Rita Sherma

Dr. Rita D. Sherma is founding Director and Associate Professor at the Graduate Theological Union’s Center for Dharma Studies in Berkeley, California. She is Core Doctoral Faculty; and Co-Chair of Sustainability 360 at GTU. She holds an MA in Religion, and a PhD in Theology & Ethics from Claremont Graduate University, CA. She is the founding Vice President of DANAM (Dharma Academy of North America)—an eminent scholarly society for research on Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist religion, philosophy, and culture. Dr. Sherma has published eight books including Contemplative Studies and Hinduism: Meditation, Devotion, Prayer & Worship (2020), Swami Vivekananda: His Life, Legacy, & Liberative Ethics; Woman & Goddess in Hinduism; and numerous academic articles. She is the founding Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Dharma Studies, and an Associate Editor of the Encyclopedia of Indian Religions. She serves on the Editorial Board of Reading Religion Journal (an AAR publication), serves as Advisor to the Parliament of the World’s Religions Climate Action-sponsored Faith for the Earth online & print project. Dr. Sherma has produced two documentaries on Ecospirituality, and is a member of the Advisory Board of the Yale University Forum for Religion and Ecology. In June 2022, her 35-chapter edited volume titled Religion & Sustainability in the Springer-Nature (United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Series, Springer-Nature) was released. Her forthcoming book (2023) is Radical Divine Immanence: A Hindu Ecological, Liberation Theology of the Goddess, Mahadevi.