{"id":1069,"date":"2018-08-08T16:11:06","date_gmt":"2018-08-08T20:11:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ipr\/?page_id=1069"},"modified":"2026-03-21T15:49:19","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T19:49:19","slug":"program","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ipr\/program\/","title":{"rendered":"Past Lecture Series"},"content":{"rendered":"

2026 Spring Special Lecture: Abortion and End of Life: Islamic Medical Ethics and Muslim Women's Life and Death Decisions<\/h3>
<\/p>\n

Abortion and End of Life: Islamic Medical Ethics and Muslim Women’s Life and Death Decisions<\/strong>
\nDr. Zahra Ayubi, Associate Professor of Religion at Dartmouth College
\nMarch 4, 2026
\nIslamic medical ethics, as practiced and as studied, is overwhelmingly focused on men: men\u2019s bodies, men\u2019s ideas, men\u2019s texts. Remedying this gap with qualitative interviews, Zahra Ayubi discusses Muslim women\u2019s experiences and their approaches to decisions about abortion and end of life care. They navigate existential and epistemological questions as they face medical racism and sexism as well as gender insensitivity in authoritative religious discourses.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

2024 Spring Lecture Series: Can Virtue Be Taught?<\/h3>
<\/p>\n

Lifegiving Hope: Virtue & Things that Matter<\/strong>
\nDr. Kevin Hector, University of Chicago<\/span>
\nJanuary 30, 2024<\/span>
\nWatch Lecture Video<\/a><\/p>\n

Word by Word: Writing, Humanity, & AI<\/strong>
\nDr. Tal Brewer, University of Virginia<\/span>
\nFebruary 20, 2024<\/span>
\nWatch Lecture Video<\/a><\/p>\n

Emotions and Moral Formation: Augustine’s Wounded Heart<\/span><\/b>
\nDr. Sarah Stewart-Kroeker, Princeton Theological Seminary<\/span>
\nMarch 5, 2024 <\/span>
\nWatch Lecture Video<\/a><\/p>\n

What if the Truth is Bad?<\/strong>
\nDr. Olaoluwatoni Alimi, Cornell University<\/span>
\nApril 16, 2024<\/span>
\nWatch Lecture Video<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

2023 Fall Special Lecture: God and the Search for Happiness<\/h3>
<\/p>\n

God and the Search for Happiness<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dr. Zena Hitz
\nSeptember 19, 2023
\nZena Hitz (PhD, Princeton) is an expert in ancient philosophy & author of Lost in Thought, and A Philosopher Looks at the Religious Life. Hitz is also a Tutor at St. John\u2019s College in Annapolis and the founder and president of the Catherine Project. Hitz writes for general audiences about freedom, education, happiness, the decline of our institutions, faith, hope, and love. Hitz’s scholarship is in classical philosophy, especially questions about law, character, friendship, and the human good.<\/p>\n

Watch Lecture Video<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

2022 Fall Lecture Series: The End of the University<\/h3>
<\/p>\n

We will explore ‘The End of the University’: What, if anything, is the purpose or goal of the university? What should it be? Is the university headed toward closure and collapse? What does its role in and relation to economic crises, political battles, and cultural conflicts have to do with all this? Finally, how do visions of the university\u2019s telos relate to its future \u2013 disintegration, renewal, or something else?<\/p>\n

Why Does Racial Inequality Persist?<\/strong>
\nDr. Glenn Loury, Brown University
\nSeptember 13, 2022
\nWatch Lecture Video<\/a> \u00a0 Watch Q&A Video<\/a><\/p>\n

The Epistemic Commons<\/strong>
\nDr. Hrishikesh Joshi, Bowling Green State University
\nOctober 4, 2022
\nWatch Lecture Video<\/a><\/p>\n

Deflection, Value-Capture, and the Permanent Crisis of the Humanities<\/strong>
\nDr. Chad Wellmon, University of Virginia
\nOctober 25, 2022
\nWatch Lecture Video<\/a><\/p>\n

Liberal Learning and Love of Truth<\/strong>
\nDr. Jennifer Frey, University of South Carolina
\nNovember 8, 2022
\nWatch Lecture Video<\/a><\/p>\n

The End of Moral Philosophy<\/strong>
\nDr. Vanessa Wills, The George Washington University
\nNovember 29, 2022
\nWatch Lecture Video<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

