God, The Absolute Wise Man, and the Study of Religion | Clemens Cavallin

This talk was given as part of the online Thomistic Institute
Conference "Is Belief in God Reasonable? Aquinas' Summa Contra
Gentiles in a Contemporary Context" in Rome on 4-5 December 2020.
Clemens Cavallin began studies in Religious studies at the
University of Gothenburg, Sweden, in 1988, and 1989 in Fine Art
(painting) at Valand Academy, Gothenburg. In 1995, he graduated
both with a bachelor degree in History of Religions (minor subjects
Philosophy and Art history) and with a diploma in Fine Art (five
years of study). The same year, he began studies in Sanskrit and
enrolled at the Ph. D. program in History of religion at the
University of Gothenburg with a focus on Asian religions. In 2002,
he defended his Ph. D. thesis named On the Efficacy of Sacrifice,
which investigated views on sacrifice in the brahmanas, which are
Vedic texts from the first millennium B. C. Between 2003 and 2006,
Clemens worked at the University of Bergen, Norway, as assistant
professor in History of religions. After the period in Norway, he
returned to the University of Gothenburg to take up a position with
a focus on Asian religions.In 2013, Clemens published a book on the
interiorization of rituals. During the fall semester 2013, Clemens
taught at Haverford College in the US. And in 2020, he began
teaching at Nord University in Bodø Norway