Robert McDermott

Robert McDermott, PhD, Boston University (Philosophy, 1969), program chair, is CIIS president emeritus and professor of philosophy and religion. He taught at Manhattanville College (1964-71) and is professor emeritus and former chair of the Department of Philosophy at Baruch College, CUNY (1971-90).

His publications include Radhakrishnan (1970), The Essential Aurobindo (1974), The Essential Steiner (1984), and the "Introduction" to William James, Essays in Psychical Research (Harvard University Press, 1986). Robert recently edited The New Essential Steiner: An Introduction to Rudolf Steiner for the 21st Century (Lindisfarne Books, 2009) and edited The Bhagavad Gita and the West: The Esoteric Significance of the Bhagavad Gita and Its Relation to the Epistles of Paul (SteinerBooks, 2009). Both of these volumes include the editor's 80-page introductions.

Robert's essays have appeared in International Philosophical Quarterly, Cross Currents, Journal of the American Academy of Religion, and Philosophy East and West.

He was secretary of the American Academy of Religion (1968-71) and secretary-treasurer of the Society for Asian and Comparative Philosophy (1972-76). In 1975-76, he was a Senior Fulbright Lecturer at the Open University, where he coproduced an OU-BBC film, Avatar: Concept and Example on the Bhagavad Gita and Sri Aurobindo.

From 1978 to 1980, he was director of a National Endowment for the Humanities project for the review of audiovisual materials for the study of Hinduism and Buddhism. He is the founding chair of the board of Sophia Project (two homes in Oakland, CA, for mothers and children at risk of homelessness), and has been chair of the board and president of many other institutions.

Robert McDermott's selected essays:

Emerson, An Artist in the Medium of Theory (1961)

Emerson in Contemporary Thought (1961)

In Search of a Creative Christianity (1961)

Religion as an Academic Discipline (1968)

The Religion Game: Some Family Resemblances (1970)

Radhakrishnan, an introduction (1970)

The Legacy of Sri Aurobindo (1972)

Indian Spirituality in the West: a Biographical Mapping (1975)

The Absolute as a Heuristic Device: Josiah Royce and Sri Aurobindo (1978)

Encyclopedia of Religion: Anthroposophy (1986)

Encyclopedia of Religion: Monism (1986)

Imagining the Spiritual Mission of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother (1988)

Philosophy as Spiritual Discipline (1989)

From Mysticism to Modern Spiritual Cognition (1989)

Autobiographical Reflections as a Schooling in Karma (1990)

Introduction to Rudolf Steiner and American Thought (1991)

Inaugural Address: Hope for a Renewing Community (1991)

William James and Rudolf Steiner (1991)

Rudolf Steiner and Anthroposophy (1992)

The Spiritual Mission of America (1993)

Integralism Today (1993)

Curing Philosophy, Philosophy as Cure (1993)

Esoteric Philosophy (1993)

Gaia Speaks (1995)

India: In Debt to Great Souls (1996)

The Bell Ringing Verse (1997)

Money, Sex, and Power: Spirituality, Shadow, and Wonder (1997)

Laurance S. Rockefeller: Catalyst for Conservation (1998)

Anthroposophical and Transpersonal Worldviews (2000)

According to Luke (2001)

Introduction to Sri Aurobindo: The Mind of Light (2003)

Emersonian Higher Education and CIIS (2007)

Forward to The Living Classroom by Christopher Bache (2007)

Enneads Meet at Esalen (2007)

Participation Comes of Age from The Participatory Turn (2008)

CIIS Commencement Benediction (2009)

Invocation to Sophia (2009)

Wisdom in Western Philosophy (2011)

Rudolf Steiner's Influence Today (2011)

Lineage and Legacy: My Intellectual Journey (2011)

• Email: rmcdermott@ciis.edu

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