This two semester course will interrogate the various ways in which discussions on Hinduism have been included or have illuminated issues in the contemporary psychological sciences. We will read how different intellectual approaches ranging from psychoanalysis, folk psychology, cognitive anthropology, global mental health, and psychedelic sciences engage the archives of Hinduism as well as how ideas and practices from Hinduism are employed to provide an alternative to the therapeutic and treatment registers found in these approaches. The first part of the course in the Fall semester will emphasize the more philosophical, theological and moral psychological framework on these issues.

Team-taught by Swami Tyagananda, Director, Ramakrishna Vedanta Society in Boston, Harvard�s Hindu Chaplain, and a noted teacher and author, and HDS's Francis X. Clooney who, as a Christian, has studied Hinduism for fifty years. This course explores starting points, attitudes, and specific forms of spiritual care distinctive to Hindu traditions, in light of general qualities and norms expected for ministry and spiritual care today in any tradition. Attention paid first to starting points in Hindu scripture and practice, wand to classic texts such as the Bhagavad Gita and the Ramayana. Subsequent classes focus on cases: e.g., hospital chaplaincy and care for the dying; campus ministry; counseling of individuals facing life issues; guidance for couples preparing to marry and planning a family; responses to the suffering, death, and disruption caused by natural and social evils. Visiting lecturers, experienced in Hindu spiritual care, enrich the course throughout. Students of all backgrounds welcome, including those planning to practice spiritual care in other traditions, and those interested in multifaith spiritual care. Weekly written reflections required, and a theoretical or practical project/essay required, started midcourse and turned in at the end.