David Thang Moe

David Thang Moe is a Postdoctoral Associate and Lecturer in Southeast Asian Studies at Yale University, and a Co-chair of Religion in Southeast Asia Unit at the American Academy of Religion. Touted by Prof. James C. Scott as “a true gem and animator from Burma” for his enormous contributions to Burmese studies at Yale and beyond, Moe’s scholarship actively engages with four distinct communities—academia, grassroots churches, public society, and political state. He teaches courses related to religion and conflict, including “Religion, Politics, and Identity in Southeast Asia,” which some students have described as “their favorite and most rewarding class at Yale.” His teaching and research have been featured in Voice of America VOA Burmese News and other media outlets.

Moe’s research interests include religion and identity politics, Buddhist nationalism, ethnic conflict, subaltern politics of decentralized resistance, ethnic reconciliation, political theology, and Christian-Buddhist engagement in Southeast Asia (Myanmar). He is the author of Beyond the Academy: Lived Asian Public Theology of Religions, Princeton Theological Monograph Series (Wipf & Stock, 2024), and has published over 70 scholarly articles. His current project, titled Beyond Buddhist Nationalism: Political Theology of Interreligious and Decentralized Resistance after the Coup,is under review with Oxford University Press as part of Religion and Global Politics Monograph Series. This project explores how the Burmese revolutionary movement embodies a twofold distinctive nature of “interreligious and decentralized resistance” and examines how it should shape the moral imagination for building a new multicultural nation beyond Buddhist nationalism.

He is also a celebrated public speaker, having been invited to speak about Burmese politics of religion, resistance, and democracy movement at leading universities, including Harvard, Yale, Oxford, Cambridge, Columbia, Princeton, Brown, Boston University, Boston College, Pittsburgh, DePaul, New York University, University of Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky University, Toronto, Baylor, Whitley College, Australian National University, National University of Singapore, University of Sydney, Hamburg, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Yonsei, Ewha Womans University, and others. In addition to his academic speaking, teaching, and writing, he has met with some U.S. Senators and Members of Congress in Washington D.C., to advocate for Myanmar.

Moe serves on the editorial teams of four academic journals: International Journal of Public Theology, Independent Journal of Burmese Scholarship, Interreligious Studies and Intercultural Theology, and the Asian American Theological Forum. He is also a member of American Academy of Religion, Association for Asian Studies, Global Network for Public Theology, New York Southeast Asia Network, and other professional organizations.

Born and raised in a rural Chin ethnic minority village in Myanmar, he is passionate about bridging the gap between grassroots and academic lives. He enjoys playing and watching soccer. 

Media links
Interview_Courses on SEAS at Yale
Interview_ James Scott's legacy and his contributions to Myanmar studies