Introduction
Ted Ulrich received his bachelor's degree from the University of Minnesota in chemistry, his master's from St. John's University in theology, and his doctorate from The Catholic University of America in comparative religion. He teaches courses in world religions, Hinduism and Buddhism, and Christian theology. In addition, he has led numerous study-abroad trips. Four of them were to India. These involved homestays in villages and focused on the Hindu, Muslim, and Syriac Christian religions. His writing and research have focused on interreligious dialogue in general and Swami Abhishiktananda in particular. Abhishiktananda (Henri Le Saux) was a Catholic priest and Benedictine monk who, while retaining his identity as a priest and monk, became involved in Hindu monasticism.
More recently, Ulrich spent the 2017-2018 academic year in India on a Fulbright Fellowship. His ongoing project is comparing and contrasting the development of the respective views of Aurobindo Ghose and Mahatma Gandhi on violence and nonviolence. A decade before Gandhi's national leadership in India, Aurobindo had been a main leader in India's freedom struggle. Whereas Gandhi had a strict emphasis on nonviolence, Aurobindo thought that the most effective method should be used. In some circumstances that might be passive resistance and in other circumstances violence. Later, he became known across the world as a mystic and spiritual master.
Ulrich has published in a variety of venues, including the International Journal of Hindu Studies, the Journal of Dharma Studies, the Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies, and The Journal of Interreligious Studies. Also, he has given talks at Annamalai University, Pondicherry University, Madras University, Madurai Kamaraj University, Jadavpur University, Gandhigram Rural Institute, and the University of Mauritius.