Online Zoom Forum: Jain Spirituality: Values, Principles, and Practices.
Date: Wednesday 8 July 2026.
Time: 7pm-9pm (UK time).
Event Description:
Format: There will be five talks, each of 15 minutes, followed by discussion among the speakers and the chair, followed by Q & A.
Speakers:
Prof Jeffery D. Long:
Title: Anekantavada: The Metaphysics of Nonviolent Speech.
Description: The central pillar of Jain practice is ahi?sa, or nonviolence in thought, speech, and action. A related pillar of Jain thought is anekantavada, the doctrine of the complexity of existence, which affirms that we should speak in a non-one-sided way when we are engaged in philosophical discussion. This approach to philosophy steers a middle path between the extremes of absolutism and relativism and points toward a form of discourse that is simultaneously respectful and illuminating with regard to the ultimate nature of reality. This presentation will outline the main features of anekantavada as well as its potential benefits for the practice of philosophy.
Bio: Dr Jeffery D. Long, the Carl W. Zeigler Professor of Religion, Philosophy, and Asian Studies at Elizabethtown College, specializes in the religions and philosophies of India. He is the author of several books and numerous articles, as well as the editor of the series Explorations in Indic Traditions for Lexington Books. In 2020, he received Elizabethtown College’s Ranck Award for Excellence in Research, and in 2022, his book, Hinduism in America: A Convergence of Worlds, received the Rajinder and Jyoti Gandhi Book Award for Excellence in Theology, Philosophy, and Critical Reflection from the Dharma Academy of North America. He has spoken in numerous venues, both national and international, including Princeton University, Yale University, the University of Chicago, Jawaharlal Nehru University, and Delhi University, and has also given three talks at the United Nations. He has appeared in television documentaries for both the History Channel and the Public Broadcasting Corporation.
Dr Bindi Shah:
Title: Community, Compassion and Conservation: Political Values, Civic Engagement and Citizenship among young Jains in UK and USA.
Description: In this presentation I consider the role of Jain dharma in influencing political values and citizenship among young Jains. The ethic of ahimsa or non-violence is a fundamental principle of Jain dharma, and all Jain beliefs, practices, rituals and traditions emanate from this central principle. Utilizing interviews with young Jains who self-identify as practicing Jains, I examine whether and in what ways the ethic of non-violence influences political commitments and political values among young Jains in the UK and USA. In particular, I ask whether Jain dharma encourages or discourages interest in or indifference to politics? Does it shape a commitment to formal institutional politics and/or civic engagement broadly? What role does it play in understandings of the ‘good’ citizen? My findings demonstrate that young Jains’ political commitments, values and engagement have a strong spiritual foundation in Jain ethics and values. They are challenging dominant values of individualism and citizenship measured in terms of material achievement and consumption by interjecting alternative values of community, compassion and conservation.
Bio: Bindi Shah is Associate Professor in Sociology at the University of Southampton, UK.
She is a specialist in migration and religion, and has written and published extensively on Asian immigrants in UK and USA, and on the second-generation. Her research has addressed the ways in which ethnicity, religion, class, and gender shape identity, belonging, and citizenship among the second-generation.
In the 1990s she began to notice that Jain children who were born and or brought up in the UK or USA were going to pathshala (Jain religious school), fasting for paryushan (a key religious event when Jain express higher levels of spiritual intensity through fasting, prayers and mediation), and enthusiastic about participating in Jain academic quizzes and plays. This interest in Jain dharma amongst children and teenagers was very different to that expressed by Jain children growing up in the UK in the 1970s and 1980s. Between 2008-10 she had an opportunity to carry out a research study on Jain young adults in the UK and USA to understand the significance of Jain dharma among young Jains in the West. In this presentation, she draws on that study. Since then, she has conducted research on a Jain Temple on the outskirts of London, and on philanthropic donations from Jains in the West to a Jain faith -based organisation in India.
Prof Atul K. Shah:
Title: The Moral Canvas for Sustainable Business - A Case Study of the Jains.
Description: Modernity and the Anthropocene have done irreversible damage, and most economic and business 'solutions' avoid moral reflexivity and the perils of human arrogance and dominion. Given the strong Ahimsa (Reverence for all living beings) philosophy and culture of the Jains, we have a unique opportunity to analyse their approach to sustainable enterprise, and learn from their track record of sustained growth and the active nourishment of social, ecological and spiritual capital. In this presentation, Prof Shah will elaborate on the unique Jain civilisational heritage, and how a combination of rituals, art, community engagement, and self-discipline especially around finance can help the world build a sustainable commerce ecosystem.
Bio: Prof Atul K. Shah is the author of a number of research papers and monographs on Business Ethics, founder of the Young Jains global movement, a professional Chartered Accountant, founding editor of Jain Spirit global magazine, and an active cultural ambassador for the Jains - BBC Broadcasts, FT articles and comments, active LinkedIn presence, and an expert witness in Parliament. 'Organic Finance' was launched in 2025 and is a multi-cultural theory of ethical economics. He is at Bayes Business School, City StGeorges, University of London and his articles and books can be found at www.atulkshah.co.uk
Prof Veena R. Howard:
Bio: Veena R. Howard, Ph.D., is Professor of Asian Religious Traditions in the Department of Philosophy at California State University, Fresno She also holds the Endowed Chair in Jain and Hindu Dharma. She was recently appointed as the director of the M.K. Gandhi Center: Inner Peace and Sarvodaya. She is a recipient of the Fulbright-Nehru Fellowship (2024-2025) and Fresno State's 2025-2026 Provost's ward in distningushied research, scholarship, adn creative activities award. Howard is a distinguished scholar, author, and speaker, specializing in nonviolence, Gandhian philosophy, and Indian religious traditions.She has authored and edited four books. She has published over two dozen articles in scholarly journals and anthologies. She is She has served on various communities boards including as the Board of Trustees of the Parliament of the World’s Religions.
Dr Shivani Bothra:
Bio: Shivani Bothra is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Religious Studies at California State University, Long Beach. Before this, she worked as a postdoctoral researcher at Rice University in Houston, USA, and taught as a lecturer in Religious Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She earned her doctorate from the Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand. Her focus is South Asian traditions, Jainism, and Nonviolence. Shivani's primary research areas are transnational Jainism, emphasizing Contemporary Jains.
An archive recording will be made for the EICSP archive.
NB: There will be no refund if you cancel your booking.
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