Cogen Bohanec currently holds the position of Assistant Professor in Sanskrit and Jain Studies at Arihanta Institute where he teaches various courses on Jain philosophy and its applications. In addition, he is a Visiting Assistant Professor at Claremont School of Theology (CST) where he teaches Sanskrit and Gujarati, and he has taught numerous classes on South Asian Culture & Religions and Sanskrit language at the Graduate Theological Union (GTU) in Berkeley. Dr. Bohanec specializes in the Jain and Hindu traditions, comparative dharma traditions, philosophy of religion, theo-ethics (virtue ethics, and environmental and animal ethics in particular), and Sanskrit language and literature, and has numerous publications in those areas, particularly in the fields of Jain and Hindu Studies amongst other disciplines. He has a PhD in “Historical and Cultural Studies of Religion” with an emphasis in Hindu Studies from GTU, where his research emphasized ancient Indian languages, literature, and philosophical systems. He also holds an MA in Buddhist Studies from the Institute of Buddhist Studies at GTU where his research primarily involved translations of Pāli Buddhist scriptures in conversation with the philology of the Hindu Upaniṣads. He is the author of “Bhakti Ethics, Emotions and Love in Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava Metaethics” (Lexington, 2024), an interdisciplinary study that frames traditional Hindu themes of ecotheology, ecofeminist theology, feminist care ethics, within a framework of virtue ethics in conversation with a bhakti-based psychology of emotions. Currently he is largely engaged in publication and research on various aspects of the Jain tradition, emphasizing translations and analyses of Jain Sanskrit, Prakrit, and Gujarati texts, but is also publishing academic works on various topics within the Hindu tradition.

Venu Mehta, an Assistant Professor of Jainism & Comparative Spiritualities at the Claremont School of Theology, specializes in Jainism with a primary focus on Jain regional-vernacular devotional literature, narratives, and practices. Her PhD dissertation investigates the devotion to the Jain goddess Padmāvatī among the Śvetāmbar Mūrtipūjak Jains in Gujarat. Additionally, her work explores the Jain concept of forgiveness, and the various ways in which the Jain practice of aparigraha’s co-relates with human dignity, sustainability, and Gandhian approach to economy. Her recent research and publication also delve into Jain-Hindu comparative theologies/spiritualities, particularly regarding goddesses. In addition to teaching specialist courses on Jainism, she also instructs courses on South Asian traditions, comparative spiritualities, and gender and women in spiritual practices. Mehta’s research approach often integrates ethnography with textual study, but considers prioritizing the practices, experiences, and expressions of Jains.