Fall 2008 Courses l Master Teachers of Religion l Book & Author Series
Fall 2008 Courses
Register online or call St. Bart's Central: 212-378-0222.
INTRODUCTION TO ISLAM
Four Wednesdays, beginning September 10 at 6:30 p.m.
Registration fee: $75.
Instructor: Hussein Rashid
For the nineteenth time, CRI offers an introduction to Islam, this time taught again by our popular expert of Islam, Hussein Rashid. Learn about the principal tenets of Islam, the differences between Sunnis and Shiites, and the ways in which Islam is practiced in the United States and overseas. A graduate of Columbia University, Mr. Rashid is completing his doctorate at Harvard.
ETHICS IN THE WORLD TODAY
The Center for Religious Inquiry has partnered with a number of institutions, exploring the meaning of contemporary ethics. Among those partners have been the Louis Finklestein Institute of the Jewish Theological Seminary, The Hastings Center (bio-medical ethics) and the New York Citizens Committee on Health Care Decisions.
FROM MEMOIR TO ETHICAL WILLS: Passing Your Values to the Next Generation
Thursday, September 25 at 6:30 p.m.
Registration fee: $15.
An ethical will reflects the "voice of the heart. Think of it as a love letter to your family. Every ethical will is as unique as the person writing it. In this session, Beverly LeBov Sloane will discuss several personal reasons for writing an ethical will. She is an author, writing consultant and instructor of memoir writing at Bard College Institute for Lifelong Learning in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York.
FOUR GREAT RELIGIOUS IDEAS
Four Tuesdays, beginning October 7 at 6:30 p.m.
Registration fee: $75.
Instructors: Rev. Mark Bozzuti-Jones and Rabbi Leonard Schoolman
Mr. Bozzuti-Jones, a former Jesuit and now an Episcopal priest, and Rabbi Schoolman have been carrying on a private religious dialogue for several years. This semester, they will continue their on-going conversation into full discussions about God, Resurrection, Sin and Life after Death. You will be able to participate in these conversations as well, and you will have the opportunity to ask your most profound questions. Mr. Bozzuti-Jones has studied at Jesuit institutions here and abroad, and is now a priest at Trinity Church Wall Street. Rabbi Schoolman, who was ordained at the Hebrew Union College, is the director of CRI.
FAITH WITHOUT EXPLANATION
Four Thursdays, beginning October 16 at 6:30 p.m.
Registration fee: $75.
Instructor: Michael Collins
Can faith be rationalized? Taking as the starting-point the enormous influence of Hume on contemporary philosophy of religion, this course will examine whether the question makes any sense to ask, and how some major thinkers have analyzed the significant issues of theism, fideism and naturalism. Along the way, philosophers encountered will include Wittgenstein, Alvin Plantigna, D. Z. Phillips and Richard Swinburne. Toward the end of the course, particular attention will be focused on an analysis and discussion of Pope John Paul's 1998 Encyclical Fides et Ratio (faith and reason). Materials for study and discussion will be provided. Michael Collins earned his degree in philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley under the direction of John Searle.
SUNNIS AND SHIITES: Authority in Islam
Four Thursdays, beginning October 16 at 6:30 p.m.
Registration fee: $75 .
Instructor: Hussein Rashid
Who speaks for Muslims? Who has authority? This course will focus on various communities of interpretation in Islam. We will look at the Shi'ah, Sunni and Sufi models of authority and understand their claims to legitimacy. We will read texts by various leaders, including Aga Khan, Ayatollahs Khomeini and Sistani, Shaykh Ali Gomaa, and Sufi masters to understand the debate over authority and interpretation that exists among Muslims. Our goal is to understand in a new way the complexity of Muslim thought.
GAMBOLS IN GENESIS
Four Thursdays, beginning October 16 at 6:30 p.m.
Registration fee $75.
Instructor: Phyllis Trible
As the book of beginnings, Genesis holds a special place in Judaism and Christianity. This course explores selected texts within Chapters 1 to 11, as they relate the theme of origins to contemporary subjects such as ecology, gender, identity, and diversity. The method entails close literary readings; the purpose is to gain religious and theological insights. Professor Trible, one of the most distinguished biblical scholars alive today, has taught at Union Theological Seminary in New York for many years, and recently retired as Baldwin Professor of Sacred Literature.
ON RELIGIOUS SKEPTICISM: Twain and Vonnegut
Four Mondays, beginning October 27 at 6:30 p.m.