2021 Fall Lecture Series: Buddhism as Philosophy<\/h3>
<\/p>\n

In recent years, the study of Buddhist philosophy has moved from its traditional homes in Religious and Area Studies into departments of Philosophy. This lecture series will explore the “philosophical turn” in the field through the works of some of its more influential practitioners and an exciting group of young scholars who are just entering the field. Topics will include Buddhist epistemology and the philosophy of mind, controversies with rival philosophers, and the relationship between philosophy and the path to nirvana.<\/p>\n

The Golden Age of Philosophy in the Monastery of Vikramasila c. 1000 C.E.<\/strong>
\nParimal Patil, Professor of Religion and Indian Philosophy, Department of South Asian Studies, Harvard University
\nWednesday, September 29, 2021<\/p>\n

Parks and Wholes: Madhyamaka Mereology and the Argument for Emptiness<\/strong>
\nJan Westerhoff, Professor of Buddhist Philosophy, Oxford University
\nWednesday, October 20, 2021<\/p>\n

Candrakirti’s Insight and Santideva’s Practical Wisdom: Two Mahayana Approaches to Awakening<\/strong>
\nAmber Carpenter, Associate Professor in Humanities (Philosophy), Yale-NUS College, Singapore
\nWednesday, November 10, 2021<\/p>\n

Madyamaka Metaphysical Indefinitism<\/strong>
\nAlisson Aitken, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Columbia University
\nWednesday, November 17, 2021<\/p>\n

Is the Buddha’s Teaching Authoritative?<\/strong>
\nRosanna Picascia, Visiting Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Swathmore College
\nWednesday, December 1, 2021<\/p>\n

Can a Tantric Initiation Convey Knowledge?<\/strong>
\nDavey Tomlinson, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Villanova University
\nWednesday, December 8, 2021<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

2019 Fall Lecture Series: Wisdom and Transformation?<\/h3>
<\/p>\n

Can philosophical insight change the way we live? If so, how? What are the limits of self-knowledge? How do these limits affect our choices? These questions have concerned Western philosophers since the time of Socrates and Plato. They also have been a central concern in Buddhist reflection about the nature of a good life. This series will explore these questions from different perspectives through the eyes of several talented philosophers.<\/p>\n

Becoming a Better Person: Aristotelian Reflections<\/strong>
\nSusan Sauv\u00e9\u00a0Meyer, Professor of Philosophy, University of Pennsylvania
\nWednesday, September 18, 2019 |\u00a0Watch Lecture Video<\/a><\/p>\n

Courage and Experiments in Selfhood: Plato, \u017di\u017eek, and Herzog<\/strong>
\nRichard Eldridge, Charles and Harriett Cox McDowell Professor of Philosophy, Swarthmore College
\nWednesday, October 2, 2019 |\u00a0Watch Lecture Video<\/a><\/p>\n

Transformative Religious Experience and Empathy for Future Selves<\/strong>
\nL. A. Paul, Professor of Philosophy and Cognitive Science, Yale University
\nWednesday, October 16, 2019<\/p>\n

From Aspiration to Engagement: The Moral Logic of the Bodhisattva Path<\/strong>
\nJay Garfield, Doris Silbert Professor of Philosophy, Smith College
\nWednesday, October 30, 2019 |\u00a0Watch Lecture Video<\/a><\/p>\n

Is the Mind a Tool?<\/strong>
\nAgnes Callard, Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of Chicago
\nWednesday, November 13, 2019 |\u00a0Watch Lecture Video<\/a><\/p>\n

On Having Self-Knowledge while Lacking Self-Understanding<\/strong>
\nPaul Katsafanas, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Boston University
\nWednesday, December 4, 2019 |\u00a0Watch Lecture Video<\/a>
\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

2018-2019 Lecture Series: Persons<\/h3>
<\/p>\n

To celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the first annual lecture series in the Institute for Philosophy and Religion, we will explore an idea that was dear to the Institute’s founders, the idea of the “Person.” The Institute grew out of the movement known as Boston Personalism, a tradition that shaped Martin Luther King, Jr. and his generation of young scholars. We will ask whether this school of metaphysical speculation and moral commitment has anything to teach us today.<\/p>\n

