John L. Crow

John L. Crow (1972) began his professional career in the field of information technology. Taking a liking to computers in his childhood, he began computer consulting at eighteen. Upon relocating to Atlanta in 1991, he began building a career in information technology which included operating his own consulting company and managing a multi-national network for an Atlanta-based international software development company.

Despite success in information technology for over a decade, his interests began to migrate towards studying religion. His first foray was a month-long course on Buddhist monasticism in Taiwan. Because he never completed his undergraduate degree, he returned to school and while working full time completed his undergraduate degree in English, taking cross-registration courses in Buddhist studies at Emory University.

Upon completion of his undergraduate degree in 2007, he relocated to the Netherlands to earn a master’s degree at the University of Amsterdam in Religious Studies with an emphasis on Western Esotericism. (See his interview about the program here.) While in Amsterdam John presented at a number of conferences in England, France and the Netherlands. He also participated in the centennial celebration of the 1908 Buddhist mission to England by Bhikkhu Ananda Metteyya, the subject of his master’s thesis. He was subsequently invited back in September 2009 to give a keynote lecture about Ananda Metteyya at the 2009 UK Buddhist Day celebration.

In the fall of 2009 he relocated to Tallahassee, Florida to begin doctoral studies in American Religious History at Florida State University. His supervisor is Dr. Amanda Porterfield and proposed dissertation subject area is the early history of the Theosophical Society.

Photo of John L. Crow by Michael Hofmann.
Ganesh painting by FAKE.