This ongoing seminar series will provide an outline of a discipline with its own dramatic history and discuss some of the different forms that the study of Hinduism has taken with a focus on some of its key thinkers. At the same time, the history of Hindu Studies is inextricably intertwined with a number of comparative disciplines such as Religious Studies, Intercultural Philosophy and Comparative Theology. Many key thinkers are shared by these disciplines while some key thinkers belong to neither of these disciplines, but have had a profound influence on one or more of them. In the seminar series this term we will discuss the work, theories and methodology of some of the contemporary classics of Hindu Studies that remain influential on contemporary approaches to the study of religion in South Asia as well as on the general and comparative study of religion, theology and philosophy.
Lecture tag: Study of Religion
Hinduism 2: Hinduism in History and Society: Session 3 (HT17)
Beginning with the early medieval period, this paper traces the development of Hinduism in devotional (bhakti) and tantric traditions. The paper examines the development of Śaiva, Śākta, and Vaiṣṇava traditions along with ideas about liberation, ritual, asceticism, yoga and devotion. There will be some exploration of Hinduism and Modernity and there may also be reference to major schools of Hindu philosophy such as Vedānta.
Hinduism 2: Hinduism in History and Society: Session 2 (HT17)
Beginning with the early medieval period, this paper traces the development of Hinduism in devotional (bhakti) and tantric traditions. The paper examines the development of Śaiva, Śākta, and Vaiṣṇava traditions along with ideas about liberation, ritual, asceticism, yoga and devotion. There will be some exploration of Hinduism and Modernity and there may also be reference to major schools of Hindu philosophy such as Vedānta.
Key Thinkers in Hindu Studies: Session 1 (HT17)
This ongoing seminar series will provide an outline of a discipline with its own dramatic history and discuss some of the different forms that the study of Hinduism has taken with a focus on some of its key thinkers. At the same time, the history of Hindu Studies is inextricably intertwined with a number of comparative disciplines such as Religious Studies, Intercultural Philosophy and Comparative Theology. Many key thinkers are shared by these disciplines while some key thinkers belong to neither of these disciplines, but have had a profound influence on one or more of them. In the seminar series this term we will discuss the work, theories and methodology of some of the contemporary classics of Hindu Studies that remain influential on contemporary approaches to the study of religion in South Asia as well as on the general and comparative study of religion, theology and philosophy.
Lecture 3: Religion as Verticality (HT19)
If reduction to the political is an inadequate account of the sacred, then perhaps we need to understand religion in terms of verticality, that there is a vertical attraction that orientates human beings towards transcendence. The German philosopher Peter Sloterdjik has reflected on this and presented a philosophy of the human that takes verticality into account. Following the pattern of the previous lectures, this lecture will present a description of verticality and offer a critical reflection that takes up themes from the last lecture of the need to understand the human by drawing on social neuroscience and evolutionary anthropology.
Brain Science and the Study of Religion (TT19)
Reading: Armin Geertz, Origins of Religion, Cognition and Culture (Routledge 2014), ‘Introduction,’ ‘Whence Religion’
The purpose of this seminar series is to understand some more recent developments in the study of religions and to raise critical questions about the discipline or subject area. In particular, we will look at the implications of brain science and evolutionary anthropology and its relevance for the study of religions and secondly at philological study and its wider application in the religious field. Throughout we will raise questions about the study of religions, how we do it, and suggest ways of moving forward.
The Importance of Philology (TT19)
Reading: Sheldon Pollock et al (eds.), World Philology (Harvard University Press, 2015), ‘Introduction’
The purpose of this seminar series is to understand some more recent developments in the study of religions and to raise critical questions about the discipline or subject area. In particular, we will look at the implications of brain science and evolutionary anthropology and its relevance for the study of religions and secondly at philological study and its wider application in the religious field. Throughout we will raise questions about the study of religions, how we do it, and suggest ways of moving forward.
Understanding Ritual (TT19)
Reading: Axel Michaels, Homo Ritualis, chapter 8, ‘Meaning and Function’ (OUP 2016)
The purpose of this seminar series is to understand some more recent developments in the study of religions and to raise critical questions about the discipline or subject area. In particular, we will look at the implications of brain science and evolutionary anthropology and its relevance for the study of religions and secondly at philological study and its wider application in the religious field. Throughout we will raise questions about the study of religions, how we do it, and suggest ways of moving forward.
Hindu Monotheism V (MT20)
Hindu monotheism may at first sound like an oxymoron. One thing that seems to characterize Hinduism is its plurality of gods. Yet many Hindus will claim that this plurality expresses a single deity, that all the gods are aspects of one transcendent being. These three lectures will examine the emergence of the idea of a single deity being the source of all others and of the universe itself. The lectures will chart the rise of theism and specifically the idea of monotheism in the history of Hindu traditions through textual sources. Furthermore the lectures will begin to raise theological questions about the nature of such a deity and its contemporary relevance, if any.
Hindu Monotheism IV (MT20)
Hindu monotheism may at first sound like an oxymoron. One thing that seems to characterize Hinduism is its plurality of gods. Yet many Hindus will claim that this plurality expresses a single deity, that all the gods are aspects of one transcendent being. These three lectures will examine the emergence of the idea of a single deity being the source of all others and of the universe itself. The lectures will chart the rise of theism and specifically the idea of monotheism in the history of Hindu traditions through textual sources. Furthermore the lectures will begin to raise theological questions about the nature of such a deity and its contemporary relevance, if any.