Laurie Patton | |
---|---|
17th President of Middlebury College | |
Assumed office July 1, 2015 | |
Preceded by | Ronald D. Liebowitz |
Personal details | |
Born | November 14,1961 |
Spouse | Shalom Goldman |
Education | Harvard University (BA) University of Chicago (MA,PhD) |
Laurie L. Patton (born November 14,1961) is an American academic,author,and poet who serves as the 17th president of Middlebury College. [1]
Patton was raised in Danvers,Massachusetts,and graduated from Choate Rosemary Hall in Wallingford,Connecticut. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard University,a doctorate from the University of Chicago,and was awarded a Fulbright scholarship in 2000.
She was the Charles Howard Candler Professor of Early Indian Religions at Emory University before assuming the role of Robert F. Durden Professor of Religion and Dean of Arts and Sciences at Duke University. [2] She was named Middlebury's 17th president on November 18,2014,and became Middlebury's first woman president upon taking office on July 1,2015. [3]
Patton regularly teaches in public venues nationally and internationally on interfaith issues,comparative religion,and religion and conflict. In 2008 and 2009 she co-hosted a TV series on "Faith and Feminism" for Atlanta Interfaith Broadcasting. She served as chair of the department from 2000 to 2007,as conveyor of the Religions and the Human Spirit Strategic Plan from 2005 to 2007,and as the Winship Distinguished Research Professor from 2003 to 2006. She was the recipient of Emory’s highest award for teaching,the Emory Williams Award,in 2006.
She focuses her research on early Indian rituals,narrative and mythology,literary theory in religious studies,and Hinduism in modern India. She has published on the interpretation of early Indian ritual and narrative,comparative mythology,literary theory in the study of religion,women and Hinduism in contemporary India,and religion and conflict.
Her early Indological work applies literary theory and theory of canon to the texts of early India,particularly Vedic texts. Later,she used a theory of metonymy to rethink the application of mantras in early Indian ritual. Her first edited work,Authority,Anxiety,and Canon (1994) surveyed the larger field of Vedic interpretation as it existed in various intellectual contexts throughout India. [4]
She was co-editor on Myth and Method an assessment of the state of the field in comparative mythology. Her co-edited work with Edwin Bryant (2005) brings together for the first time a variety of differing perspectives on the problem of Aryan origins.
Patton has also worked on gender questions,beginning with her edited volume,Jewels of Authority (2002),which examined early feminist stereotypes about women in Indian textual traditions as well as contemporary life. Her recent articles on gender are derived from her present project,the first ethnography of women Sanskritists ever to be undertaken in India.[ citation needed ]
Her translation of the Bhagavad Gita in the Penguin Classics Series follows a free verse style constrained by eight line stanzas. [5]
She has also published three books of poetry,including House Crossing,which was published in May 2018. [2]
Hinduism is an Indian religion or dharma,a religious and universal order by which its followers abide. The word Hindu is an exonym,and while Hinduism has been called the oldest religion in the world,it has also been described as sanātana dharma,a modern usage,based on the belief that its origins lie beyond human history,as revealed in the Hindu texts. Another endonym for Hinduism is Vaidika dharma.
Asuras are a class of beings in Indian religions. They are described as power-seeking demons related to the more benevolent Devas in Hinduism. In its Buddhist context,the word is translated as "titan","demigod",or "antigod".
Hindu deities are the gods and goddesses in Hinduism. Deities in Hinduism are as diverse as its traditions,and a Hindu can choose to be polytheistic,pantheistic,monotheistic,monistic,even agnostic,atheistic,or humanist. The terms and epithets for deities within the diverse traditions of Hinduism vary,and include Deva,Devi,Ishvara,Ishvari,Bhagavān and Bhagavati.
Prajapati is a Vedic deity of Hinduism.
The historical Vedic religion,also known as Vedicism and Vedism,constituted the religious ideas and practices prevalent amongst the Indo-Aryan peoples of the northwest Indian subcontinent during the Vedic period. These ideas and practices are found in the Vedic texts,and some Vedic rituals are still practiced today. The Vedic religion is one of the major traditions which shaped Hinduism,though present-day Hinduism is significantly different from the historical Vedic religion.
Hindu texts or Hindu scriptures are manuscripts and voluminous historical literature which are related to any of the diverse traditions within Hinduism. Some of the major Hindu texts include the Vedas,the Upanishads,and the Itihasa. Scholars hesitate in defining the term "Hindu scriptures" given the diverse nature of Hinduism,but many list the Agamas as Hindu scriptures,and Dominic Goodall includes Bhagavata Purana and Yajnavalkya Smriti in the list of Hindu scriptures as well.
Deva means "shiny","exalted","heavenly being","divine being","anything of excellence",and is also one of the Sanskrit terms used to indicate a deity in Hinduism. Deva is a masculine term;the feminine equivalent is Devi. The word is a cognate with Latin deus ("god") and Greek Zeus.
