Read more
This book analyses the concepts of God in Vai¿¿avism. It will be of interest to researchers in the fields of philosophy of religion and Indian philosophy, cross-cultural and comparative philosophy, analytic philosophy of religion, Hindu studies, theology and religious studies.
List of contents
1. Introduction;
2. The concept of god in the Bhavaga-G¿t¿: A panentheistic account
; 3. Beauty and form as a corollary of a perfect being: K¿¿¿a in the Bh¿gavata-Pur¿¿a
; 4. The nature of God in the P¿ñcar¿tra with specific reference to the Jay¿khya-Sähit¿
; 5. Supreme Self and Supreme Lord: Cosmological monotheism in the Mah¿bh¿rata epic
r; 6. The ¿¿v¿r concept of God and Tamil Vai¿¿avism: If we examine, there is but one God!
7. Two conceptions of the relation between self and God: The debate between ¿äkara and R¿m¿nuja
; 8. In defence of divine transcendence: Madhva's critique of 'material panentheism'
; 9. Non-theism and theism in the Nimb¿rka Samprad¿ya
; 10. Embodiment and abstraction: God in Pu¿¿im¿rga
; 11. On ¿aktis and their divine possessor: Towards a Gau¿¿ya Vai¿¿ava concept of God
; 12. Harmonising the personal God with the impersonal Brahman: Sri Ramakrishna's Vijñ¿na Ved¿nta in dialogue with Gau¿¿ya Vai¿¿avism
; 13. The God of yoga: Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhup¿da and divine pedagogy addressing divine hiddenness
; Index
About the author
Ricardo Sousa Silvestre is Associate Professor at Federal University of Campina Grande, Brazil and Professor of the Graduate Program in Philosophy at Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Also, he is the leader of the project "Concepts of God and the Variety of Theisms in Indian Traditions", funded by the John Templeton Foundation. He has authored and edited several books, including
Beyond Faith and Rationality: Essays on Logic, Religion and Philosophy (2020).
Alan C. Herbert is Research Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies (OCHS), Oxford, UK. He was a director of the research project that made this volume possible: "A Philosophical Approach to the Vaishnava Concept of God", funded by the John Templeton Foundation through the Global Philosophy of Religion Project. He is the Indian Studies Lead Researcher for the John Templeton-funded project "Concepts of God and the Variety of Theisms in Indian Traditions". He is also a co-director of the OCHS research project: Hinduism in Modern Contemporary Society.
Benedikt Paul Göcke is Professor of the Philosophy of Religion and the Philosophy of Science at the Faculty of Catholic Theology, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany, a Research Fellow in Philosophy at Blackfriars Hall, Oxford University, UK and a Life Member of Clare Hall, Cambridge University, UK.
