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.
Archives: Lectures
Hinduism 2: Modern Hinduism: Session Six (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 Six (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.
Intermediate Sanskrit Readings: Pañcadaśī of Vidyāraṇya: Week Seven (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 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.
Solving the Mystery of Exams: A Revision Seminar (HT19)
There is a mystery surrounding exams: all you have to do is turn up and write down what you know for three hours… but really you are expected to fit complex arguments, critical perspectives, vast secondary literature, and an original argument into just a few pages scribbled down in 45 minutes. There is no single template for doing exams, but this seminar explores some useful insights and strategies, then opens up to questions.
Sanskrit Prelims: Week Seven (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 Seven (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 Seven (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 Eight (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.