In-person November Annual Meeting 2025 Program Book

This panel furthers the functional turn in the study of art to recouple philosophical analyses of concepts with empirical research on material culture. Bringing together scholars who work on Brahmanical, Buddhist, and Confucian traditions, the panel explores how and why aesthetic experiences function to ameliorate the moral and soteriological cultivation of practitioners. To unpack such a transformative function of art, presenters in this panel examine theories proposed by thinkers across South Asian and East Asian traditions for an interregional, intercultural, and interdisciplinary conversation. Besides, they will tap into the efficacy of art in resolving various types of paradoxes in the cultivating process. Such a conversation lays the groundwork for reconsidering the possibility of closing the rift between theories and praxis in contemporary studies of art. 

Join us for the APARRI Reception/Happy Hour at D16 (955 Boylston Street Unit A in Boston). Please RSVP by Nov 16 if possible here:https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScwrYoPSgSxXS-D7YV1R6krLIZr0FWUlVw-KntsTPy3p_HtpQ/viewform?usp=dialog. Learn more about us here: https://aparri.org/.

Sunday, November 23
5:30 PM - 7:00 PM
UPSem invites alumni, friends, faculty, and students to a cocktail reception. We look forward to enjoying this annual event with you! 
To RSVP and receive venue information, please contact sarah.amick@upsem.edu.

This is the annual lecture of the American Journal of Theology and Philosophy, the affiliated journal of the Institute for American Religious and Philosophical Thought. The lecture is given by Professor Monica Coleman of the University of Delaware. It begins at 6pm.

2025 marks two anniversaries: 75 years of publishing at the journal CrossCurrents and 25 years at KtB (Killing the Buddha). While these two publishing venues are separate, they are linked in the ways they have attempted to bring critical, creative, and compassionate writing about religion to a general public. Both have worked to advance critical takes on religious life, with interests in social justice, just as they have highlighted the importance of creative writing and querying the divide between insiders and outsiders. 

This event will bring together former writers from the two publications who will offer their own insights on the ways creative and critical perspectives can be fused for the public good.