Ferdinando Sardella, born July 16, 1960, in Vicenza, Italy, is an Italian scholar of the

history of religions The history of religion is the written record of human religious feelings, thoughts, and ideas. This period of religious history begins with the invention of writing about 5,200 years ago (3200 BCE). The prehistory of religion involves the st ...

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified ...

, and

religious studies Religious studies, also known as religiology or the study of religion, is the study of religion from a historical or scientific perspective. There is no consensus on what qualifies as ''religion'' and definition of religion, its definition is h ...

, the former director and coordinator of the Forum for South Asia Studies at

Uppsala University Uppsala University (UU) () is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation. Initially fou ...

Academic background

Sardella studied at the

University of Gothenburg The University of Gothenburg () is a List of universities in Sweden, university in Sweden's second largest city, Gothenburg. Founded in 1891, the university is the third-oldest of the current List of universities in Sweden#Public universities, S ...

, and graduated with BA and B.Th. degrees. Following his MA in theology with the history of religions as his major subject, Sardella obtained a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

degree in 2010 at his alma mater on

Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati (; ; ; 6 February 1874 – 1 January 1937), born Bimala Prasad Datt (, ), was an Indian Gaudīya Vaisnava Hindu guru (spiritual master), ācārya (philosophy instructor), and revivalist in early twentieth-century Ind ...

, a prominent Bengali proponent of the ''bhakti'' tradition of

Gaudiya Vaishnavism Gaudiya Vaishnavism (), also known as Chaitanya Vaishnavism, is a Vaishnavism, Vaishnava Hindu denominations, Hindu religious movement inspired by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (1486–1534) in India. "Gaudiya" refers to the Gaura or Gauḍa region o ...

in the 20th century and founder of a movement called the Gaudiya Math. Exploring the Gaudiya Vaishnava bhakti school along with its philosophy and practice as taught by Bhaktisiddhanta, Sardella showed it to be a personalistic current that challenged the predominantly

monistic Monism attributes oneness or singleness () to a concept, such as to existence. Various kinds of monism can be distinguished: * Priority monism states that all existing things go back to a source that is distinct from them; e.g., in Neoplatonis ...

perception of Hinduism in the West. Hitherto relatively unknown, this strand of

Chaitanya Chaitanya or Chaithanya may refer to Philosophy *Chaitanya (consciousness), Hindu philosophical concept People *Chaitanya (name) *Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (1486–1533), founder of Gaudiya Vaishnavism Media *Chaitanya (film), ''Chaitanya'' (film), ...

''bhakti'' later on gained global spread in the form of the

International Society for Krishna Consciousness The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), commonly known as the Hare Krishna movement, is a religious organization that follows the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition of Hinduism. It was founded on 13 July 1966 in New York City by ...

, or the Hare Krishna movement, inspired by Bhaktisiddhanta's teachings. In 2010 the Donner Institute, attached to Abo Akademi University, gave Sardella's dissertation their first newly established award for "outstanding research into religion". In 2013 the dissertation was published by

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

as a monograph that Gavin Flood in his review called "a significant contribution to scholarship not only of the modern Gaudiya Vaishnava movement but also of the religious history of Bengal within the last half of the colonial period". Sardella currently serves as a postdoctorate researcher in the History of religions at the Department of Theology, and until February 1, 2014 was the director and coordinator of the Forum for South Asia Studies for the Humanities and Social Sciences at

. He is a research fellow at the

Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies Oxford () is a cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the oldest university in the English-speaking world; it has buildings in every ...

in Great Britain, heading the ''Bengali Vaishnavism in the Modern Period'' research project. Sardella also serves as a senior lecturer on the

History of Religions The history of religion is the written record of human religious feelings, thoughts, and ideas. This period of religious history begins with the invention of writing about 5,200 years ago (3200 BCE). The prehistory of religion involves the st ...

at the University of Gothenburg. He is an external expert for the Centre for the Study of Religion and Society at the Department of Sociology,

Jadavpur University Jadavpur University ( abbr. JU) is a public state funded research university with its main campus located at Jadavpur, Kolkata, West Bengal, India. It was established on 25 July in 1906 as ''Bengal Technical Institute'' and was converted into ...

in Kolkata, in collaboration with Ruby Sain. Sardella is a deputy member representing Sweden in the Nordic Centre in India, an association of leading universities and research institutions of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden established in 2001 for facilitating cooperation in research and higher education between the

Nordic countries The Nordic countries (also known as the Nordics or ''Norden''; ) are a geographical and cultural region in Northern Europe, as well as the Arctic Ocean, Arctic and Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic oceans. It includes the sovereign states of Denm ...

and India.

