Department of Religious Studies
Department of Religious Studies
Michael Allen

Michael S. Allen

Associate Professor
msa2b@virginia.edu

Education

  • PhD, Harvard University
  • MTS, Harvard Divinity School
  • BA, University of South Carolina

Research Interests

Michael S. Allen works on philosophy and religion in South Asia, with broader interests in global philosophy and environmental ethics. He specializes in the intellectual history of Advaita Vedānta, drawing on Sanskrit and early Hindi sources. In both his teaching and research, he is committed to exploring ways in which South Asian perspectives, taken seriously on their own terms, can inform contemporary understandings of human beings and our place in the world.

Allen’s first book, The Ocean of Inquiry: Niścaldās and the Premodern Origins of Modern Hinduism (OUP, 2022), focuses on the magnum opus of the north Indian monk Niścaldās (ca. 1791 - 1863), arguing for the importance of vernacular texts in popularizing Vedānta, and for the importance of late Indian scholasticism in shaping modern Hinduism; it also includes a study of the relationship between “academic” knowledge and transformative knowledge in Niścaldās’s work. Allen’s current book project, On Weakness of Will: Indian Philosophy and the Environmental Humanities, explores the phenomenon of akrasia: why do we sometimes choose to act against our better judgment? Drawing from Indian thinkers both classical and modern, the book will argue that any lasting solution to climate change and other environmental problems must find a way to bridge the gap between knowledge and action.

Allen previously taught in the Harvard College Writing Program and was a Mellon Fellow with UVa’s Institute of the Humanities & Global Cultures. He is the founder and co-chair of the Hindu Philosophy Unit of the American Academy of Religion. His publications have appeared in the Journal of Indian Philosophy, the Journal of Hindu Studies, the International Journal of Hindu Studies, the Journal of Vaishnava Studies, Prabuddha Bharati, and Dao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy.

Teaching

  • RELG 1040: Introduction to Asian Religions
  • RELH 2090: Introduction to Hinduism
  • RELH 3105: Hinduism and Ecology
  • RELG 3416: Sustainability and Asceticism
  • RELH 3426: The History of Yoga
  • RELH 5450: Hindu-Buddhist Debates
  • RELH 5173: The History of Yoga
  • RELH 5559: The Rise of Vedanta
  • RELH 8743: Tutorial in Sanskrit: Philosophy

CV and selected publications: https://virginia.academia.edu/MichaelAllen