Roles
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My specialities and interests lie in philosophy, religion, Indian thought and culture. I am also acquainted with sociology. I draw on a wide range of teaching experience in both tertiary and secondary/high school education in the USA, UK, and Asia, all of which informs my research. Currently, I am a research fellow at the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies. There I direct research projects, develop and run online courses, teach, tutor, mentor, publish, and organise conferences. Recently I have been working on projects and papers exploring issues in the philosophy of religion, philosophy of mind, personal identity, imagination studies, Indian theology, and societal problems among contemporary Hinduism and Hindus.
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Wonder is the beginning of wisdom.” |
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Research
My research is primarily focussed on philosophy as well as Indian religious ideas and traditions. The first two projects listed below, both funded by the John Templeton Foundation, reflect my inspiration to broaden the scope of disciplinary approaches within Indian religious studies to include a more global philosophical outlook. There is great depth to the study of Indian religion in theology, philology, history, socioogy, and to a degree philosophy. Although not indicative of its overall apprach, Indian philosophy tends to mostly be concerned with the history of Indian ideas and surveying Indian philosophical methodology. Within its remit, there is room to explore Indian ideas in a broader context, including placing them in dialogue with other global philosophical systems. This is the guiding ethos of the two "Concepts of God" projects. Concepts of God and the Variety of Theisms in Indian Traditions: Towards a Theistic Theory of Consciousness https://www.god-and-consciousness.com/ Funded by John Templeton Foundation: $260,000 Role: Indian Studies lead researcher Duration of Grantee's work on the Project: October 1, 2023 - June 30, 2026 This project is a continuation and extension of the project “A Philosophical Approach to the Vaiṣṇava Concept of God” (see below), which culminated last year having fulfilled all its projected goals. The general goals of this project are: (1) to philosophically reconstruct concepts of God in Indian theistic (or theistically inclined) traditions and (2) to investigate the extent to which issues explored by these traditions can contribute to the philosophy of consciousness. A main goal of the project is to consolidate cross-cultural research within the analytic philosophy of religion that takes seriously the contributions and insights of underrepresented religions, such as those of the Indian subcontinent. It will also help to inform religious studies scholars about the usefulness of analytic philosophy and analytic theology. A Philosophical Approach to the Vaiṣṇava Concept of God https://www.logicandreligion.com/vaishnava-concept-of-god Funded by John Templeton Foundation through The Global Philosophy of Religion Project and the University of Birmingham: $30,000 Role: Co-director with Ricardo Sousa Silvestre and Benedikt Paul Göcke July 2021 – March 2024 Accepting that there are different conceptions of divinity among the Indian religious and philosophical traditions, the question that this project posed was: how can these concepts of God be philosophically characterized? |
Output of project: A Philosophical Approach to the Vaiṣṇava Concept of God
The Intersection of Hinduism and Contemporary Society (OCHS Project) https://ochs.org.uk/hinduism-in-modern-secular-society/ Original Project Leader with Dr. Ace Simpson Other Project Leders: Dr. Angela Burt and Dr. Cecilia Bastos Feb 2021 – Present Hindus live and work in the world while simultaneously maintaining a separation from it. Sociological issues they may encounter in this intersection include, among other things, those of identity, value, affiliation, and ethnicity. The aim of this project is to increase the latitude of Indian studies to incorporate these social experiences of contemporary Hindu communities and adherents as they navigate life within, without, and on the fringes of their religious institutions and host communities. The project looks to redress the paucity of research into the key causes of these tensions while also identifying opportunities for dialogue and conflict resolution. Research methods include but are not limited to standard sociological tools, such as surveys (interviews and questionnaires), field work, participant observation, case studies, experiments, ethnographies, and secondary data analysis. The research is theory-rich and multi-disciplinary, incorporating, for instance, philosophy, theology, and philology. Rather than produce data and ethnographies, the research blends experience with theory so as to illuminate trends and tensions affecting the societal lives of present and former adherents as well as the Hindu traditions themselves. |
