23/04/2026

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CALL FOR PARTICIPATION
VIRTUAL ROUNDTABLE
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INDIAN CONCEPTS OF THE DIVINE IN DIALOGUE WITH PHILOSOPHY
April 23, 2026, 4 pm CET

Website: www.god-and-consciousness.com/round-tables#apr
Registration: god.and.consciousness@gmail.com

PARTICIPANTS 
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- Ananya Barua, University of Delhi, India
- Prema Goet, University of Vienna, Austria
- Nishant Upadhyay, University of Texas at Austin, USA
- Alan Herbert, Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies, UK (chair)

REGISTRATION
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The roundtable will be held via Zoom as part of the LARA (Logic and Religion Association) Webinar Series. Registration is required in order to receive the access link. This can be done by sending an email to god.and.consciousness@gmail.com with the subject line “Roundtable April”, or directly through the LARA Webinar Series website: www.logicandreligion.com/webinars. Registration requests will be accepted until April 22.

ABSTRACT
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Until relatively recently, the philosophy of religion has critically explored religious beliefs, practices, and concepts primarily through categories shaped or influenced by the Abrahamic traditions. It could be argued that many of these categories are universal and might therefore apply to religions in other parts of the world. At the same time, these Western categories can be used comparatively to highlight where they may not apply. India has also developed its own style of philosophy, which might offer ways to adapt or revise these religious categories and modes of inquiry. There may also be a case for claiming that philosophy, in general, is not equipped to address certain religious concepts. This virtual roundtable poses several questions: Do Indian or Western philosophical traditions have the tools to unpack concepts of the divine from India, or are these philosophical systems too limited? Are contradictions in explanations of Indian concepts of God problematic, and if so, can they be incorporated into coherent frameworks? Can Western-derived concepts of God—such as monotheism, henotheism, panentheism, or cosmopsychism—be useful for mapping Indian ideas? And does Indian philosophy offer a more effective approach to assessing Indian concepts of God?

RESEARCH PROJECT
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This event is part of the research project “Concepts of God and the Variety of Theisms in Indian Traditions”, funded by the John Templeton Foundation. Website: www.god-and-consciousness.com.