Patheos Featured Writers

Benjamin E. Zeller
Contributor

Benjamin Zeller is a researcher and teacher of religion in America. He focuses on religious currents that are new or alternative, including new religions, the religious engagement with science, and the quasi-religious relationship people have with food. Zeller serves as Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Brevard College, a private liberal arts college in North Carolina's Appalachian mountains.

Dr. Zeller holds a doctorate from the University of North Carolina, an M.T.S. from Harvard University and a bachelor's degree from the University of Rochester.

Works by Benjamin E. Zeller
Worship and Devotion in Daily Life
Benjamin E. Zeller | June 19, 2017
ISKCON devotees engage in daily offerings to Krishna and in regular chanting of the......
Community Organization
Benjamin E. Zeller | June 19, 2017
ISKCON is organized by temple, with most communities having monastic residents,......
Symbolism
Benjamin E. Zeller | June 19, 2017
Images of Krishna and his consort Radha are most central to the Hare Krishna movement,......
Sacred Space
Benjamin E. Zeller | June 19, 2017
ISKCON looks to the locations associated with Krishna's earthly existence as......
Principles of Moral Thought and Action
Benjamin E. Zeller | June 19, 2017
The four regulative principles of ISKCON are the prohibition against eating meat, fish,......
Leadership
Benjamin E. Zeller | June 19, 2017
The Hare Krishna movement recognizes a Governing Body Commission that oversees the......
Vision for Society
Benjamin E. Zeller | June 19, 2017
ISKCON is an evangelistic movement that seeks to spread the devotion to the divine,......
Gender and Sexuality
Benjamin E. Zeller | June 19, 2017
Bhaktivedanta founded ISKCON in accordance with what he considered traditional Bengali......
Sacred Narratives
Benjamin E. Zeller | June 19, 2017
ISKCON adherents generally follow the normative beliefs and sacred narratives of......
Human Nature and the Purpose of Existence
Benjamin E. Zeller | June 19, 2017
Human beings seek to reunite with God, and to do so must follow a path called bhakti......
Schisms and Sects
Benjamin E. Zeller | June 19, 2017
Some Hare Krishna adherents have split with the main organization over the status of the......
Suffering and the Problem of Evil
Benjamin E. Zeller | June 19, 2017
The Hare Krishna movement sees evil as a byproduct of the decayed state of the world......
Missions and Expansion
Benjamin E. Zeller | June 19, 2017
The most important changes to come to ISKCON have been demographic: the aging of its......
Exploration and Conquest
Benjamin E. Zeller | June 19, 2017
ISKCON has experienced its share of both persecution and violence. In many cases, Hare......
Early Developments
Benjamin E. Zeller | June 19, 2017
After Bhaktivedanta's death, his followers led ISKCON. A new generation of Western......
Rites and Ceremonies
Benjamin E. Zeller | June 19, 2017
The central rites and ceremony of the Hare Krishna movement are initiation, the communal......
Sacred Time
Benjamin E. Zeller | June 19, 2017
ISKCON members structure the daily life around a series of rituals and devotional......
Modern Age
Benjamin E. Zeller | June 19, 2017
In recent years ISKCON has attracted a sizable number of Indian Hindus, in some cases......
Ultimate Reality and Divine Beings
Benjamin E. Zeller | June 19, 2017
ISKCON's theology centers on Krishna, whom adherents believe to be the supreme......
Afterlife and Salvation
Benjamin E. Zeller | June 19, 2017
ISKCON upholds the Hindu notion of transmigration, and adherents believe that an......
Beginnings
Benjamin E. Zeller | June 19, 2017
ISKCON, more popularly known as the Hare Krishna movement, was formally organized in......
Influences
Benjamin E. Zeller | June 19, 2017
The Hare Krishna movement's theology derives from a form of Vaishnavism developed by the......
ISKCON (Hare Krishna)
Benjamin E. Zeller | June 19, 2017
Hare Krishna (formally known as ISKCON — International Society of Krishna Consciousness)......
Sacred Texts
Benjamin E. Zeller | June 19, 2017
The Sanskrit Bhagavadgita and Bhagavatam serve as the central texts in ISKCON, with......
Historical Perspectives
Benjamin E. Zeller | June 19, 2017
Early studies of ISKCON considered the group as one of many new religions in the......
Founders
Benjamin E. Zeller | June 19, 2017
The Indian swami A.C. Bhaktivedanta Prabhupada, born Abhay Charan De, founded ISKCON.......