Andrew J. Nicholson is Associate Professor of Hinduism and Indian Intellectual History at the State University of New York, Stony Brook. His primary area of research is Indian philosophy and intellectual history, particularly medieval Vedanta and theistic yoga philosophies and their influence in the modern world. His first book, Unifying Hinduism: Philosophy and Identity in Indian Intellectual History (Columbia University Press, 2010), won the 2011 award for Best First Book in the History of Religions from the American Academy of Religion. Professor Nicholson’s second book, Lord Śiva’s Song: The Īśvara Gītā (SUNY Press, 2014), is an annotated translation of an 8th century Pāśupata Yoga text.
Prof. Nicholson holds degrees in Religious Studies (M.A., University of Chicago), Philosophy (M.A., DePaul University), and South Asian Languages and Civilizations (Ph.D., University of Chicago). He is co-director of the American Academy of Religion’s Yoga in Theory and Practice Consultation, an associate of the Columbia University Seminar on South Asia, a trustee of the American Institute of Indian Studies, and a SUNY Press Editorial Board member.
Listen to Prof. Nicholson’s radio interview on “How yoga migrated from India to your local gym” here
More information about Dr Nicholson’s work and publications, many of them downloadable, can be found here
Publications
(2014). Lord Śiva’s Song: The Īśvara Gītā. Albany: State University of New York Press. Sample chapter available here.
(2013). Is Yoga Hindu? On the Fuzziness of Religious Boundaries. Common Knowledge, 19(3): 490-505. Available here.
(2011). Unifying Hinduism: Philosophy and Identity in Medieval India. Delhi: Permanent Black.
(2010a). Unifying Hinduism: Philosophy and Identity in Medieval India. New York: Columbia University Press, South Asia Across the Disciplines Series.
(2010b). Review of David Gordon White, Sinister Yogis (2009, Chicago: University of Chicago Press), Journal of the American Oriental Society 130(2): 277-279.
(2008a). Review of Stuart Ray Sarbacker, Samādhi: The Numinous and Cessative in Indo-Tibetan Yoga (2005, Albany: SUNY Press), Philosophy East and West 58(4): 157-159.
(2008b). Review of Douglas L. Berger, The “Veil of Māyā:” Schopenhauer’s System and Early Indian Thought (2004, Binghamton: Global Academic Publishing), Religious Studies Review 34(2): 123-124.
(2007). Reconciling Dualism and Non-Dualism: Three Arguments in Vijñānabhikṣu’s Bhedābheda Vedānta. Journal of Indian Philosophy, 35(3): 371-403.
(2006). Bhedābheda Vedānta. In Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
(2005). Vijñānabhikṣu’s Yoga: A Note on Doctrine and Identity in Late Medieval India. Journal of Vaishnava Studies, 14(1): 43-63.
(2004). Review of Roger-Pol Droit, The Cult of Nothingness: The Philosophers and the Buddha (2003, Chapel Hill: UNC Press), Philosophy East and West54(4): 578-580.
(2003a). Review of Francis X. Clooney, Hindu God, Christian God: How Reason Helps Break Down the Boundaries Between Religions (2001, New York: Oxford University Press), Philosophy East and West 53(4): 599-601.
(2003b). Review of Laurie L. Patton, ed., Jewels of Authority: Women and Textual Tradition in Hindu India. (2003, New York: Oxford University Press),University of Chicago South Asia Newsletter 27(1): 8-9.