Senior Associate Fellows

Parkman Professor of Divinity and Professor of Comparative Theology at Harvard University, USA, since 2005. Francis is a Roman Catholic priest and a member of the Society of Jesus. He was previously Professor of Comparative Theology at Boston College, where he taught since 1984, after earning his doctorate in South Asian languages and civilizations from the University of Chicago. He served as Academic Director of the OCHS from 2002- 2004. His primary areas of scholarship have been theological commentarial writings in the Sanskrit and Tamil traditions of Hindu India, and the developing field of comparative theology, a discipline distinguished by attentiveness to the dynamics of theological reading and writing in light of traditions other than one's own. He has also written on the Jesuit missionary tradition, particularly in India, and is interested in the dynamics of dialogue in a postcolonial world. He is on numerous editorial boards; was the first president of the International Society for Hindu-Christian Studies; and, from 1998 to 2004, was coordinator for interreligious dialogue for the Society of Jesus. Professor Clooney is the author of numerous articles and books, including

Fr. Bouchet's India: An 18th-Century Jesuit's Encounter With Hinduism, Satyam Nilayam Publications, 2005),

Divine Mother, Blessed Mother: Hindu Goddesses and the Virgin Mary, (Oxford University Press, 2005), and, most recently,

Jesuit Postmodern: Scholarship, Vocation, and Identity in the 21st Century, (Lexington Books, 2006). He is currently writing a book on surrender to God in the writings of Vedanta Desika (fourteenth-century India) and Francis de Sales (seventeenth-century Geneva).

Prof. Thomas Hopkins, awarded Sr. Associate Fellowship in 2001, is Emeritus Professor of Religious Studies at Franklin and Marshall College, USA. He is the author of The Hindu Religious Tradition and has published numerous articles and encyclopaedia entries on all aspects on Indian religious life ranging from the Indus Civilisation to modern Bengal Vaishnavism. His special interest in the Vaishnava devotional tradition led to his first meeting with A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami in New York in 1966, which focused his attention on the newly emerging ISKCON movement and started a long-term study of ISKCON's history and theology.

Prof. M. N. Narasimhachary

(Director of Academic Affairs 2000-1)

Founder Professor & Head (Retired), Department of Vaishnavism, University of Madras, India. His specialist subjects include the Pre-Ramanuja Religion and Philosophy, Pancharatra Agama Literature, Telugu and Sanskrit Literature and popularisation of Sanskrit as a spoken tongue. He has published a number of articles and monographs in academic journals on topics such as the Samskrita Svapnah, Bhakti & Prapatti in Srivaishnava Philosophy and the Pancaratra-kantakoddhara. Important Publications include: The Contribution of Yaamuna to Visistadvaita [Pub; Jayalakshmi Publications, Hyderabad]; Critical Edition and Study of Yaamuna's Aagamapraamaanya [pub: Gaekwad's Oriental Series, Baroda]; and an English translation of Sri Vedanta Desika's Padukasahasram and all of his 32 Stotras. Prof. Narasimhachary received the Certificate of Honour for Proficiency in Sanskrit from the President of India for the year 2004.

Prof. Joseph O'Connell is a Professor in the Study of Religion, retired after thirty years of teaching at Saint Michael's College in the University of Toronto, Canada. he was born in Boston in 1940 and educated in the United States where he received his BA in History from the College of the Holy Cross and his Ph.D. in Religion (Comparative study of the major world religions) from Harvard University in 1970. His doctoral thesis and much of his later research, translations (from Sanskrit and Bangla) and scholarly publications focus on Vaishnava bhakti (devotional) religion and its social implications in Bengal and beyond. He has also edited (solely or jointly a number of volumes.

Since his retirement Professor O'Collnell has served in visiting capacities in the Centre for Hindu Studies and the Faculty of Theology, University of Oxford; Department of Philosophy and Religion, Visva-Bharati; and Department of World Religions and Culture, University of Dhaka. He is currently preparing a textbook on the history of religion in the Bengal region and is assisting in the development of academic study of religion in Bangladesh and India. He may be contacted at joconnel@chass.utoronto.ca