Videos

Buddhism without Buddhists? On Philosophy, Normativity and Whale Ears (Joseph Walser, Tufts University)

In this Zoom talk, Joseph Walser critiques the modern Western scholarly discourse on Buddhist philosophy, arguing that academic Buddhist philosophers appeal to a free-floating, normative “Buddhism” when making their arguments about historical Buddhist authors. Walser argues that the cogency of such arguments is undermined when the historical context of the original argument is misunderstood. The talk is recorded on April 14, 2021.

Why must a good Hindu not believe in God? The Orthodox Answer (Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad, Lancaster University, UK)

From the perspective of the comparative philosophy of religion, it is intriguing that there are those who argue that a true commitment to the authority of sacred text requires the rejection of a divine author for it. But such is the position of the Mīmāṃsā thinkers, the Exegetes of the Hindu sacred texts, the Vedas. In this talk, Professor Ram-Prasad looks at several precise arguments against ‘God’ (īśvara) by Kumārila Bhaṭṭa (7th c). The talk is recorded on March 31, 2021.

"The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity" by Robert P. Jones (PRRI)

This is the 2020 Rutgers Distinguished Lecture in Religion, sponsored by the Religion Department at Rutgers. In a wide-ranging conversation facilitated by two Rutgers Religion faculty members, Dugan McGinley and Hilit Surowitz-Israel, Robert P. Jones, the CEO and founder of Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) and a leading scholar and commentator on religion and politics, delved into the legacy of white supremacy in American Christianity. It is based on Jones' newly published book, White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity.