Archives: Lectures

Readings in Phenomenology: Week Two (HT19)

Phenomenology is one of the most important developments in philosophy in the twentieth century, and it has also had a deep impact on other theoretical fields more widely conceived. This seminar series seeks to engage with some of the fundamental concepts of phenomenology, and has turned in the past to thinkers such as Martin Heidegger, Paul Ricoeur, Emmanuel Levinas, Peter Sloterdijk, Quentin Meillassoux, and others.

This term we will be reading Anthony Steinbock’s Phenomenology and Mysticism: The Verticality of Religious Experience.

Sanskrit Prelims: Week Three (HT19)

The course provides an introduction to Sanskrit for the preliminary paper of the Theology and Religion Faculty in Elementary Sanskrit. A range of relevant Hindu and Buddhist texts will be chosen for translation and philological comment. The class is designed to introduce students of Theology and Religion to the essentials of Sanskrit grammar, syntax, and vocabulary and its importance for the exegesis of Sanskrit texts. Students will learn to appreciate the interpretative nature of translation as a central discipline for the study of religions. By the end of the course students will have gained a basic competency in translating classical Sanskrit and reading relevant passages from texts such as the Chāndogya Upaniṣad, the Bhagavadgītā and the Buddhist Heart Sūtra. The course book will be Walter Maurer’s The Sanskrit Language. Sanskrit Prelims continues throughout Michaelmas and Hilary Terms and for the first four weeks of Trinity.

Intermediate Sanskrit Readings: Pañcadaśī of Vidyāraṇya: Week Three (HT19)

These reading sessions are intended for students who have some knowledge of Sanskrit (such as that provided by the Sanskrit Prelims) and are interested to continue reading Sanskrit texts. This term we will be reading the Pañcadaśī (“The Fifteen Chapters”) which is ascribed to Vidyāraṇya, a very influential fourteenth century teacher of Advaita Vedānta. Written in a simple language, the Pañcadaśī has been used for centuries as a primer in Advaita Vedānta, and therefore also functions, in these reading sessions, as a very accessible introduction to the reading of philosophical and theological Sanskrit texts.

Sanskrit Prelims: Week Three (HT19)

The course provides an introduction to Sanskrit for the preliminary paper of the Theology and Religion Faculty in Elementary Sanskrit. A range of relevant Hindu and Buddhist texts will be chosen for translation and philological comment. The class is designed to introduce students of Theology and Religion to the essentials of Sanskrit grammar, syntax, and vocabulary and its importance for the exegesis of Sanskrit texts. Students will learn to appreciate the interpretative nature of translation as a central discipline for the study of religions.
 By the end of the course students will have gained a basic competency in translating classical Sanskrit and reading relevant passages from texts such as the Chāndogya Upaniṣad, the Bhagavadgītā and the Buddhist Heart Sūtra. The course book will be Walter Maurer’s The Sanskrit Language. Sanskrit Prelims continues throughout Michaelmas and Hilary Terms and for the first four weeks of Trinity.

Hinduism 2: Modern Hinduism: Session Three (HT19)

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.

Readings in Phenomenology: Week Three (HT19)

Phenomenology is one of the most important developments in philosophy in the twentieth century, and it has also had a deep impact on other theoretical fields more widely conceived. This seminar series seeks to engage with some of the fundamental concepts of phenomenology, and has turned in the past to thinkers such as Martin Heidegger, Paul Ricoeur, Emmanuel Levinas, Peter Sloterdijk, Quentin Meillassoux, and others.

This term we will be reading Anthony Steinbock’s Phenomenology and Mysticism: The Verticality of Religious Experience.

Sanskrit Prelims: Week Four (HT19)

The course provides an introduction to Sanskrit for the preliminary paper of the Theology and Religion Faculty in Elementary Sanskrit. A range of relevant Hindu and Buddhist texts will be chosen for translation and philological comment. The class is designed to introduce students of Theology and Religion to the essentials of Sanskrit grammar, syntax, and vocabulary and its importance for the exegesis of Sanskrit texts. Students will learn to appreciate the interpretative nature of translation as a central discipline for the study of religions. By the end of the course students will have gained a basic competency in translating classical Sanskrit and reading relevant passages from texts such as the Chāndogya Upaniṣad, the Bhagavadgītā and the Buddhist Heart Sūtra. The course book will be Walter Maurer’s The Sanskrit Language. Sanskrit Prelims continues throughout Michaelmas and Hilary Terms and for the first four weeks of Trinity.

Intermediate Sanskrit Readings: Pañcadaśī of Vidyāraṇya: Week Four (HT19)

These reading sessions are intended for students who have some knowledge of Sanskrit (such as that provided by the Sanskrit Prelims) and are interested to continue reading Sanskrit texts. This term we will be reading the Pañcadaśī (“The Fifteen Chapters”) which is ascribed to Vidyāraṇya, a very influential fourteenth century teacher of Advaita Vedānta. Written in a simple language, the Pañcadaśī has been used for centuries as a primer in Advaita Vedānta, and therefore also functions, in these reading sessions, as a very accessible introduction to the reading of philosophical and theological Sanskrit texts.

Lecture 2: Religion as the Political (HT19)

If understanding religion only in terms of system is problematic because it downplays the importance of person, then on one view, understanding religion in terms of person is to understand religion in terms of the political. This idea has been particularly developed in an interesting way by Giorgio Agamben in his notion of Homo sacer, the sacred man, who can be killed but not sacrificed. The lecture will explain Agamben’s ideas and offer critique through developing the notion of person as enacting holiness that needs to be grounded in the nature of the kind of being that the human is. This will entail beginning to develop an angle on the human that draws from the hard sciences.

Sanskrit Prelims: Week Four (HT19)

The course provides an introduction to Sanskrit for the preliminary paper of the Theology and Religion Faculty in Elementary Sanskrit. A range of relevant Hindu and Buddhist texts will be chosen for translation and philological comment. The class is designed to introduce students of Theology and Religion to the essentials of Sanskrit grammar, syntax, and vocabulary and its importance for the exegesis of Sanskrit texts. Students will learn to appreciate the interpretative nature of translation as a central discipline for the study of religions.
 By the end of the course students will have gained a basic competency in translating classical Sanskrit and reading relevant passages from texts such as the Chāndogya Upaniṣad, the Bhagavadgītā and the Buddhist Heart Sūtra. The course book will be Walter Maurer’s The Sanskrit Language. Sanskrit Prelims continues throughout Michaelmas and Hilary Terms and for the first four weeks of Trinity.