A specialist in modern Japanese intellectual history, he received an MA in modern Japanese literature from the University of Oregon in 1999, and a Ph.D. in history from the same institution in 2004. Cunningham's research interests include Japanese intellectual history, Zen Buddhism, Anthroposophy, Catholicism, psychedelia, and postmodernism. He is the author of Hallucinating the End of History: Nishida, Zen, and the Psychedelic Eschaton (Academica Press, 2007), and Zen Past and Present (Association for American Studies, 2011). Cunningham lectures and writes on a wide range of topics, including Japanese history, film, and contemporary Catholic culture.