William J. Jackson is Professor Emeritus at IUPUI, where he taught courses in Comparative Religion in the Department of Religious Studies for 25 years. He served as the first Lake Scholar at the Lake Family Institute on Faith and Giving, Philanthropic Studies Center, IUPUI, from 2005 to 2008, and published The Wisdom of Generosity: A Reader in American Philanthropy (2008). He has published several books about South Indian religious culture, including Tyagaraja—Life and Lyrics, and Songs of Three Great South Indian Saints, and Vijayanagara Visions (all published by Oxford University Press). He is also the author of a book entitled Heaven’s Fractal Net: Retrieving Lost Visions in the Humanities (2008), about the symbolic meanings of fractal-like geometrical patterns found in the world’s cultures. He is currently working on a book exploring the “cultural DNA of America,” the deep stories, symbols, emblems, values and aspirations which have been formative and influential in American life.

Prof. Jackson is the editor of the forthcoming World Wisdom title, The Power of the Sacred Name.