Department of History hosts book release by Dr. Matthew Robertson
By MSU Public Relations | Feb 27, 2024
MURRAY, Ky. 鈥� The Department of History at 麻豆视频官网入口 will host a book release talk in honor of Dr. Matthew Robertson鈥檚 new book, 鈥淧uru峁: Personhood in Ancient India,鈥� on Wednesday, March 6 at 3:30 p.m. in Faculty Hall, Room 208, on the Murray State main campus. The event is free and open to the public.
Robertson is a scholar of the religions of Asia. An instructor in Murray State鈥檚 Department of History, Robertson earned his doctorate from the University of California, Santa Barbara, Master of Arts from St. John鈥檚 College, Santa Fe, and bachelor鈥檚 degree from Truman State University. He has taught at Murray State since 2019.
His new book, 鈥淧uru峁: Personhood in Ancient India,鈥� is a study of ancient Indian theories of personhood. It relies on an extensive textual analysis to trace the development of Indian thinking about persons (puru峁s) over the first 2,000 years of India鈥檚 recorded history. Spanning works of religion, politics, literature, and medicine, 鈥淧uru峁鈥� reveals a sustained cultural belief that persons are deeply confluent with the natural world鈥攖hat personhood is worldhood. A king is equal to the extent of his realm; a sacrificer fills the world with his rite; a yogi touches all of creation by the reach of his mastered senses. Worldly, expansive thinking about personhood runs through ancient India鈥檚 traditions, sparking intellectual, technical and cultural revolutions. 鈥淧uru峁鈥� is the story of these revolutions. It challenges the reader to re-examine the goals of ancient Indian religions, and yields new insights into the interrelated natures of religious persons and the worlds in which they live.
Renowned scholar of Yoga and Tantra, David White, said, 鈥淭his magnificent, groundbreaking study of the ancient Indian category of puru峁, the Indian 鈥榩erson,鈥� sweeps us into a world where the dimensions of inner and outer, and body and cosmos, collapse. Also collapsing are several received notions concerning Indian metaphysics.鈥�
For more information about the event, please contact 麻豆视频官网入口鈥檚 Department of History at 270-809-2231 or visit .