James’s Barking Crab: Becoming a Person in a Mechanistic Universe<\/strong>
\nDavid Lamberth, Professor of Philosophy and Theology, Harvard Divinity School
\nWednesday, September 19, 2018 | Watch Lecture Video<\/a><\/p>\n

Why We Matter and Why We Are: The Value and Ontology of Persons<\/strong>
\nMarya Schectman, Professor of Philosophy, University of Illinois Chicago
\nWednesday, October 3, 2018 |\u00a0Watch Lecture Video<\/a><\/p>\n

Personhood and Interpretations of Embodied Cognition<\/strong>
\nShaun Gallagher, Lillian and Morrie Moss Professor of Philosophy, University of Memphis
\nWednesday, October 24, 2018 |\u00a0Watch Lecture Video<\/a><\/p>\n

Interdependent Personhood and Relational Ethics: A Tibetan Perspective<\/strong>
\nSarah Jacoby, Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Northwestern University
\nWednesday, November 7, 2018 |\u00a0Watch Lecture Video<\/a><\/p>\n

Person and Community in the Age of Anxiety<\/strong>
\nMargarita Mooney, Associate Professor, Princeton Theological Seminary
\nWednesday, November 14, 2018 |\u00a0Watch Lecture Video<\/a><\/p>\n

The World as Person<\/strong>
\nRandall Auxier, Professor of Philosophy, Southern Illinois University Carbondale
\nWednesday, December 5, 2018 |\u00a0Watch Lecture Video<\/a><\/p>\n

Nonself as Omnipresent Interpersonalities: Tiantai’s Four Steps for Rereading Impermanence as the Eternity of All Subjective States<\/strong>
\nBrook Ziporyn, Professor of Chinese Religion, Philosophy, and Comparative Thought, University of Chicago Divinity School
\nFriday, March 29, 2019 |\u00a0Watch Lecture Video<\/a><\/p>\n

The Demise of Personalism, the Disappearance of Moral Knowledge, and the Prospects for Turning the Tide: a Plea for Analytic Personalism<\/strong>
\nAaron Preston, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Valparaiso University
\nFriday, April 12, 2019 |\u00a0Watch Lecture Video<\/a>
\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

2017-2018 Lecture Series: Love and Hate<\/h3>
<\/p>\n

Fall 2017 marks the third and final year in a three-year exploration of the theological virtues and their opposites: faith and doubt, hope and despair, love and hate. These virtues have important resonances in classical philosophy and throughout the Western tradition of philosophical and religious reflection about what it means to live a good life. This is true of faith and hope, and is even more true of love. Aristotle said that no one would choose to live without friendship. Would anyone choose to live without love? What is love? How does it develop? How is it related to happiness? How is it related to hate? These questions, and others like them, lie at the heart of religious reflection in many different traditions.\u00a0This\u00a0series will explore the possibility of an answer.<\/p>\n

“Autonomy and Love in Christian Ethics”<\/strong>
\nRobert Merrihew Adams, Visiting Professor, Rutgers Center for Philosophy of Religion
\nWednesday, September 20, 2017 \u00a05 p.m.
\nBoston University School of Theology
\n745 Commonwealth Avenue, Room 325
\nWatch Lecture Video<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cBhakti and Accidental Grace: Hate as Love in the Hindu Tradition\u201d<\/strong><\/b>
\nWendy Doniger, Mircea Eliade Distinguished Service Professor of the History of Religion, University of Chicago Divinity School
\nWednesday, October 4, 2017 \u00a05 p.m.
\nBoston University School of Theology
\n745 Commonwealth Avenue, Room 325
\nListen to the Lecture<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cLocating Love in Islamic Studies\u201d<\/strong><\/b>
\nMarion Holmes Katz, Professor of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, New York University
\nWednesday, October 18, 2017 \u00a05 p.m.
\nBoston University School of Theology
\n745 Commonwealth Avenue, Room 325
\nWatch Lecture Video<\/a><\/p>\n