Registration fee: $75.
Instructor: Don W. Harrell
Mark Twain and Kurt Vonnegut are two popular American writers who are noted for their humor, their religious skepticism, and their satiric views of the human condition. A recent collection of posthumous writings by Vonnegut recalls an earlier volume of Mark Twain's occasional essays and stories published in 1962, fifty years after his death. In this four-week course we will look closely at these two similar publications: Letters from the Earth by Mark Twain, and Armageddon in Retrospect by Kurt Vonnegut. Dr. Harrell, a long-time CRI teacher, earned his doctorate in English at Vanderbilt University.
ACTS
Four Mondays, beginning October 27 at 6:30 p.m.
Registration fee $75.
Instructor: Daniel F. Polish
The Book of Acts follows the four gospels in the New Testament, and it tells the history of the early church. One of the themes is that Christianity embodies and constitutes authentic Judaism, and that Gentile Christians now constitute the true Jews. This course will explore this assertion of Acts, as well as other themes. Rabbi Polish, a long-time CRI instructor, earned his doctorate in the history of religions at Harvard.
REVELATION
Four Wednesdays, beginning October 29 at 6:30 p.m.
Registration fee: $75.
Instructor: Deirdre Good
No book in the New Testament has been used and misused more than Revelation. We will examine the origins of earliest material in the book, and probe its true meanings. We will also look at how certain Christian groups have interpreted passages to serve their own purposes. Dr. Good is professor of New Testament at General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church. She earned her doctorate at Harvard, and is a veteran CRI instructor.
THE THIRD ROME: Russian Religion and Political Thought
Four Tuesdays, beginning November 4 at 6:30 p.m.
Registration fee: $75.
Instructor: Alexei Khamin
Currently, Russia is undergoing a tantalizing struggle with the issues of religion, country's destiny, her role in the history of humankind and relationship to the West. These issues are not new. This course looks into how the religious vision of the ultimate destiny of Russia shaped the intellectual, theological, and political landscapes of the country in the last three centuries. Christened as the “Third Rome” by a 16th century Russian Orthodox monk, Russia has been attempting to surpass its perceived predecessors: the Roman and Byzantine Empires. Dr. Khamin, a returning CRI teacher, came to the United States to study at St. Vladimir's Russian Orthodox Seminary in Yonkers. He is now an Episcopal priest.
PAPAL MISCHIEF
Four Tuesdays, beginning November 4 at 6:30 p.m.
Registration fee: $75.
Instructor: Terrance Klein
The papacy as we know it today is a very different institution from the one it has been historically. Popes once had enormous temporal power, including officiating at the coronation of kings, e.g. Charlemagne. Their behavior was not always exemplary, either as rulers or as human beings. The Pope ruled over vast lands, until 1870. Now, the Pope rules only in the Vatican, and spiritually over the Catholic Church. What does this rule mean? What is papal infallibility? Father Klein, who is a professor of theology at Fordham University, studied at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, where he earned his doctorate. He is a returning CRI faculty member.
BHAGAVAD GITA
Four Mondays, beginning November 24 at 6:30 p.m.
Registration fee: $75.
Instructor: Daniel F. Polish
Perhaps the most beloved book of the Hindu religious tradition, the Bhagavad Gita tells the story of the warrior prince Arjuna and the lessons he learns from his chariot driver (who is really the incarnated god Krishna). The lessons of Krishna have much to teach us about how we live our lives and countless generations of Hindus have treasured these words. We will read selected portions of the Gita in English and reflect on its meaning in the Hindu tradition - and for ourselves. No knowledge of Sanskrit or previous study of the Hindu tradition is required. A long-time CRI teacher, Rabbi Polish earned his doctorate at Harvard in the history of religion.
