We find the idea of God in different religions and it is theologically interesting that semantic analogues of the category appear across the boundaries of traditions. This series of lectures explores Hindu ideas of God and raises questions about the meaning of God in human traditions and the idea of comparative theology.
Lectures by Dr Jessica Frazier
Religious experience in psychology, anthropology and sociology Lecture 2: Psychology of religion and the cartography of belief
27 Feb 2009
Psychologists of religion from Jung to Freud, and Boyer and Laing, have produced speculative models of religious subjectivity, according to which the human mind appears variously as an ocean of symbols, a volcanic core wracked by powerful forces, a computational machine, or a shell through transcendence may occasionally break. Just as science posits its own models, so psychologists of religion use metaphors of spatial relations and fluid dynamics to provide a mapping of the self. We examine this mechanistic model, and also look at the way in which thinkers such as Jung and Boyer incorporate un-mappable territories as a crucial concession to the claims of religion itself.
Religious experience in psychology, anthropology and sociology Lecture 2: Psychology of religion and the cartography of belief
27 Feb 2009
Psychologists of religion from Jung to Freud, and Boyer and Laing, have produced speculative models of religious subjectivity, according to which the human mind appears variously as an ocean of symbols, a volcanic core wracked by powerful forces, a computational machine, or a shell through transcendence may occasionally break. Just as science posits its own models, so psychologists of religion use metaphors of spatial relations and fluid dynamics to provide a mapping of the self. We examine this mechanistic model, and also look at the way in which thinkers such as Jung and Boyer incorporate un-mappable territories as a crucial concession to the claims of religion itself.
Religious experience in psychology, anthropology and sociology Lecture 1: Anthropology of religion and the religious imagination
13 Feb 2009
Many of the canonical names in anthropology have been criticised for their literary style and their tendency towards evocative narrative. Here we argue that this is not a methodological weakness, but the autonomous development of a conception of understanding in terms of imaginative empathy and inter-subjectivity, which parallels hermeneutic philosophy. Religious experiences are literally recreated in the reader, forming an intimate bond between the scholar and his or her subject.
Religious experience in psychology, anthropology and sociology Lecture 1: Anthropology of religion and the religious imagination
13 Feb 2009
Many of the canonical names in anthropology have been criticised for their literary style and their tendency towards evocative narrative. Here we argue that this is not a methodological weakness, but the autonomous development of a conception of understanding in terms of imaginative empathy and inter-subjectivity, which parallels hermeneutic philosophy. Religious experiences are literally recreated in the reader, forming an intimate bond between the scholar and his or her subject.
Religious experience in psychology, anthropology and sociology Lecture 3: Sociology of religion and the force of the individual
6 Mar 2009
The necessity of analysing religious influences on society has meant that key sociologists from Marx to Durkheim and Weber insisted on the significance of mood, motivation, and individual agency as the heart of any idea of society change. Religious feeling is thus one of the cornerstones enabling their theorisation of social dynamics. Here we look at sociological models for studying subjectivity as an autonomous ‘centre’ of dynamism and force, the beating heart of grand-scale movements of history.
Religious experience in psychology, anthropology and sociology Lecture 3: Sociology of religion and the force of the individual
6 Mar 2009
The necessity of analysing religious influences on society has meant that key sociologists from Marx to Durkheim and Weber insisted on the significance of mood, motivation, and individual agency as the heart of any idea of society change. Religious feeling is thus one of the cornerstones enabling their theorisation of social dynamics. Here we look at sociological models for studying subjectivity as an autonomous ‘centre’ of dynamism and force, the beating heart of grand-scale movements of history.
Action movies and American ideals: The growth of Buddhism in Hollywood
Religion and film seminars
23 Jan 2006
Jessica Frazier, Divinity Faculty, Cambridge, and OCHS
Action movies and American ideals: The growth of Buddhism in Hollywood
Religion and film seminars
23 Jan 2006
Jessica Frazier, Divinity Faculty, Cambridge, and OCHS
Conclusions: Mapping the mind in India and the West
OCHS consciousness seminar
8 Mar 2005
Conclusions: Mapping the mind in India and the West
OCHS consciousness seminar
8 Mar 2005
Indian and Western approaches to the mystery of consciousness
OCHS consciousness seminar
18 Jan 2005
Indian and Western approaches to the mystery of consciousness
OCHS consciousness seminar
18 Jan 2005
Transforming Traditions 1: The Dramatic God: New Approaches to the Metaphysics of Divinity in the Aesthetic Vedanta of Rupa Gosvami
Transforming Traditions Series
30 Jan 2012
Hindu Theology Seminar 2
16 May 2013
Hindu Theology is an emerging field of academic inquiry. These two seminars seek to examine the boundaries and possibilities for such inquiry. According to the classical Christian definition, theology is ‘faith seeking understanding.’ Is this an adequate understanding of theology from a Hindu perspective? Is there a Hindu Theology or simply a proliferation of multiple theologies? Is faith seeking understanding simply apologetics or can the understanding come from an external discipline (such as philosophy, psychology, sociology, or neurology)? Is there a place for Hindu theology as an ‘insider’ discourse in the publically funded university? If disciplines are defined by their method and object, what is the object of Hindu theology? If God is unknowable can there be an inquiry into her? Or is the object of theology ‘revelation’ in which case Theology is concerned with history and culture? Is Hindu Theology a development in the English language of the ‘discourse’ (vāda) tradition of Sanskrit commentary or is it something different? These questions and others will be explored during these two seminars. Active participation is expected.