“Making Lovers: Emmanuel Levinas and Iris Murdoch on Moral Formation”<\/strong><\/b>
\nStephen Bush, Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Brown University
\nWednesday, November 1, 2017 \u00a05 p.m.
\nBoston University School of Theology
\n745 Commonwealth Avenue, Room 325
\nWatch Lecture Video<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/b>“How to ‘Love Thy Neighbor’: Lessons from Hegel on Conflict and Reconciliation”<\/strong><\/b>
\nMolly Farneth, Assistant Professor of Religion, Haverford College
\nWednesday, December 6, 2017 \u00a05 p.m.
\nBoston University School of Theology
\n745 Commonwealth Avenue, Room 325
\nWatch Lecture Video<\/a><\/strong><\/b><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/b>“Other People”<\/strong>
\nKieran Setiya, Professor of Philosophy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
\nFriday, March 23, 2018\u00a0 4 p.m.
\nBoston University School of Theology
\n745 Commonwealth Avenue, Room 525<\/p>\n

“The Happiness of Promise: Alexander Nehamas on Love and Care”<\/strong><\/b>
\nAnna F. Bialek, John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics, Washington University in St. Louis
\nWednesday, March 28, 2018\u00a0 5:30 p.m.
\nBoston University School of Theology
\n745 Commonwealth Avenue, Room 525<\/p>\n

“Dehumanization and its Discontents”<\/strong>
\nPaul Bloom, Brooks & Suzanne Ragen Professor of Psychology and Cognitive Science, Yale University
\nFriday, April 6, 2018\u00a0 4 p.m.
\nBoston University School of Theology
\n745 Commonwealth Avenue, Room 325
\nWatch Lecture Video<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

2016-2017 Lecture Series: Hope and Despair<\/h3>
<\/p>\n

Fall 2016 marks the second year in a three-year exploration of the theological virtues and their opposites: faith and doubt, hope and despair, love and hate. These virtues have important resonances in classical philosophy and throughout the Western tradition of philosophical and religious reflection about what it means to live a good life. Is it natural for human beings to have hope? Is there even a duty to have hope? What is the relationship between hope and a happy life? Is despair a necessary component of hope? These questions, and others like them, lie at the heart of religious reflection in many different traditions. This\u00a0series will explore the possibility of an answer.<\/p>\n

“Religious Practices and the Formation of Subjects”<\/strong>
\nKevin Schilbrack, Professor and Chair of the Department of Philosophy & Religion, Appalachian State University
\nWith Responses by
\nThomas A. Lewis, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and Professor of Religious Studies, Brown University
\nand
\nElizabeth Pritchard, Associate Professor of Religion, Bowdoin College
\nWednesday, September 21, 2016 \u00a05 p.m.
\nBoston University School of Theology
\n745 Commonwealth Avenue, Room 325
\nVideo of this lecture is available here.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cHope in the Anthropocene: Moral Psychology and Collective Action\u201d<\/strong><\/b>
\nAndrew Chignell, Associate Professor in the Sage School of Philosophy, Cornell University, and Co-Director of the Cornell-Notre-Dame multi-disciplinary project on “Hope and Optimism”
\nFriday, October 7, 2016 \u00a04 p.m.
\nBoston University School of Theology
\n745 Commonwealth Avenue, Room 325
\nVideo of this lecture is available here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Highway of Despair: Critical Theory after Hegel\u201d<\/strong><\/b>
\nRobyn Marasco, Associate Professor of Political Science, Hunter College
\nWednesday, October 19, 2016 \u00a05 p.m.
\nBoston University School of Theology
\n745 Commonwealth Avenue, Room 325
\nVideo of this lecture is available here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cRadical Hope, Despair, and Time: Three Responses to Nietzsche\u201d<\/strong><\/b>
\nRyan Coyne, Assistant Professor, University of Chicago Divinity School
\nWednesday, November 16, 2016 \u00a05 p.m.
\nBoston University School of Theology
\n745 Commonwealth Avenue, Room 325
\nVideo of this lecture is available here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cDionysus: The Hope of Beauty”<\/strong><\/b>
\nMark Jordan, Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Christian Thought, Harvard Divinity School
\nWednesday, November 30, 2016 \u00a05 p.m.
\nBoston University School of Theology
\n745 Commonwealth Avenue, Room 325<\/p>\n

