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Today I talked to Christopher Jain Miller about practicing and studying Jainism, the founding of Jain Studies professorships and the Arihanta Institute, an online learning platform. Also see: MA in Engaged Jain Studies Program (online)
Guest: Christopher Jain Miller
Date: 9/25/2023
Middle-Class Dharma: Gender, Aspiration, and the Making of Contemporary Hinduism (Oxford UP, 2023) is a contemporary ethnography of class mobility among Hindus in Udaipur, Rajasthan, India. Focusing on women in Pulan, an emerging …
Guest: Jennifer D. Ortegren
Date: 9/21/2023
On the second Saturday of each month, on the outskirts of the ancient city of Varanasi, Shiva's own city, thousands of shudra and Dalit devotees worship Yesu (Jesus) at a Catholic ashram. In an open-air pavilion more than three thousand …
Guest: Kerry P. C. San Chirico
Date: 9/7/2023
Today I talked to Ravi Gupta and Kenneth Valpey about The Bhagavata Purana: Sacred Text and Living Tradition (Columbia UP, 2013) A vibrant example of living literature, the Bhagavata Purana is a versatile Hindu sacred text written in …
Guest: Ravi Gupta and Kenneth Valpey
Date: 9/6/2023
Annie Rachel Royson's book Texts, Traditions, and Sacredness: Cultural Translation in Kristapurana (Routledge, 2023) presents a critical reading of Kristapurāṇa, the first South Asian retelling of the Bible. In 1579, Thomas Stephens …
Guest: Annie Rachel Royson
Date: 8/31/2023
Religious texts are not stable objects, passed down unchanged through generations. The way in which religious communities receive their scriptures changes over time and in different social contexts. Emilia Bachrach's Religious Reading and …
Guest: Emilia Bachrach
Date: 8/30/2023
In World of Worldly Gods: The Persistence and Transformation of Shamanic Bon in Buddhist Bhutan (Oxford UP, 2023), Kelzang T. Tashi offers the first comprehensive examination of the tenacity of Shamanic Bon practices, as they are lived …
Guest: Kelzang T. Tashi
Date: 8/24/2023
Sharada Sugirtharajah's edited volume Religious and Non-Religious Perspectives on Happiness and Wellbeing (Routledge, 2022) explores the theme of happiness and well-being from religious, spiritual, philosophical, psychological, …
Guest: Sharada Sugirtharajah
Date: 8/17/2023
Science and Religion in India: Beyond Disenchantment (Routledge, 2022) provides an in-depth ethnographic study of science and religion in the context of South Asia, giving voice to Indian scientists and shedding valuable light on their …
Guest: Renny Thomas
Date: 8/10/2023
Michael Baltutis' book The Festival of Indra: Innovation, Archaism, and Revival in a South Asian Performance (SUNY Press, 2023) details the textual and performative history of an important South Asian festival and its role in the …
Guest: Michael Baltutis
Date: 8/3/2023