CONVIVENCIA: Beyond the Golden Age
Thursday evening, December 4 at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets: $25; $15, seniors and students
Convivencia is the term that historians use to refer to the period in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries in Spain when Christians, Jews and Muslims lived in great harmony. Many refer to this period as the Golden Age of Spain. As people migrated to many lands and were impacted by other cultures, they were slow to realize that they were singing the same songs for centuries. This evocative program will trace the surprising and exotic musical synergies among Christians, Arabs and Jewish from Medieval Spain. The program will consists of sacred and secular songs from Ancient Persia, Spain, Greece, Portugal, Turkey, Morocco, Egypt, the Balkans and Syria. Gerard Edery (director/vocals,guitar) will be joined Amir Vahab (vocals, saz, percussion), Ara Dinkjian (oud), Glen Velez (percussion and vocals, Meg Okura (violin, erhu, vocals), and Barbara Martinez (dancer, vocals, palmas) in what promises to be a stunning evening,
Tickets: $20 regular/$15 students, seniors
Master Teachers of Religion
Since its inception in the Fall of 1999, the Center for Religious Inquiry has played host to many of the great teachers of religion in the United States. We are delighted to welcome some of them back as we celebrate our Tenth Anniversary. Note all the lectures are FREE ADMISSION:
“Jesus, Women and Family Values: Focus on the Gospel Family”
Wednesday. October 15 at 6:30 p.m.
Admission Free
Jesus tells husbands to leave their wives, praises men who "make them eunuchs" for the Kingdom of Heaven, never marries, and fathers no children. Jesus summons no women to follow him and grants no women leadership roles, yet he is supported by women. What does his story tell us about women's lives? How does his program fit within Jewish views of sexuality? Where can we find what is truly innovative and inspirational about Jesus' "family values"?
Amy-Jill Levine
E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Professor of New Testament Studies
Vanderbilt Divinity School and Graduate Department of Religion
Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls
Thursday, November 13 at 6:30 p.m.
Professor Charlesworth is the Director and Editor of the Princeton Theological Seminary Dead Sea Scrolls Project. He is one of the leading world experts in the period of the Second Temple. How much was Jesus influenced the writers of the scrolls? Was he a member of this group? How much of Jesus’s teachings can be found in the scrolls?
James H. Charlesworth
George H. Collord Professor of New Testament
Princeton Theological Seminary
“Muslim-Catholic Dialogue
After Pope Benedict's Offensive Remarks”
Tuesday, December 2 at 6:30 p.m.
Admission Free
In 2006 Pope Benedict XVI offended many Muslims by quoting a medieval Byzantine emperor: "Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." The protests by Muslims around the world marked the beginning of a new, productive phase in Muslim-Catholic and Muslim-Christian dialogue. What good has come from this Pope's offensive comments?
Bradford E. Hinze
Professor of Theology, Fordham University
Book and Author Series
For many years, CRI has been a New York venue for the launching books on religion. These one-on-one sessions with the authors have been a dynamic part of the learning experience at CRI. Books are available for purchase at the time of the talk, and can be purchased at the St. Bart’s Book and Gift Shop, located in the Park Avenue lobby.
The Grand Inquisitor’s Manual: A History of Terror in the name of God
Jonathan Kirsch
Monday, September 22 at 6:30 p.m.
Free Admission
Kirsch, the author of ten books, presents a provocative popular history of the Inquisition and the ways in which it has served as the chief model for torture in the West to this day. Mr. Kirsch visited CRI in connection with his previous book A History of the End of the World
George Washington on Leadership
Richard Brookhiser
Monday, October 6 at 6:30 p.m
Free Admission
Journalist and historian Rick Brookhiser, a frequent CRI guest, is the author of a new book on the Founding Fathers of our nation. This latest volume focuses on the leadership qualities demonstrated by our first president, George Washington. Describes as a prescription for corporate America, Brookhiser highlights the management challenges Washington faced as president, a gentleman farmer, and as a military leader.
Modern Jews Engage the New Testament
Michael J. Cook
Wednesday, October 22 at 6:30 p.m.
Free Admission
Dr. Cook, a long-time CRI teacher, returns with his new book – for Jews, but also for non-Jews who want to probe the mysteries of the New Testament. Included in the book are topics such as The Last Supper and Church Seders, The “Virgin Birth” and Empty Tomb Enigmas, Millennialist Senarios, Jesus’s Sanhedrin Trial --- and much more. Sections of this book were created for CRI classes. Rabbi Cook teaches at the Hebrew Union College –Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati.
Who Are the Real Chosen People?: The Meaning of Chosenness in Judaism, Christianity and Islam
Reuven Firestone
Thursday, November 20 at 6:30 p.m.
Free Admission
CRI BOOK. This book emerged from Dr. Firestone’s lectures at the Center for Religious Inquiry, and is the second in the series issued by SkyLightPaths Publishing. Firestone discusses the origin of choseness, and of the role of replacement theology in Christianity and Judaism. Firestone is a regular faculty member of CRI, and is professor of Islam and Medieval Judaism at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles.