\u201cApocalypticism,” a panel discussion<\/strong><\/b>
\nJamel Velji,\u00a0Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, Claremont McKenna College
\nMichael Pregill, Internlocutor in the Institute for the Study of Muslim Societies and Civilizations and coordinator of the Mizan digital scholarship initiative
\nApril Hughes, Assistant Professor of Religion, Boston University
\nDavid Frankfurter, William Goodwin Aurelio Professor of the Appreciation of Scripture, Boston University
\nThursday, March 23, 2017 \u00a05 p.m.
\nBoston University School of Theology
\n745 Commonwealth Avenue, Room 325<\/p>\n

\u201cHope, Despair, and the Blues<\/strong><\/b>\u201d<\/strong><\/b>
\nBrita Heimarck, Associate Professor of Music, Boston University
\nJason McCool, Ph.D Candidate, Boston University
\nVictor Coelho, Professor of Music, Boston University
\nJoseph Winters, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, Duke University
\nFollowed by a FREE performance by Kaz Hawkins at:
\nBill’s Bar
\n5 Lansdowne St., Boston
\n7:30 p.m.
\nFriday, March 31, 2017 \u00a01:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
\nBoston University School of Theology
\n745 Commonwealth Avenue, Room 325
\nVideo of Prof. Winters’s lecture is available here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cDante’s Divine Comedy<\/em>: from Despair to Hope to Glory<\/strong><\/b>\u201d<\/strong><\/b>
\nPeter Hawkins, Professor of Religion and Literature, Yale Divinity School
\nWednesday, April 12, 2017 \u00a05 p.m.
\nBoston University School of Theology
\n745 Commonwealth Avenue, Room 325
\nVideo of this lecture is available here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

2015-2016 Lecture Series: Faith and Doubt<\/h3>
<\/p>\n

Fall 2015 marks the beginning of a three-part series on the theological virtues and their opposites–faith and doubt, hope and despair, and love and hate. While these virtues are part of Christian reflection about a good life, they have important resonances in classical philosophy and in other religious traditions. This year’s lecture series begins with a consideration of faith and doubt in the tradition of virtue ethics, then takes up faith, doubt and their analogues in modern Jewish philosophy, contemporary Buddhism, modern literature, and Islam. The series ends with a study of Soren Kierkegaard who, for many people, represents the classic exploration of faith and doubt in modern theology. The series continues in the spring semester with lectures on the films of Robert Bresson and the teaching of Krishna in the\u00a0Bhagavad Gita<\/em>. Can there be faith without doubt, or is doubt necessary for faith? This question lies at the heart of religious reflection in many different traditions. These lectures will explore the possibility of an answer.<\/p>\n

“Faith (and Doubt?) Among the Virtues”<\/strong>
\nJennifer Herdt, Gilbert L. Stark Professor of Christian Ethics, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, Yale Divinity School
\nWednesday, September 16, 2015 \u00a05 p.m.
\nBoston University School of Theology
\n745 Commonwealth Avenue, Room 325
\nClick here to view the video!<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cBelief and Unbelief: A Straussian Perspective\u201d<\/strong><\/b>
\nMichael Zank, Professor of Religion, Director of the Elie Wiesel Center for Judaic Studies, Boston University
\nWednesday, September 30, 2015 \u00a05 p.m.
\nBoston University School of Theology
\n745 Commonwealth Avenue, Room 325
\nClick here to view the video!<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Buddhist Journey from Ethics to Religion, and Back\u201d<\/strong><\/b>
\nDale Wright, David B. and Mary H. Gamble Professor in Religion, Occidental College
\nWednesday, October 14, 2015 \u00a05 p.m.
\nBoston University School of Theology
\n745 Commonwealth Avenue, Room 325
\nClick here to view the video!<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201c’The Quality of Its Doubt’: T.S. Eliot on Tennyson<\/strong><\/b>\u201d<\/strong><\/b>
\nChristopher Ricks, William M. and Sara B. Warren Professor of the Humanities, Director of the Editorial Institute, Boston University
\nWednesday, October 28, 2015 \u00a05 p.m.
\nBoston University School of Theology
\n745 Commonwealth Avenue, Room 325
\nClick here to view the video!<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cFaith, Doubt, and the Future of Islam\u201d<\/strong><\/b>
\nCharles Kimball, Presidential Professor and Director of Religious Studies, University of Oklahoma
\nWednesday, November 11, 2015 \u00a05 p.m.
\nBoston University School of Theology
\n745 Commonwealth Avenue, Room 325
\nClick here to view the video!<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cKierkegaard on Doubt, Faith, and Uncertainty”<\/strong><\/b>
\nC. Stephen Evans, University Professor of Philosophy and the Humanities, Baylor University
\nWednesday, December 9, 2015 \u00a05 p.m.
\nBoston University School of Theology
\n745 Commonwealth Avenue, Room 325
\nClick here to view the video!<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Devil Probably: Death an<\/strong><\/b>d Despair in the Late Films of Robert Bresson\u201d<\/strong><\/b>
\nJames Quandt, Senior Programmer at the Toronto International Film Festival Cinematheque and frequent contributor to\u00a0Artforum International<\/em>
\nWednesday, March 2, 2016 \u00a05 p.m.
\nBoston University School of Theology<\/span>
\n745 Commonwealth Avenue, Room 325<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cKrishna’s Instruction in the\u00a0Bhagavad Gita<\/em>: Many Doubts, One Faith\u201d<\/strong><\/b>
\nFrancis X. Clooney, S.J., Parkman Professor of Divinity, Director of the Center for the Study of World Religions, Harvard Divinity School
\nWednesday, March 23, 2016 \u00a05 p.m.
\nBoston University School of Theology<\/span>
\n745 Commonwealth Avenue, Room 325<\/span>
\nClick here to view the video!<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

