Anantanand Rambachan

Anantanand Rambachan is a Trinidadian Hindu-American scholar with a specific focus on interreligous dialogue. He is the Chair and Professor of Religion, Philosophy and Asian Studies at St. Olaf College, Minnesota, USA. He has been teaching at St. Olaf since 1985. Rambachan is a Hindu and is the first non-Christian chair of this Lutheran college. He is a member of the Theological Education Steering Committee of the American Academy of Religion, the Advisory Council of the Centre for the Study of Religion and Society, University of Victoria, BC, Canada, an advisor to Harvard University's Pluralism Project and a member with Consultation on Population and Ethics, a non-governmental organization, affiliated with the United Nations.

Education

Professor Rambachan was born in Trinidad and completed his undergraduate studies at the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad. He received his M.A. (Distinction) and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Leeds, in the United Kingdom. Professor Rambachan also studied for three years at Sandeepany Sadhanalaya, a Hindu seminary of the Chinmaya Mission in Mumbai, India.

Activities

Rambachan is very involved with interreligious dialogue and more specifically, Hindu-Christian dialogue. He continues to participate in interreligious activities, both nationally and internationally. He is an active member and participant in the dialogue program of the World Council of Churches and participated in the last four General Assemblies.

He has traveled and lectured in Norway, Switzerland, Germany, Australia, Mauritius, South Africa, Kenya, India, Trinidad, Brazil, The Vatican, Japan, Italy, Spain, Canada and the United Kingdom. A series of 25 lectures was broadcast internationally by the BBC. Rambachan also led the first White House celebration of the Hindu Festival of Diwali in 2003. He continues to return to Trinidad on a yearly basis and was awarded the Chaconia Gold Medal,^[1] Trinidad and Tobago's second highest national honor for public service.

Multimedia

Rambachan has created a two-part video series on the Hindu Vision as well as a lecture - video on the Bhagavadgita entitled, Gitanidarsana: Similies of the Bhagavadgita. He has also co-produced an informative CD-ROM, Hinduism: Wisdom and Way.

Partial bibliography

• Rambachan, Anantanand (1991). Accomplishing the accomplished: the Vedas as a source of valid knowledge in Śankara. [Honolulu]: University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 0-8248-1358-8. 
• Rambachan, Anantanand (2006). The Advaita worldview: God, world, and humanity. Albany, N.Y: State University of New York Press. ISBN 0-7914-6852-6. 
• Rambachan, Anantanand (1994). The limits of scripture: Vivekananda's reinterpretation of the Vedas. [Honolulu]: University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 0-8248-1542-4. 

References

• National Library and Information System of Trinidad and Tobago
• St. Olaf College
• World Council of Churches Address Notification

Notes

1. ^ National Library of Trinidad

External links

• Website