Each November, the GTU faculty honors a distinguished professor who embodies the high scholarly standards, excellence in teaching, and deep commitment to ecumenism that define the GTU. Members of the GTU faculty submit nominations to the Council of Deans, which selects the lecturer.

Dr. Rita D. Sherma serves as the founding Director of the GTU’s Center for Dharma Studies, GTU Core Doctoral Faculty, and Co-Chair of GTU Sustainability 360—an interreligious environmental humanities initiative. She's held leadership roles as Vice President of the Society for Hindu-Christian Studies and as Founding Vice President of the Dharma Academy of North America. Additionally, she founded the Hinduism Program Unit at the American Academy of Religion. Over her career, she has organized more than twenty international conferences spanning Sustainability Studies, Religion & Integrative Medicine, Contemplative Studies, and Religious Studies.

In her lecture, Dr. Rita D. Sherma addresses the entanglement of religious life and the natural world, an issue that is at the core of her academic and spiritual life. \"This topic is significant because it comprises a wide range of sub-disciplines, bringing theology and theoethics into conversation with (1) economic justice; (2) the climate crisis; (3) environmental-racial-class justice; (4) animal ethics; (5) gender & ecology; and (6) the natural sciences.”

","short_description":"Dr. Rita D. Sherma's lecture explores the intricate connections between religious life and the natural world, highlighting its intersections with economic justice, climate crisis, environmental-racial-class justice, animal ethics, gender and ecology, and the natural sciences.","categories":[{"id":6278,"name":"GTUx Lectures","slug":"gtux-lecture","description":"On-demand lectures from GTU faculty. Explore as a series or individually.","order":2,"resources_count":null},{"id":6477,"name":"GTU Dean Presents","slug":"gtu-dean-presents","description":"","order":3,"resources_count":null},{"id":6371,"name":"Ethics, Justice, and Sustainability","slug":"ethics-justice-and-sustainability","description":"","order":6,"resources_count":null}],"image":null,"cover_image":"https://cdn.filestackcontent.com/8w1cUyuTryzHsEi2CYzQ","thumb":"https://pathwright.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.filestackcontent.com%2Fapi%2Ffile%2F8w1cUyuTryzHsEi2CYzQ%3Fsignature%3D888b9ea3eb997a4d59215bfbe2983c636df3c7da0ff8c6f85811ff74c8982e34%26policy%3DeyJjYWxsIjogWyJyZWFkIiwgInN0YXQiLCAiY29udmVydCJdLCAiZXhwaXJ5IjogNDYyMDM3NzAzMX0%253D?dpr=1&fit=crop&h=232&ixlib=python-1.1.0&w=310&s=4cb5565f23813db0647b5c88329517bd","thumb_2x":"https://pathwright.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.filestackcontent.com%2Fapi%2Ffile%2F8w1cUyuTryzHsEi2CYzQ%3Fsignature%3D888b9ea3eb997a4d59215bfbe2983c636df3c7da0ff8c6f85811ff74c8982e34%26policy%3DeyJjYWxsIjogWyJyZWFkIiwgInN0YXQiLCAiY29udmVydCJdLCAiZXhwaXJ5IjogNDYyMDM3NzAzMX0%253D?dpr=2&fit=crop&h=232&ixlib=python-1.1.0&w=310&s=bfdef9a08593828cadc88ec113d89fc9","icon":"https://pathwright.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.filestackcontent.com%2Fapi%2Ffile%2F8w1cUyuTryzHsEi2CYzQ%3Fsignature%3D888b9ea3eb997a4d59215bfbe2983c636df3c7da0ff8c6f85811ff74c8982e34%26policy%3DeyJjYWxsIjogWyJyZWFkIiwgInN0YXQiLCAiY29udmVydCJdLCAiZXhwaXJ5IjogNDYyMDM3NzAzMX0%253D?fit=crop&h=35&ixlib=python-1.1.0&w=35&s=110fd33b1dd0d039e81cb56726db8acd","background_image":"https://pathwright.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fpathwright-static-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fdefault-image-set-v1%2Fcover-image-23.png?balph=40&blend=666666&blur=500&bm=screen&fit=max&fm=jpg&high=-80&ixlib=python-1.1.0&q=100&w=1400&s=67cf54ca09543f08aa3586200b6f7525","background_overlay":null,"background_image_blurred_cdn":"https://pathwright.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fpathwright-static-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fdefault-image-set-v1%2Fcover-image-23.png?balph=40&blend=666666&blur=500&bm=screen&fit=max&fm=jpg&h=250&high=-80&ixlib=python-1.1.0&q=100&w=250&s=3fc28da8dcf972ac7788adcbc7ba4f1f","background_type":5,"authors":[{"id":5106,"display_name":"Dr. Rita Sherma","first_name":"Rita","last_name":"Sherma","bio":"

