KING, Winston Lee. Avilla, Ind. 30.8.1907 — Madison, Wisc. 15.2.1975. U.S. Scholar of Comparative Religion. Methodist priest. Born in a farm, son of Alfred Hiram K. and Alberta Bodenhafer. Educated at Ashburry College (A.B. 1929), Andover Newton Theological Seminar (B.D. 1936) and Harvard (S.M.T. 1938). Ph.D. 1940 Harvard. After four years as school-teacher of mathematics worked in 1930-49 as minister in Vermont, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine. In 1949-63 Dean of Chapel, 1949-54 Associate Professor and 1954-64 Professor of Religion at Grinnel College, Iowa. In 1958-60 teacher and adviser in Burma, and studied Buddhist meditation, in 1960 in India. In 1964-73 Professor of History of Religions at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. In 1965-66 Fulbright Lecturer at Kyoto University. In 1973-75 Special Professor of Eastern Religions at Colorado State University in Fort Collins. Married 1931 Jocelyn Brownlee, one daughter, two sons.
Publications: Diss. Nature and Process of Religious Knowledge. 1940 (a comparison of Thera/ Therīgātha and Jeremiah).
– The Holy Imperative. The Power of God and the Good Life. N.Y. 1949; Introduction to Religion: A Phenomenological Approach. N.Y. 1964
– Buddhism and Christianity. Some Bridges of Understanding. 240 p. L. 1962; In the Hope of Nibbāna; the ethics of Theravāda Buddhism. 10+298 p. LaSalle, Ill. 1964; A Thousand Lives Away: Buddhism in Country Burma. 238 p. Cambridge, MA 1964; Theravāda Meditation: The Buddhist Transformation of Yoga. 172 p. University Park, PA 1980.
– Death was His Kōan: The Samurai-Zen of Suzuki Shōsan. 395 p. 1986; further books.
– “An Experience in Buddhist Meditation”, Journal of Religion 41, 1961, 51-61 (in Burma); “Śūnyatā as a Master-Symbol”, Numen 17, 1970, 95-104; “Sacramental Aspects of Theravāda Buddhist Meditation”, Numen 36, 1989, 248-256; other articles.
Sources: Dir. Am. Sch. 6th ed. 4, 1974; Peiris, Buddhism 266-268 with photo; Harvard University Obituary Collection for 1975 (Internet).