Bhaktivedanta Institute of Religion and Culture
Bhaktivedanta Institute of Religion and Culture
An informal and independent association of members of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON). Founded in the 1970s by Subananda das (Steven Gelberg), the Bhaktivedanta Insititute concerned itself with intellectual and academic pursuits—particularly in the humanities and social sciences. Members of the institute were concerned with the scholarly study of ISKCON (the "Hare Krishna movement") as well as the application of Vaisnava thought to modern academic disciplines. During its brief existence, the institute issued several issues of the ISKCON Review, a biannual interdisciplinary publication intended to stimulate and communicate research and reflection on all aspects of the Hare Krishna movement.
Although sponsored by the ISKCON movement, the institute and its Review were independent and autonomous, thus providing a meeting place between ISKCON and informed scholars of religious history, theologians, sociologists, and others.