About the Project

God and Consciousness in Indian Traditions

The project Concepts of God and the Variety of Theisms in Indian Traditions: Towards a Theistic Theory of Consciousness is an initiative that has as general goals (1) to philosophically reconstruct concepts of God in Indian theistic (or theistically inclined) traditions such as Vaishnavism, Shaivism and Shaktism, and (2) to investigate the extent to which issues explored by these traditions can contribute to the philosophy of consciousness. It is supported by funding totaling $260,000 from the John Templeton Foundation.

As part of the project, we will publish articles, edited volumes, and journal special issues and also organize conferences, non-academic roundtables, and a paper incubator meant to help early career researchers produce high quality publishable papers on our research themes and questions. The project will help 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 sensibilize religious studies scholars about the usefulness of analytic philosophy and analytic theology.