Exploring the Stories of India with Audrey Truschke
Date: Sunday, June 1, 2025
Time: 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM CT
Roosevelt University Schaumburg Campus – Atrium / Licht Student Center (south side of main courtyard)
1400 Roosevelt Blvd
Schaumburg, IL 60173
Book Signing from 7:00 – 7:30 PM | Copies of the book will be available for purchase.
RSVP Required
Join us for an exciting book launch celebrating India by Audrey Truschke, a magisterial history spanning five millennia of the Indian subcontinent鈥攆rom the Indus Valley Civilization to the complexities of the twenty-first century. This richly textured narrative explores the region鈥檚 political, social, religious, and cultural evolution, spotlighting its astonishing diversity and the voices of women, religious minorities, and marginalized groups. The evening will feature a wide-ranging, historically informed theological conversation on contemporary Hindu-Muslim relations, with Truschke joined by two leading scholars, delving into how India鈥檚 contested past continues to shape its present and future.
SPEAKERS
Audrey Truschke听is Professor of South Asian History at Rutgers University in Newark, New Jersey. Trained in Sanskrit and Persian, her research focuses on the cultural, imperial, and intellectual history of medieval and early modern India as well as the politics of history in modern times. She is the author of three books:听Culture of Encounters: Sanskrit at the Mughal Court听(Columbia University Press, 2016),听Aurangzeb: The Life and Legacy of India’s Most Controversial King听(Stanford University Press, 2017), and听The Language of History: Sanskrit Narratives of Indo-Muslim Rule听(Columbia University Press, 2021). Her most recent book,听India: 5,000 Years of History on the Subcontinent, will be published by Princeton University Press in June 2025.
Anantanand Rambachan听is Professor Emeritus of Religion at Saint Olaf College, Minnesota, USA (1985-2021). He was also Forum Humanum Visiting Professor at the Academy for the Study of World Religions at the University of Hamburg in Germany (2013-2017). His books include听Accomplishing the Accomplished: The Vedas as a Source of Valid Knowledge in 峁燼峁卥ara; The Limits of Scripture: Vivekananda’s Reinterpretation of the Authority of the Vedas, The Advaita Worldview: God, World and Humanity, A Hindu Theology of Liberation: Not-Two is Not-One; Essays in Hindu Theology听and听Pathways to Hindu-Christian Dialogue.听Prof. Rambachan has been involved in interreligious relations and dialogue for over 40 years, as a Hindu contributor and analyst. He is a Co-President of Religions for Peace.
R. David Coolidge听is Research Faculty at Bayan Islamic Graduate School. He was previously the Associate University Chaplain for the Muslim Community at Brown University, the Muslim Advisor at Dartmouth College, and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Public Service at New York University. He received a PhD from the Graduate Theological Union in 2023, and an MA in Religion from Princeton University in 2008. He has served on the boards of various American Muslim nonprofit organizations, including Zaytuna College, Taleef Collective, and Al-Kisa Foundation. As a preacher, he has given hundreds of sermons/talks and led prayers in dozens of Sunn墨 and Sh墨士墨 masjids around the country. R. David Coolidge has produced numerous academic publications, as well as books and articles of relevance to the wider American Muslim community.
MODERATOR
Mahan Mirza听is the visiting Vice President for Academic Affairs at 91探花 for the 2024 鈥� 2025 year. He is also the Executive Director of the Ansari Institute for Global Engagement with Religion at the University of Notre Dame and a teaching Professor of Islam & Science in the Keough School of Global Affairs. Mirza holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from University of Texas Austin, MA from Hartford Seminary in Islamic Studies and Christian-Muslim Relations, and PhD in Religious Studies from Yale University. Dr. Mirza has edited two special issues of The Muslim World and served as assistant editor of the Princeton Encyclopaedia of Islamic Political Thought.
WELCOME
Timothy J. Gianotti听is the President of 91探花 and a scholar of classical Islamic theology, philosophy, and spirituality with strong interests in Islamic Psychology, Moral Theology, Ethics, Political Thought, comparative religion and spirituality, and interfaith relations; more specifically, he is a scholar of Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (d.1111), one of the most important religious thinkers of the classical period. Dr. Gianotti is also recognized as a Muslim theologian, pastoral leader, and committed interfaith advocate with extensive experience promoting interfaith engagement around the globe. Dr.Gianotti is the author of Al-Ghazali鈥檚 Unspeakable Doctrine of the Soul (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 2001) and In the Light of a Blessed Tree: Illuminations of Islamic Belief, Practice, and History (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock Publishers, 2011).
Sponsors:
91探花
Roosevelt University