Prayer is considered to be an integral part of the Hindu religion;it is practiced during Hindu worship (puja) and is an expression of devotion (Bhakti). The chanting of mantras is the most popular form of worship in Hinduism. The Vedas are liturgical texts. Stuti is an umbrella term for religious literary creations,but it literally means "praise."
Karma yoga,also called Karma marga,is one of the four classical spiritual paths in Hinduism,one based on the "yoga of action",the others being Jnana yoga,Rāja yoga and Bhakti yoga. To a karma yogi,right action is a form of prayer. The paths are not mutually exclusive in Hinduism,but the relative emphasis between Karma yoga,Jnana yoga and Bhakti yoga varies by the individual.
Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty is an American Indologist whose professional career has spanned five decades. A scholar of Sanskrit and Indian textual traditions,her major works include The Hindus:An Alternative History;Asceticism and Eroticism in the Mythology of Siva;Hindu Myths:A Sourcebook;The Origins of Evil in Hindu Mythology;Women,Androgynes,and Other Mythical Beasts;and The Rig Veda:An Anthology,108 Hymns Translated from the Sanskrit. She is the Mircea Eliade Distinguished Service Professor of History of Religions at the University of Chicago,and has taught there since 1978. She served as president of the Association for Asian Studies in 1998.
The Vedas are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit,the texts constitute the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature and the oldest scriptures of Hinduism.
Michael Witzel is a German-American philologist,comparative mythologist and Indologist. Witzel is the Wales Professor of Sanskrit at Harvard University and the editor of the Harvard Oriental Series Witzel is an authority on Indian sacred texts,particularly the Vedas,and Indian history. A critic of the arguments made by Hindutva writers and sectarian historical revisionism,he opposed some attempts to influence USA school curricula in the California textbook controversy over Hindu history.
Edwin Francis Bryant is an American Indologist. Currently,he is professor of religions of India at Rutgers University. He published seven books and authored a number of articles on Vedic history,yoga,and the Krishna tradition. In his research engagements,he lived several years in India where he studied Sanskrit and was trained with several Indian pundits.
The following list consists of notable concepts that are derived from Hindu culture and associated cultures’traditions,which are expressed as words in Sanskrit or other Indic languages and Dravidian languages. The main purpose of this list is to disambiguate multiple spellings,to make note of spellings no longer in use for these concepts,to define the concept in one or two lines,to make it easy for one to find and pin down specific concepts,and to provide a guide to unique concepts of Hinduism all in one place.
The Markandeya Purana is a Sanskrit text of Hinduism,and one of the eighteen major Puranas. The text's title Markandeya refers to a sage in Hindu mythology,who is the central character in two legends,one linked to Shiva and other to Vishnu. The Markandeya text is one of the Puranas that lacks a sectarian presentation of ideas in favor of any particular god,and it is rare to read any deity being invoked or deity prayers in the entire text.
Dhyāna in Hinduism means contemplation and meditation. Dhyana is taken up in Yoga practices,and is a means to samadhi and self-knowledge.
In Hinduism,Brahman connotes the highest universal principle,the Ultimate Reality of the universe. In major schools of Hindu philosophy,it is the non-physical,efficient,formal and final cause of all that exists. It is the pervasive,infinite,eternal truth,consciousness and bliss which does not change,yet is the cause of all changes. Brahman as a metaphysical concept refers to the single binding unity behind diversity in all that exists. The metaphysical concept of Brahman in the Vedas was God Vishnu,stated as :"Brahmaśabdaśca Viṣṇaveva",that Brahman can only refer to Vishnu. Scriptures which say different are declared as non-authoritative by him.
The Bhagavad Gita,often referred to as the Gita,is a 700-verse Hindu scripture,which is part of the epic Mahabharata. The text is dated to the second half of the first millennium BCE,and is one of the most prominent ancient Hindu texts. While Hinduism includes several denominations,the Gita holds a unique pan-Hindu influence as a sacred text. The Gita presents a summarization of key Hindu concepts of self (Atman) and the supreme self (Brahman),while also synthesizing the ideas of moral duties (Dharma),action (Karma),devotion (Bhakti),and spiritual liberation (Moksha).
The practice of Hindu animal sacrifice is in recent times mostly associated with Shaktism,and in currents of folk Hinduism strongly rooted in local popular or tribal traditions. Animal sacrifices were part of the ancient Vedic Era in India,and are mentioned in scriptures such as the Puranas. The Hindu scripture Brahma Vaivarta Purana forbids the Asvamedha Horse sacrifice in this Kali Yuga. However,the perception that animal sacrifice was only practiced in ancient Non-Vedic Era is opposed by instances like Ashvamedha and other rituals that are rooted in Vedas. Both the Itihasas and the Puranas like the Devi Bhagavata Purana and the Kalika Purana as well as the Saiva and Sakta Agamas prescribe animal sacrifices.