ISKCON and intelligent design The case of Leif A. Jensen and Rethinking Darwin

Abstract

Bhaktivedanta Swami (1896–1977), the founder of ISKCON, had a complex relationship with science and modernity, and many of his followers have consequently allied them-selves with various kinds of critiques of the modern project. A favourite enemy has been Dar-win’s theory of evolution. This article undertakes a close reading of the book Rethinking Darwinism, written by a Danish member of the society, Leif A. Jensen, and published by the movement’s offi-cial publishing house, Bhaktivedanta Book Trust in 2010. Contextualising the book within the history of ISKCON’s relationship with science, the article asks what the motivations for challeng-ing Darwin here are, how it is done, and what the consequences of it are for a movement often taken to be a fundamentalist one.