2014-2015 Lecture Series: Philosophy and the Future of Religion<\/h3>
<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s Institute series explores some of the most challenging and troubling questions in the contemporary philosophy of religion. These include the possibility of religion without God, \u201cnaturalized\u201d or scientific views of religion, religious diversity, and contemporary responses to the challenge of modernity. The series begins in the \u201crecent past\u201d with the legacy of the Enlightenment and the critical traditions associated with the works of Sigmund Freud and William James. Then the series expands to include some of the most lively and eloquent contemporary voices in the philosophical study of religion, on topics such as a scientific view of spirituality, philosophical poetics, Indian and Chinese views of ultimate reality, the death of religion, and ambiguities in the nature of God.<\/p>\n

“Psychoanalysis and the Monotheistic Origins of Modern Science<\/strong>”
\nKenneth Reinhard, Associate Professor of English and Comparative Literature, Director of the Program in Experimental Critical Theory, University of California at Los Angeles
\nWednesday, September 17, 2014\u00a0 6 p.m.
\nBoston University School of Theology
\n745 Commonwealth Avenue, Room 325<\/p>\n

\u201cCan Philosophy Help Us Understand Religion?\u201d<\/strong>
\nMichael Zank, Professor of Religion, Director of the Elie Wiesel Center for Judaic Studies, Boston University
\nWednesday, October 1, 2014\u00a0 5 p.m.
\nBoston University School of Theology
\n745 Commonwealth Avenue, Room 325<\/p>\n

\u201cWilliam James Revisited: Pragmatic Approaches to Religion\u201d<\/strong>
\nDavid Lamberth, Professor of Philosophy and Theology, Harvard Divinity School
\nWednesday, October 15, 2014 \u00a05 p.m.
\nBoston University School of Theology
\n745 Commonwealth Avenue, Room 325<\/p>\n

\u201c<\/strong>A Philosophical Framework for Interpreting the Future of Religion and Spirituality<\/strong>\u201d<\/strong>
\nWesley J. Wildman, Professor of Philosophy, Theology, and Ethics, Boston University School of Theology
\nWednesday, October 29, 2014\u00a0 5 p.m.
\nBoston University School of Theology
\n745 Commonwealth Avenue, Room 325<\/p>\n

\u201cPoetics of the Sacred\u201d<\/strong>
\nRichard Kearney, Charles Seelig Professor in Philosophy, Boston College
\nWednesday, November 12, 2014\u00a0 5 p.m.
\nBoston University School of Theology
\n745 Commonwealth Avenue, Room 325<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Seduction of Daoist Philosophy: What Was Lost on the Way to Understanding the Daoist Religion?”<\/strong>
\nJames Robson, Professor of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, Harvard University
\nWednesday, December 3, 2014\u00a0 5 p.m.
\nBoston University School of Theology
\n745 Commonwealth Avenue, Room 325<\/p>\n

