Annual Meetings

Annual Meetings

Held in Conjunction with the American Academy of Religion

The annual meetings of the Society for Hindu-Christian Studies are held in conjunction with the annual meetings of the American Academy of Religion, typically scheduled the weekend before the Thanksgiving holiday.

The society’s annual meetings consist of two or more sessions. In the final half hour of one of those gatherings, a business meeting (open to all members) is scheduled.

The 2025 American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting will be held November 21-25 in Boston, Massachusetts. The Society for Hindu-Christian Studies sessions will take place on Saturday, November 22, and Sunday, November 23. All sessions will be in-person. Participants must register for the Annual Meeting of the AAR to attend.

2025 Annual Meeting Program

Boston, Massachusetts, November 22–23

Saturday, Nov. 22
7:30 – 8:30 a.m.
Sheraton, Independence West (Second Floor)
Session ID: P22-100
Society for Hindu-Christian Studies Board Meeting
Kalpesh Bhatt, University of Mary Washington, Presiding
Saturday, November 22
9:00 – 10:30 a.m.
Hynes Convention Center, Ballroom C (Third Level)
Session ID: P22-112
Roundtable on God at Play: Līlā in Hindu and Christian Traditions, edited by Daniel Soars

The first comparative treatment of the topic of līlā in Hindu and Christian traditions, God at Play explores what it means to consider divine and human action under the categories of play, wit, drama, grace, and compassion. The volume presents a theological exploration of the multifaceted motif of līlā across diverse Hindu and Christian landscapes and its wide-ranging connections to divine and human creativity. Given its ubiquity in Hindu theologies and life-forms, līlā offers a rich comparative framework for exploring certain ways of understanding divine and human action as expressed in Hindu and Christian sacred texts, philosophical theology, and ritual practices. The roundtable will last one hour and will be followed by a half-hour business meeting of the Society for Hindu-Christian Studies.

Francis X. Clooney, Harvard University, Presiding
Panelists:
Rachel Fell McDermott, Barnard College
Sahaj Patel, Vanderbilt University
Sucharita Adluri, Cleveland State University
Chad Bauman, Butler University
10:00 – 10:30 a.m.
Business Meeting
Kalpesh Bhatt, University of Mary Washington, Presiding
Sunday, November 23
9:00 – 10:30 a.m.
Marriott Copley Place, Provincetown (Fourth Floor)
Session ID: P23-103
Theme: Moral Worlds and Sacred Duties: Ethics in Hindu and Christian Thought and Practice
This panel undertakes a comparative study of ethics, morality, and power in Hindu and Christian traditions. It examines the ways ethics in these traditions have been understood and practiced in both historical and contemporary contexts. By centering Hindu-Christian perspectives on morality, this panel aims to illustrate the ways that such an analysis enhances the study of ethics in religion and philosophy more broadly.
Bhakti Mamtora, University of Arizona, Presiding
Papers:
Arun W. Jones, Emory University
Expanding Ideas of Rajadharma and Christendom in Colonial North India
Kalpesh Bhatt, University of Mary Washington
Seeing the Divine in All: Hindu-Christian Ethics of Equality in a Divided World
Elsa Marty, Institute for Vaishnava Studies
Caste and Tribe: Rethinking the Margins in Hindu-Christian Studies
Andrew J. Nicholson, Stony Brook University
Yogic Ethics for the Worldly King: Self-mastery and the Science of Statecraft (niti-sastra)
Iva Patel, Augsburg University
Social Commitments and Bodily Actions as Bhakti-Sadhana in Contemporary Hindu Didactics