Purdue University College of Liberal Arts

Information for

Events

Fall 2007-Spring 2008

A Symposium to celebrate the establishment of the Center on Religion and Chinese Society
Wednesday, April 23, 2008, 2:00-5:30 p.m.
Burton Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship (MRGN), Room 129
Opening remarks by Viktor Gecas, Head of Sociology and Anthropology Department and John J. Contreni, Justin S. Morrill Dean of Liberal Arts

Keynote Speaker: Robert Weller, Professor of Anthropology, Boston University
"Religion and the Public Good in the Chinese World"

Presentations by Visiting Scholars from China:
Qingxiang Guo, Professor of Philosophy, Renmin University of China
"The Rivals of Confucianism in China Today"

Xiaoqun Wu, Professor of Folklorics, Henan University
"Traditional Folk Religion and the Emerging Civil Society in China"

Liping Liang, Professor of Political Science and Public Administration, Shanxi University
"Secularization or Institutionalization? Religious Change amid China's Social Transition"

2008 Dorothy Day Lecture
Thursday, April 10, 2008, 7:30 p.m.
St. Thomas Aquinas Center, Room 3

"Freedom of Conscience in the Face of Evil: The Interrupted Life and Death of Franz Jaegerstaetter"
Presented by Michael Hovey of the Archdiocese of Detroit.  Franz Jaegerstaetter was so convinced that Hitler's war was so incompatiable with his Christian faith that he refused to be inducted into the Nazi army.  He was arrested, imprisoned and beheaded in 1943.  Last October, he was beatified in the Cathedral of Linz, Austria as "a bright, hopeful sign of light, a direction, an inspiration for today's challenges."
"A Marriage Made in Hell: Female Spirituality and the Rise of Witchcraft"
by Dyan Elliott, Northwestern University
Wednesday, April 9, 2008, 4:30 p.m.
Stewart Center, Room 206

See flier.

Dyan Elliott, John Evans Professor of History at Northwestern University, is historian of western Europe in the Middle Ages.  She received her Ph.D. from the University of Toronto in 1989.  Her interests center around gender, spirituality, and sexuality and the way these three variables interact.  She is especially intrigued by how the margins help to define the center of a given society.

This talk is sponsored by the Religious Studies Program, the Medieval and Renaissance Studies Program and the Department of History.

Holocaust Remembrance Event
Monday, April 7, 2008, 7:30 p.m.
Krannert Auditorium

In the context of the 27th Annual Holocaust Remembrance Conference, St. Thomas Aquinas Center is co-sponsoring a Jewish-Christian-Muslim dialogue discussing the document, "A Common World Between Us and You."  This was an extraordinary letter recently written by 138 Muslim leaders to Pope Benedict and all Christians, a new breakthrough for those of us who share the same heritage from Abraham, and a powerful contribution to the peace, truth and justice.  The dialogue will include Dr. Thomas Ryba from St. Tom's, Rabbi Audrey Pollak, and Judge David Shaheed.

"Muslim Peacemaking in Southeast Asia"
Thursday, April 3, 2008, 7:30 p.m.
Krannert Auditorium

Speakers:

Imtiyaz Yusuf, Assumption University, Bangkok, Thailand; Head of the Graduate School of Philosophy and Religion, author of Understanding Conflict and Approaching Peace in Southern Thailand

Kriya Langputeh, Yala Islamic University, Yala, Thailand

Kannaporn Akarapisan, Payap University, Chang Mai, Thailand; Coordinator of the Institute of Religion

Macrina Morados, University of the Philippines, Institute of Islamic Studies

Musa Sanguila, Director of Pakigdait NGO for Peace and Development in Mindanao, Philippines

Religious Studies Open House
February 13, 2008
4:30-6:00 p.m.
Anniversary Drawing Room
Purdue Memorial Union
See Flier.

Robert Orsi"Growing Up Catholic: A Case Study of Catholic Children in Mid-20th Century America"
Robert Orsi, Grace Craddock Nagle Chair in Catholic Studies, Northwestern University

Friday, February 8, 2008
7:30 p.m.
Krannert Auditorium


Co-sponsored by the Religious Studies Program and the Aquinas Educational Foundation.  See flier.

"Catholicism's Many (and Sometimes Contentious) Public Faces: A Look at American Catholics Today"
Margaret Steinfels, Co-director of the Fordham Center on Religion and Culture

Friday, November 16, 2007, 7:30 p.m.
Krannert Auditorium

Co-sponsored by the Aquinas Educational Foundation, the Sociology Department and the Religious Studies Program
See flier.

"Charity as a Cultural Tradition: Implications of American Catholic Social Thought in the Current Social Milieu of China"
Professor Peng Xiaoyu of Beijing

Wednesday, November 7, 2007, 7:00-9:00 p.m.
Lawson Hall, Room 1142
Sponsored by the Department of History

See flier.

His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet

Public Talk: "Cultivating Happiness"
Friday, October 26, 2007, 2:00 p.m.
Elliott Hall of Music

As the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, His Holiness the Dalai Lama is respected worldwide for his message of compassion and tolerance, his promotion of human values and inter-religious understanding, and his focus on peace through nonviolent conflict resolution.

Presented by the Tibetan Cultural Center in Bloomington, IN and Purdue Convocations in cooperation with the College of Liberal Arts


More to Come...