\u201cReligion Without God: An Indian Perspective\u201d<\/strong>
\nParimal G. Patil, Professor of Religion and Indian Philosophy, Chair of the Department of South Asian Studies, Harvard University
\nWednesday, February 25, 2015\u00a0 5 p.m.
\nBoston University College of Arts and Sciences
\n685-725 Commonwealth Ave, Room 224<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Nature of Love and Forgiveness: \u00a0Richard Swinburne’s Theory of Atonement<\/span>\u201d<\/strong>
\nEleonore Stump, Robert J. Henle Professor of Philosophy, Saint Louis University
\nWednesday, March 25, 2015\u00a0 5 p.m.
\nBoston University School of Theology
\n745 Commonwealth Avenue, Room 325<\/p>\n

\u201cDeconstruction and A Religion of the Future\u201d<\/strong>
\nJohn D. Caputo, Thomas J. Watson Professor of Religion Emeritus
\nSyracuse University
\nWednesday, April 8, 2015\u00a0 5 p.m.
\nBoston University School of Theology
\n745 Commonwealth Avenue, Room 325<\/p>\n

\u201cGod and the Ambivalence of Being\u201d<\/strong>
\nThe Leroy and Rita Rouner Memorial Lecture<\/em>
\nJean-Luc Marion, Andrew Thomas & Grace McNichols Greeley Visiting Professor, University of Chicago
\nThursday, April 23, 2015\u00a0 5 p.m.
\nBoston University Photonics Center Colloquium Room
\n8 St. Mary\u2019s Street, Ninth Floor<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

2013-2014 Lecture Series: The Contemporary Face of Suffering<\/h3>
<\/p>\n

This year’s Institute series will explore important philosophical, religious, and literary aspects of suffering. From recent public debate about physician-assisted suicide and other end-of-life choices to new academic research on topics such as social suffering and the effects of trauma, there is much to prompt contemporary philosophical reflection about the nature and meaning of human suffering. In this year’s series, individual lectures will focus on topics such as the phenomenology of pain, trauma, and waiting; the relationship between suffering and ethical theory; and the expressive connection between suffering and artistic and narrative forms of representation. This year’s roster of speakers will include notable experts in areas such as the philosophy of religion, bioethics, literary theory, and narrative medicine.<\/p>\n

\n

The Poetry of Suffering and Waiting<\/strong>
\nHarold Schweizer, Department of English, Bucknell University
\nWednesday, September 18, 2013, 5 p.m.
\nBoston University College of Arts & Sciences
\n725 Commonwealth Avenue, Room 211<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

“Physician-Assisted Suicide and End-of-Life Issues”<\/strong>
\nDan W. Brock, Frances Glessner Lee Professor of Medical Ethics, Harvard Medical School
\nWednesday, October 2, 2013, 5 p.m.
\nBoston University School of Theology
\n745 Commonwealth Avenue, Room 325
\nCommentator: Irina Meketa, Department of Philosophy, Boston University<\/p>\n

“Susan Sontag and the Representation of Suffering”<\/strong>
\nAnn Jurecic, Department of English, Rutgers University
\nWednesday, October 16, 2013, 5 p.m.
\nBoston University School of Theology
\n745 Commonwealth Avenue, Room 325<\/p>\n

“Gratuitous Evils and Organic Unities”<\/strong>
\nDean Zimmerman, Department of Philosophy, Rutgers University
\nWednesday, October 30, 2013, 5 p.m.
\nBoston University School of Theology
\n745 Commonwealth Avenue, Room 325<\/p>\n

“Social Suffering and Caregiving: The Ground of Moral Life”<\/strong>
\nArthur Kleinman, Esther and Sidney Rabb Professor, Department of Anthropology, Harvard University and Professor of Medical Anthropology in Global Health and Social Medicine and Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
\nWednesday, November 6, 2013, 5 p.m.
\nBoston University School of Theology
\n745 Commonwealth Avenue, Room 325<\/p>\n

“‘As One, in Suff’ring All, That Suffers Nothing’: on Hamlet<\/em> \u201d<\/strong>
\nSimon Critchley, Hans Jonas Professor, The New School
\nWednesday, November 20, 2013, 5 p.m.
\nBoston University, The Castle, 225 Bay State Road<\/p>\n