Areas of research

Sardella's areas of interest and specialization are: modern Hinduism, Buddhism, religions in South Asia (from both a local and a global perspective),

new religious movements A new religious movement (NRM), also known as a new religion, is a religious or spiritual group that has modern origins and is peripheral to its society's dominant religious culture. NRMs can be novel in origin, or they can be part of a wider re ...

, religion and science, medieval

bhakti ''Bhakti'' (; Pali: ''bhatti'') is a term common in Indian religions which means attachment, fondness for, devotion to, trust, homage, worship, piety, faith, or love.See Monier-Williams, ''Sanskrit Dictionary'', 1899. In Indian religions, it ...

movements, Bengali and

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

studies, the history and sociology of religion, interreligious dialogue,

comparative religion Comparative religion is the branch of the study of religions with the systematic comparison of the doctrines and practices, themes and impacts (including human migration, migration) of the world's religions. In general the comparative study ...

, globalization and postcolonial theory. His current research plans include projects that explore the globalization of

Vaishnavism Vaishnavism () ), also called Vishnuism, is one of the major Hindu denominations, Hindu traditions, that considers Vishnu as the sole Para Brahman, supreme being leading all other Hindu deities, that is, ''Mahavishnu''. It is one of the majo ...

, covering the postcolonial period up to the turn of the 21st century.

Publications

Sardella has authored a number of academic books, papers and chapters. Books: *''Modern Hindu personalism: The History, Life, and Thought of Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati;'' Oxford University Press. (2013) *''The Sociology of Religion in India: Past, Present, and Future;'' Abhijeet Publications. (2013) *''Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati: the Context and Significance of a Modern Hindu Personalist.'' Diss. (2010) Chapters: *Text migration: The translation and modern reception of the Bhāgavata Purāna.''The Bhagavata Purana'' by Ravi M. Gupta and Kenneth R.Valpey;

Columbia University Press Columbia University Press is a university press based in New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's la ...

. (2013) *Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati. '' Brill's Encyclopedia of Hinduism''. Knut A. Jacobsen (Editor-in-Chief), University of Bergen;

Brill Publishers Brill Academic Publishers () is a Dutch international academic publisher of books, academic journals, and Bibliographic database, databases founded in 1683, making it one of the oldest publishing houses in the Netherlands. Founded in the South ...

. (2013) * Sweden. '' Brill's Encyclopedia of Hinduism''. Knut A. Jacobsen (Editor-in-Chief), University of Bergen;

. (2013) *Religious experiments in colonial Calcutta: Modern Hinduism and bhakti among the Indian middle class. ''Religion and the body'', Tore Ahlbäck, Björn Dahla (red.), Åbo: Donner Institute for Research in Religious and Cultural History. (2011) *Hinduism i Sverige (Swedish: Hinduism in Sweden). ''Religion i Sverige'', Ingvar Svanberg and David Westerlund (red.). Stockholm, Sweden. (2008) *Krishnarörelsen (Swedish: The Krishna movement). ''Religion i Sverige'', Ingvar Svanberg and David Westerlund (red.). Stockholm, Sweden. (2008) *Krishnaskolan, mellan öst och väst (Swedish: The Krishna School, between East and West) (2007) Papers: *Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati: A personalist view of nature. '' Journal of Vaishnava Studies''. (2010) *Shifts in Burmese Buddhism: The practice lineage of S. N. Goenka. ''Journal of Sociology'', Kolkata, India. (2010) *Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati (1874–1937). ''Journal of Vaishnava Studies''. (2008) *Neither man nor God: Perspectives on the guru in the Hare Krishna movement in Sweden. FINYAR, Umeå: Föreningen forskning och information om nya religiösa rörelser. (2005) *Prinsessa och asket. Samtida tolkningar av Mirabai (Swedish: Princess and ascetic. Contemporary interpretations of Mirabai). '' Cakra: Journal for Indian Religions'', Lund: Centrum för teologi och religionsvetenskap. (2004) Book reviews: *''Hindu Widow Marriage'', by Ishvarchandra Vidyasagar and Brian A. Hatcher (translator) General articles: *Upplysning i ett indiskt interneringsläger-Walter Eidlitz: en konvertits andliga sökande (Swedish: Enlightenment in an internment camp: Walther Eidlitz, a Convert's Spiritual Search) *Kolkata, stad i förändring (Swedish: Kolkata: A changing city) (2005)

External links

Ferdinando Sardella on FacebookFerdinando Sardella lecturing on Tagore and religion at Uppsala University on event highlighted by the Indian Embassy in Sweden. May 2011Ferdinando Sardella's talk abstract at the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies. May 2012

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sardella, Ferdinando Living people Hindu studies Indologists Vaishnavism Gaudiya Vaishnavism Academics of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies University of Gothenburg alumni 1960 births

Academic background

Areas of research

Publications

See also

External links

References