Rita D. Sherma is founding Director and Associate Professor at the Center for Dharma Studies; Core Doctoral Faculty; and Co-Chair of Sustainability 360 Initiative at GTU, Berkeley, CA. Formerly, she was the Swami Vivekananda Visiting Professor in Hindu Studies at USC, Los Angeles. She holds an MA in Women’s Studies in Religion, and a PhD in Theology & Ethics from Claremont Graduate University, CA. Sherma is co-founder of the American Academy of Religion’s Hinduism Program Unit. She is the founding Vice President of DANAM (Dharma Academy of North America)—a scholarly society for research on Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain religious & interreligious studies—and serves on the Board of the Society for Hindu-Christian Studies. Sherma has authored/edited/co-edited several books and is the founding Editor-in-Chief of \"Journal of Dharma Studies.\" She serves on the Editorial Board of \"Reading Religion\" Journal (an AAR publication). Her pedagogical approach goes beyond encounters in the classroom to create collaborations with her students in research, writing, publications, and sponsoring students' leadership in their disciplines.

","image":"https://pathwright.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.filestackcontent.com%2Fapi%2Ffile%2FhMLZebdvRUS2hneb0LKq%3Fsignature%3D888b9ea3eb997a4d59215bfbe2983c636df3c7da0ff8c6f85811ff74c8982e34%26policy%3DeyJjYWxsIjogWyJyZWFkIiwgInN0YXQiLCAiY29udmVydCJdLCAiZXhwaXJ5IjogNDYyMDM3NzAzMX0%253D?fit=crop&h=115&ixlib=python-1.1.0&w=115&s=f4a11c71ce0c7a71a35baf074271bf00","resources_count":null,"salutation":"Dr.","title":"Director & Associate Professor, Center for Dharma Studies Chair | Department of Theology & Ethics, Graduate Theological Union","slug":"dr-rita-sherma-2","order":37,"avatar":"https://cdn.filestackcontent.com/hMLZebdvRUS2hneb0LKq"}],"created":"2024-12-11T15:58:32.627937-05:00","url":"https://discovergtux.gtu.edu/library/the-sensual-the-sublime-the-liberative-arc-of-ecological-justice-231246/","offering_counts":{},"resource_type":10,"resource_type_display":"Course","slug":"the-sensual-the-sublime-the-liberative-arc-of-ecological-justice-231246","trailer_embed_code":"","list_order":null,"total_registration_count":null,"sum_registration_count":4,"lowest_public_offering_price":0.0,"highest_public_offering_price":0.0,"curriculum_offering":null,"num_offerings":1,"visibility_level_override":15,"licensing_enabled":false,"license_offerings":[],"licensed_from_resource":null,"certificate_generator_class":"","lowest_price_currency_display":"$0","highest_price_currency_display":"$0","discussion_enabled":true,"licensed_from_school":null,"highest_visibility_level":15,"certificate_json":{}},"offering":{"id":658230,"name":"Keep Exploring","access_starts":null,"access_ends":null,"enrollment_starts":null,"enrollment_ends":null,"description":"","visibility":15,"price":0.0,"seats":null,"seats_filled":4,"seats_available":-1,"currency_display":"$0","include_in_subscription_plans":[],"include_with_products":[],"is_subscription_only":false,"resource_id":231246,"path_id":9042115,"permissions":{"can_participate":false,"can_access":false,"can_edit":false,"can_edit_resource":false,"can_facilitate":false,"can_view_analytics":false,"can_invite_editor":false,"can_invite_teacher":false,"can_invite_moderator":false,"can_invite_student":false,"can_invite_observer":false},"due_dates_enabled":false,"is_group_offering":false,"step_counts":{},"is_curriculum":false,"url":"/library/the-sensual-the-sublime-the-liberative-arc-of-ecological-justice-231246/658230/","invite_urls":{},"access":{"is_full":false,"has_registration_ended":false,"has_registration_started":true,"has_access_started":true,"has_access_ended":false},"analytics_visibility":5,"resource_license":null,"discussion_enabled":true,"parent_offering_id":null,"created_by_id":1718802,"status":1,"analytics_disabled":false}}

Loading The Sensual & the Sublime: The Liberative Arc of Ecological Justice...