Archives: Lectures

The Bhagavad-gita: Innovations and challenges in its translation

Many translators of the Bhagavad Gita resort to an informationally accurate prose translation that sometimes loses the poetic power and expression of the original verse. Others resort to constricted verse translation droping important and nuanced meanings of the text. Schweig is developing a way to translate Sanskrit philosophical verse that is both loyal to the meaning of the text while conveying something of the poetic power of the text in what he calls “dedicated free verse translation,” without falling prey to the weakness of either approach. Schweig will present some of the discoveries on which he is writing for his forthcoming introduction and translation of the Bhagavad Gita for Harper Collins / Harper San Francisco.

Baladeva vidyabhusana’s Premeya-ratnavali and the issue of lineage

Graduate Seminar

This seminar will present an account of the Vaishnava philosopher Baladeva Vidyabhusana and his place in the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition. The paper will address the problem of lineage and raise questions about authenticity, authority, and the legitimacy of practice claimed by tradition. Kiyokazu Okita is a graduate student in the Theology Faculty at Oxford, pursuing research for his DPhil on Baladeva. He has degrees from Japan and the USA.

Theories of the text series (five lectures)

The study of texts is fundamental to Theology and Religious Studies. The aim of this series of seminars is to examine some theories of the text that have arisen within the human sciences over the last fifty years and to examine their implications for the study of religions. These developments have broadly occurred within what has become known as the ‘linguistic’ turn and ‘postmodernism’, along with reactions to it. As we now move beyond these intellectual movements (‘beyond theory’ to borrow a recent term by Terry Eagleton) we need to reassess the role of the text, particularly the religious text, and examine the kinds of reading practices that are available to us.

Hinduism I series (eight lectures)

This course offers a thematic and historical introduction to Hinduism for students of theology and religious studies. Focusing on the brahmanical tradition we will explore the textual sources, categories, practices and social institutions that formed that tradition. Primary texts in translation will provide the basis for reflection on issues such as dharma, renunciation, caste, and concepts of deity. We then move on to some of the major philosophical developments of the tradition, with particular emphasis on the Vedanta. The course will raise theological and cultural questions about the relation between reason and practice, person and world, and society and gender. We will conclude with a consideration of Hinduism and modernity. Lecture Schedule
Introduction: What is Hinduism?
The Veda and vedic traditions.
Dharma, society and gender
Ascetic Traditions
Indian Theism
Philosophical Traditions 1
Philosophical Traditions 2
Hinduism and Modernity

Sanskrit reading group

Dr. M. Narasimhachary will read Sanskrit with interested students at the Intermediate Level. The text for the readings will be the Ishavasya Upanishad.

Beyond the classical: Tagore and modern dance in Bengal

This seminar will address Rabindranath Tagore’s contribution to dance performance and the evolution of the Bengali dance-drama genre in Bengal in the early 20th century in relation to the religious, cultural and political milieu of that time. Dr Purkayastha has pursued research on dance and currently teaches on the Dance Programme, School of Arts, Roehampton University, London.

Theories of the text seminar series (four lectures)

The study of texts is fundamental to Theology and Religious Studies. The aim of this series of seminars is to examine some theories of the text over the last fifty years that have arisen within the human sciences and to examine their implications for the study of religions. These developments have broadly occurred within what has become known as the linguistic turn and postmodernism along with reactions to it. As we now move beyond these intellectual movements (beyond theory to coin a recent term by Terry Eagleton) we need to reassess the role of the text, particularly the religious text, and examine the kinds of reading practices that are available to us. Questions concerning the nature of texts, the nature of reading, the importance of narrative, the relation of sign to symbol, the relation of text to author and of text to reader or community of readers are fundamental to any understanding of religion and culture. The seminars are therefore intended to provide a preliminary overview of developments within phenomenology, hermeneutics, semiotics and narratology. Because of the vast nature of the topic, these seminars can only hope to offer pointers in particular directions, raise questions about textuality, and encourage the raising of questions about the text within students‚particular fields of interest. Perhaps the most pervasive theme that the seminars will often return to concerns the question of the subject of the text which itself entails questions about agency and reception. Other questions might also be considered such as the implications of broadening the concept to text to include oral texts. Through examining questions shared by all scholars concerned with texts it is hoped that the cross fertilisation of ideas will facilitate new understandings and applications.
Introduction: What is a text? What is a sacred text?
Intention in the text: Phenomenology
Sign in the Text: Semiotics (and Deconstruction)
The text in action: Social Science
The text in the reader: Theories of Reception