BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA, May 22, 2015 (Press Release): In partnership with Dharma Civilization Foundation, the Graduate Theological Union, has just launched a Master’s Degree Program in Hindu Studies. This program will enable the creation of scholars in Hindu Dharma who are also practitioners who will present and teach the perspectives of the insiders to the traditions. In the fullness of time, these scholars will teach courses in Hindu Dharma in many main stream universities. Many thousands of students of future generations will derive immense value from these teachers.
So far, Hindu Studies has been the privilege of outsiders to the tradition itself i.e. those who examine Hinduism academically, and critically i.e. through Marxist, Freudian or otherwise suspicious eyes. South Asian studies Departments have focused on geo-political issues, and have not examined the many gifts of Hindu Dharma to humanity.
The Hindu Studies program aims to change that. A fund-raiser event will be held May 30, 2015, starting at 3 pm at the India Community Center in Milpitas. For more information on this limited-seating event, contact info@dcfusa.org or 614-668-1668.
The event will include talks by Prof. Vamsee Juluri on his new book “Rearming Hinduism” and Prof. Riess Potterveld on the integration of Hindu Studies at the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley. A preview of activities over the next year will be given, including the continued development of the M.A. and Ph.D. programs in Hindu Studies.