February 2026 Blog
India in the Science–Religion Conversation: Plurality, Tension, Promise Augustine Pamplany Director of the Institute of Science and Religion, Kochi, and Research Dean at the Xavier–Loyola Institute of Interdisciplinary Studies, Trivandrum, Kerala, India. Email: apamplany@iaiss.com In 2006, Elon University (USA) and the Interdisciplinary University of Paris collaborated on a project titled Global Perspectives on Science and Spirituality (GPSS), supported by the John Templeton Foundation. The initiative arose from a recognition that science–religion dialogue had been largely shaped by Euro-American questions and frameworks. Its aim was to broaden this conversation by bringing in intellectual, philosophical, and spiritual resources from other cultural worlds, especially South Asia. A few scholars from India participated in this project to examine how the Indian tradition conceptualises nature, mind, and ultimate reality, and how these