T. H. Barrett graduated from Cambridge in Chinese Studies in 1971 and was awarded a doctorate from Yale in Buddhist Studies in 1978. He taught for over a decade at Cambridge before becoming Professor of East Asian History at SOAS, where he worked from 1986 until his retirement. He has also taught at Stanford.
His main publications concern the historical dimensions of the Buddhist, Daoist and Confucian traditions of China and Japan, including the religious aspects of early printing and of animals in East Asia. He has also written extensively on the understanding of China in Britain.
Barrett, T. H., (eds.) and Wong, Lawrence Wang-chi, (eds.) (2022). Hong Kong: Research Centre for Translation, The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press. (Asian translation traditions series)
Middle Kingdom and Wider Buddhist World: Introducing Some Neglected Sources from Late Imperial and Modern China
Barrett, T.H. (2023). In: Silk, Jonathan A., (eds.) and Zacchetti, Stefano, (eds.), Chinese Buddhism and the Scholarship of Erik Zürcher. Leiden: Brill, pp 390-407
A Revolutionary Afterlife: The Construction of a History of Chinese Atheism
Barrett, T. H. (2022). Studies of China and Chineseness since the Cultural Revolution: Volume 1: Reinterpreting Ideologies and Ideological Reinterpretations. Singapore: World Scientific, pp 21-40
An Exploration of Japanese Reprints and Lost Chinese Books: Rethinking the Song Period Platform Sutra
Barrett, T.H. (2022). In: Chen, Jinhua, (ed.), Transmission of Buddhism in Asia and Beyond: Essays in Memory of Antonino Forte (1940-2006). Singapore: World Scholastic, pp 39-62
A Short History of an Abbreviated Tang Tiantai Text
Barrett, T.H. (2022). In: Yue, Jing, (eds.), Chen, Jinhua, (eds.) and Wang, Song, (eds.), Chinese Transformation of Buddhism and Crossborder Transmission of Buddhism: Pan-Asian Spread of Tiantai/Ch'ŏnt'ae/Tendai Texts, Ideas and Practices and Its Position in East Asian Society. Singapore: World Scholastic, pp 1-38
Barrett, T.H. (2022). In: Barrett, T.H., (eds.) and Wong, Lawrence Wang-chi, (eds.), Crossing Borders: Sinology in Translation Studies. Hong Kong: Research Centre for Translation, The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press, pp xi-xlii
Malan as Dorset Worthy: Solomon Caesar and Valentine Ackland
Barrett, T.H. (2022). In: Pfister, Lauren F., (ed.), Polyglot from the Far Side of the Moon: The Life and Works of Solomon Caesar Malan (1812-1894). London: Routledge, pp 35-46
Northern Wei Wutaishan: An Outside View of Centres and Peripheries
Barrett, T.H. (2022). In: Chen, Jinhua, (eds.), Kuan, Guang, (eds.) and Fo, Hu, (eds.), What Happened After Mañjuśrī Migrated to China? The Sinification of the Mañjuśrī Faith and the Globalization of the Wutai Cult. London: Routledge, pp 77-88
Posthumous Conversions of Confucians: A Zen Case Study from Song China to Modern Japan
Barrett, T.H. (2022). In: Jones, C. V., (ed.), Buddhism and Its Religious Others: Historical Encounters and Representations. Oxford: British Academy, pp 210-224
Learning and Outcomes in Early Anglophone Sinological Translation: The Case of Thomas Manning (1772-1840)
Barrett, T.H. (2022). In: Barrett, T.H., (eds.) and Wong, Lawrence Wang-chi, (eds.), Crossing Borders: Sinology in Translation Studies. Hong Kong: Research Centre for Translation, The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press, pp 99-143
Against Epigraphy: Once More a Visit to Zen and History
Barrett, T.H. (2020). In: Zhan, Ru, (eds.), Chen, Jinhua, (eds.) and Ji, Yun, (eds.), Tones from the Stones: Production, Preservation and Perusal of Buddhist Epigraphy in Central and East Asia. Singapore: World Scholastic, pp 273-292
The Boxer Prize: The History of A Thousand Miles of Miracle in China
Barrett, Timothy H. (2020). In: Klein, Thoralf, (ed.), The Boxer War: Media and Memory of an Imperialist Intervention. Kiel: Solivagus Praeteritum, pp 150-175
Barrett, T.H. (2020). In: Gordon, Matthew S., (eds.), Kaeuper, W., (eds.) and Zurndorfer, Harriet, (eds.), The Cambridge World History of Violence. Volume II: 500-1500 CE. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp 349-367
Barrett, T.H. (2019). In: Engberts, Christiaan, (eds.) and Paul, Herman, (eds.), Scholarly Personae in the History of Orientalism, 1870-1930. Leiden: Brill, pp 118-142
Walking by Itself: The Singular History of the Chinese Cat
Barrett, Timothy H. and Strange, Mark (2018). In: Sterckx, Roel, (eds.), Siebert, Martina, (eds.) and Schäfer, Dagmar, (eds.), Animals through Chinese History: Earliest Times to 1911. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp 84-98
Chinese History as a Constructed Continuity: The Work of Rao Zongyi
Barrett, T.H. (2017). In: Lambert, Peter, (eds.) and Weiler, Björn, (eds.), How the Past was Used: Historical Cultures, c. 750-2000. Oxford: British Academy, pp 259-275
Barrett, T.H. (2017). In: Mair, Victor H., (ed.), Buddhist Transformations and Interactions: Essays in Honor of Antonino Forte. New York: Cambria Press, pp 53-64
Terminology and Religious Identity: Buddhism and the Genealogy of the Term Zongjiao
Barrett, T.H. and Tarocco, Francesca (2012). In: Krech, Volkhard, (eds.) and Steinicke, Marion, (eds.), Dynamics in the History of Religions between Asia and Europe: Encounters, Notions, and Comparative Perspectives. Leiden: Brill, pp 307-319
On the Road to China: The Continental Relocation of Sacred Space and its Consequences for Mountains, Minds, and Texts
Barrett, T.H. (2012). In: Benn, James, (eds.), Chen, Jinhua, (eds.) and Robson, James, (eds.), Images, Relics, and Legends: The Formation and Transformation of Buddhist Sacred Sites. Essays in Honor of Professor Koichi Shinohara. Oakville, Ontario: Mosaic Press, pp 46-67
Barrett, T.H. (2011). In: Littlejohn, Ronnie, (eds.) and Dippmann, Jeffrey, (eds.), Riding the Wind with Liezi: New Perspectives on the Daoist Classic. Albany: State University of New York Press, pp 15-30
The Monastery Cat in Cross-Cultural Perspective: Cat Poems of the Zen Masters
Barrett, T.H. (2009). In: Benn, James A., (eds.), Meeks, Lori, (eds.) and Robson, James, (eds.), Buddhist Monasticism in East Asia: Places of Practice. London: Routledge, pp 107-124
Daoism in Action? The Princess-Nuns of the High Tang Period
Barrett, T.H. (2007). In: Reiter, Florian C., (ed.), Purposes, Means and Convictions in Daoism: A Berlin Symposium. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, pp 113-130
Inner and Outer Ritual: Some Remarks on a Directive Concerning Daoist Dragon-casting Ritual from Dunhuang
Barrett, T.H. (2002). In: 李, 焯然, (eds.) and 陳, 萬成, (eds.), 道苑繽紛録 A Daoist Florilegium. A Festschrift Dedicated to Professor Liu Ts'un-yan on his Eighty-Fifth Birthday. Xianggang: 商務印書館, pp 315-334
