- Anantanand Rambachan
Anantanand Rambachan is a 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 theAmerican 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 theUniversity of the West Indies , St. Augustine, Trinidad. He received his M.A. (Distinction) and Ph.D. degrees from theUniversity of Leeds , in the United Kingdom. Professor Rambachan also studied for three years at Sandeepany Sadhanalaya, a Hindu seminary in Mumbai, India.He currently resides in
Apple Valley, Minnesota with his wife, Geeta, daughter, Ishanaa and sons, Akshar and Ashesh.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 (see [http://library2.nalis.gov.tt/Default.aspx?PageContentID=199&tabid=121 National Library of Trinidad] ), 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
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*References
* [http://library2.nalis.gov.tt/Default.aspx?PageContentID=199&tabid=121 National Library and Information System of Trinidad and Tobago]
* [http://www.stolaf.edu/depts/religion/faculty/rambachan.html St. Olaf College]
* [http://fusion.stolaf.edu/news/index.cfm?fuseaction=NewsDetails&id=3174 World Council of Churches Address Notification]External links
* [http://www.anantanand.org Website]
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