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