Archives: Lectures

Readings in Phenomenology: Session 5 (HT 16)

Phenomenology is one of the most important developments in philosophy in the twentieth century that has had a deep impact on Theology and Religious Studies. The reading group seeks to engage with some of the fundamental concepts of phenomenology that underlie much work in Theology and the Phenomenology of Religion. This term we hope to read Pierre Hadot’s Philosophy as a Way of Life: Spiritual Exercises from Socrates to Foucault. Like Heidegger and others, Pierre Hadot felt that it was important for philosophy to recover some of the impulses that had shaped its development in classical culture and religion. Countering the development of phenomenology into an objective ‘science’, Hadot has led moves to reclaim the place of philosophical reflection as a ‘Spiritual Exercise’ concerned with human flourishing, self-development, and humanity’s place in the cosmos. To get some perspective on this development in phenomenology, we will read Pierre Hadot, Philosophy as a Way of Life: Spiritual Exercises from Socrates to Foucault (Oxford: Blackwell, 1995).

Readings in the Netratantra Chapter 7: Session 5 (HT 16)

The Netra Tantra is an important early medieval Śaiva text. We will read and discuss sections of the text based on the two manuscripts in the NGMPP Library and compare these with the published KSTS edition. Apart from reading the text we will discuss its meaning.

To Die or Not to Die: Yogi’s Choice at the Moment of Death (HT 16)

According to some haṭhayogic texts, an advanced yogi has the ability to determine the precise moment of his death. And when this moment comes he can make a choice – either to die in a controlled way and reach a desired destiny, or to escape death and become immortal in his physical body. This lecture will explore different techniques leading to this goal.

Lubomír Ondračka is Reader in Indic Religions at the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Faculty of Arts, Charles University in Prague. He graduated first at the Institute of Chemical Technology in Prague (five years engineering program in Mathematical modelling) and then at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University (five years MA program in Bengali). His research areas are history of Yoga and religions of Bengal. He teaches extensively on yoga, history of Indic religions and religious practice in contemporary India.

Elementary Sanskrit (HT 16)

The course continues an introduction to Sanskrit for the preliminary paper in Elementary Sanskrit. The class is designed to introduce students of Theology and Religion to the basics of the Sanskrit grammar, syntax and vocabulary. By the end of the course students will have competency in translating simple Sanskrit and reading sections of the story of Nala. The course book is Maurer’s The Sanskrit Language.

‘Doing’ the text of Durgā. On scripture, ritual, and the internalization of tradition (HT 16)

The goddess-oriented Śākta traditions comprise very influential but also very complex and challenging forms of Indian religiosity. This seminar series will introduce to central concepts and problems of the goddess traditions. The seminars will look into important theoretical and methodological questions with regard to the study of Hindu ‘Śāktism’. A special emphasis is placed on the interplay between text, ritual and sociocultural context in the formation and transmission of Śākta traditions.  Finally, insights from the seminars will be contextualized in a broader intellectual discussion in relation to models of the human and theories of the person.

Matter and Religion Seminar (HT 16)

Matter is one of most familiar yet obscure concepts in the modern western account of the world: it is widely taken to explain the very nature of existence, and it has become a pillar of the secular-scientific worldview. Nevertheless the history of ‘matter’ reveals a complicated genealogy of classical concepts concerning atoms, energy, and substance, combined with theological debates about the mysterious status of the reality that surrounds us. Through three short papers and an open discussion, this seminar will explore the concepts and controversies that surround the notion of matter. Spanning western and Indian cultures, and touching on the disenchantment of the world, the disjunction of secular and sacred reality, we will seek to reconsider the pivotal position of materiality in our understanding of the world.

Hinduism 2: Hindu Traditions (Paper 21): Lecture 4 (HT 16)

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.

Cartesian and Nyaya Psycho-Physical Dualism (HT 16)

According to the psycho-physical dualism of Descartes, the mind and the body are ontologically different substances with essentially different attributes.  Though this viewpoint might help to account for the religious doctrine of immortality of the soul as well as free will and personal identity, it is open to serious objections.  I shall argue that a much older kind of psycho-physical dualism developed by the Nyaya Hindu philosophers is not beset with some of the difficulties of the Cartesian view and can account for such issues as immortality, free will and personal identity.

Readings in Phenomenology: Session 4 (HT 16)

Phenomenology is one of the most important developments in philosophy in the twentieth century that has had a deep impact on Theology and Religious Studies. The reading group seeks to engage with some of the fundamental concepts of phenomenology that underlie much work in Theology and the Phenomenology of Religion. This term we hope to read Pierre Hadot’s Philosophy as a Way of Life: Spiritual Exercises from Socrates to Foucault. Like Heidegger and others, Pierre Hadot felt that it was important for philosophy to recover some of the impulses that had shaped its development in classical culture and religion. Countering the development of phenomenology into an objective ‘science’, Hadot has led moves to reclaim the place of philosophical reflection as a ‘Spiritual Exercise’ concerned with human flourishing, self-development, and humanity’s place in the cosmos. To get some perspective on this development in phenomenology, we will read Pierre Hadot, Philosophy as a Way of Life: Spiritual Exercises from Socrates to Foucault (Oxford: Blackwell, 1995).