital Archive (2018).
- “Why A Glass-eating Yogi Fled To India Just When He Had Hollywood on the Mat.” Scroll.in (2015).
- “The American Yoga Scare of 1927: How Traveling Yogis Toppled the Oklahoma State Government.” Tides: The Magazine of the South Asian American Digital Archive (2015).
Reviews and Review Essays:
- “Mythical Posturing: Hagiography, History, and Scholarly Judgment in Recent Works on Modern Yoga and Hinduism in America.” Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions 21:3 (2018): 103-109.
- “One Simple Idea: How Positive Thinking Reshaped Modern Life by Mitch Horowitz.” Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions 19:1 (2015): 124-125.
- “Contemporary Esotericism, edited by Egil Asprem and Kennet Granholm ” Aries: Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism 14:2 (2014): 253-256.
Courses Taught:
- RGST7: Religion in America (3 Quarters)
- RGST101: New Religious Movements
- ASAM162: Asian American Religions
- YS102: Modern Yoga in the West
(Yogic Studies) - REL530: Yoga and Globalization
(Naropa University) - RLTH100: Religion, Identity, and Vocation
- RLTH334: American Religious Experience
(California Lutheran University) - 8G1: Interpretation of Literature (5 Semesters)
- 8G9: American Lives- Religious Cults
(University of Iowa, Department of English)
Teaching Assistant:
- RS21: Zen Buddhism
- RS71: Introduction to Asian American Religion
- RS81: Modern Iran
- ASAM2: American Migration Since 1965 (8 Quarters)
- ASAM4: Introduction to Asian American Popular Culture
- ASAM5: Introduction to Asian American Literature (3 Quarters)