Publications & Conferences
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EDITOR
Vaiṣṇava Concepts of God: Philosophical Perspectives, eds. Ricardo Silvestre, Alan Herbert, Benedikt Göcke (Routledge: 2024). DOI: 10.4324/9781003432081 July 2024. Sophia: International Journal of Philosophy and Traditions (Springer) Special Issue: Indian Religions and the Concept of God. Guest Editor with Prof. Ricardo Sousa Silvestre. Editor: Purushottama Bilimoria Upcoming (2024 to 2026): Lead Editor of The Handbook of Indian Concepts of God. This is a proposed output of the Templeton funded research project: Concepts of God and the Variety of Theisms in Indian Traditions: Towards a Theistic Theory of Consciousness. We have 48 confirmed chapters. I am presently in communication with publishers. Guest Editor of Sophia: International Journal of Philosophy and Traditions (Springer) Special Issue: Concepts of God in Underrepresented Religions Editor of Sophia: International Journal of Philosophy and Traditions (Springer) Edited Volume comprising the proceeds from the three conferences that are part of the John Templeton Foundation funded project: “Concepts of God and the Variety of Theisms in Indian Traditions: Towards a Theistic Theory of Consciousness” RECENT ARTICLES
2024 “Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavism and Personal Identity: A Reductionist Approach” in Sophia: International Journal of Philosophy and Traditions (Springer: 2024). DOI: 10.1007/s11841-024-01042-w “Introduction” (co-authored with Ricardo Silvestre and Benedikt Göcke) in Vaiṣṇava Concepts of God: Philosophical Perspectives, eds. Ricardo Silvestre, Alan Herbert, Benedikt Göcke (Routledge: 2024) “On Śaktis and their Divine Possessor: Towards a Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava Concept of God” (co-authored with Ricardo Silvestre) in Vaiṣṇava Concepts of God: Philosophical Perspectives, eds. Ricardo Silvestre, Alan Herbert, Benedikt Göcke (Routledge: 2024) “The Concept of God in the Bhagavad-Gītā: A Panentheistic Account” (co-authored with Ricardo Silvestre) in Vaiṣṇava Concepts of God: Philosophical Perspectives, eds. Ricardo Silvestre, Alan Herbert, Benedikt Göcke (Routledge: 2024) 2023 “The Art of Visualising Reality: Jīva Gosvāmī’s Aesthetics and the Role of Ritual Imagination” in Journal of Hindu Studies 16(1), 1–32 (OUP: 2023). DOI: 10.1093/jhs/hiac009 (Available online: https://academic.oup.com/jhs/article/16/1/1/6855085) 2022 “Ritual and Rasa: A Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava Recasting of the Role of Ritual Imagination” in Journal of Dharma Studies 5 (2-3):121-152 (Springer: 2022). DOI: 10.1007/s42240-022-00125-6 “Reality Imagined: Aesthetic Participation in Indian Ritual Visualization” in Imagination and Religion: Perspectives from the Philosophy of Religion, eds. Espen Dahl, Jan-Olav Henriksen, Marius T. Mjaaland (Zürich: LIT Verlag Münster: 2022) (pp.177-195). ISBN: 978-3-643-91210-7 RECENT CONFERENCES
God and Consciousness in Indian Traditions University of Oxford: Worcester College and Online. May 15-17 2024 Roles: Chief Organiser and Conference Chair. Presented: “Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavism and Personal Identity: A Reductionist Approach” Indian Religions & the Concept of God Online Conference. February 13-14, 2023 Roles: Chief Organiser and Conference Chair. Presented: “Characterising the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava Concept of God as the Possessor of Śaktis” God & Vaiṣṇavism Online Conference. May 23-26, 2022 Roles: Chief Organiser and Conference Chair. Presented: “A Polyvalent Concept of God in the Caitanya Vaiṣṇava Tradition” Nordic Society for Philosophy of Religion Conference Aarhus University, Denmark. June 2019 Presented: “The Reality of Aesthetic Participation in Ritual Imagination” Theology Interdisciplinary Seminar University of Oxford. Feb 2018 Presented: “Imagination or Visualization” |