“The Afterlife of Trauma Theory”<\/strong>
\nShelly Rambo, School of Theology, Boston University
\nWednesday, December 4, 2013, 5 p.m.
\nBoston University School of Theology
\n745 Commonwealth Avenue, Room 325<\/p>\n

“The Problem of Suffering and the Desires of the Heart”<\/strong>
\nThe Leroy and Rita Rouner Memorial Lecture<\/em>
\nEleonore Stump, Robert J. Henle Professor of Philosophy,
\nSaint Louis University
\nWednesday, March 25, 2015, 5 p.m.<\/strong>
\nBoston University Photonics Center Colloquium Room
\n8 Saint Mary\u2019s Street, Ninth Floor<\/p>\n

“W. H. Auden on History and Silence”<\/strong>
\nSusannah Gottlieb, Department of English, Northwestern University
\nWednesday, March 26, 2014, 5 p.m.
\nBoston University Photonics Center Colloquium Room
\n8 Saint Mary\u2019s Street, Ninth Floor<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

2012-2013 Lecture Series: Beyond Aesthetics: Philosophical and Theological Construals of Art<\/h3>
<\/p>\n

The lecture series will offer an interdisciplinary examination of the relation between aesthetic and other forms of value in the modern world, including the nature of beauty and sublimity, the rise and fall of aesthetics as a discipline, and the claims of the\u201cend\u201d of art (including the consequences\u2014philosophical, religious or otherwise\u2014that might follow from such claims).<\/p>\n

“Real and Artificial Beauty: The Mythology of Women and Their Jewelry”<\/strong>
\nThe Leroy and Rita Rouner Memorial Lecture
\nWendy Doniger, Mircea Eliade Distinguished Service Professor of the History of Religions in the Divinity School, University of Chicago
\nWednesday, September 19, 5 p.m.
\nBoston University, The Castle, 225 Bay State Road
\nModerator: M. David Eckel, Department of Religion and Director, Core Curriculum, Boston University
\nCommentator: Stephanie Nelson, Chair, Department of Classics, Boston University<\/p>\n

<\/a>“Rethinking Religion and Art”<\/strong>
\nNicholas Wolterstorff, Professor of Philosophy Emeritus, Yale University
\nWednesday, October 3, 5 p.m.
\nBoston University School of Law, Barristers Hall
\n765 Commonwealth Avenue, First Floor
\nView the video<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/a>“Evolution, Personalism, and Art: A. F. Losev’s Aesthetics”<\/strong>
\nOleg Bychkov, Professor of Theology, St. Bonaventure University
\nWednesday, October 17, 5 p.m.
\nBoston University School of Law, Barristers Hall
\n765 Commonwealth Avenue, First Floor<\/p>\n

“On Some Relations between Religious Art and the Contemporary Artworld”<\/a><\/strong>
\nJames Elkins, E. C. Chadbourne Professor of Art History, Theory, and Criticism at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago
\nWednesday, October 31, 5 p.m.
\nBoston University School of Law, Barristers Hall
\n765 Commonwealth Avenue, First Floor<\/p>\n

“Greek Gods and the Archaic Aesthetics of Life”<\/a><\/strong>
\nStephen Halliwell, Professor of Greek, School of Classics, University of St. Andrews
\nWednesday, November 7, 5 p.m.
\nBoston University School of Law, Barristers Hall
\n765 Commonwealth Avenue, First Floor
\nCommentator: Charles Griswold, Department of Philosophy, Boston University
\nView the video<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“Art’s Abject Other or the ‘New Cool’: Rethinking the Art\/Craft Dichotomy”<\/strong>
\nLarry Shiner, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, History and Visual Arts, University of Illinois at Springfield
\nWednesday, November 28, 5 p.m.
\nBoston University School of Law, Barristers Hall
\n765 Commonwealth Avenue, First Floor
\nCommentator: Franco Cirulli, Core Curriculum, Boston University
\nView the video<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“Beyond Aesthetics: Sacred Music as a Calling”<\/strong>
\nGordon Graham, Henry Luce III Professor of Philosophy and the Arts, Princeton Theological Seminary
\nWednesday, December 5, 5 p.m.
\nBoston University School of Law, Barristers Hall
\n765 Commonwealth Avenue, First Floor
\nView the video<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Annual IPR Colloquium on the Philosophy of Religion: Levinas in His Context<\/strong>
\nA Series of Lectures by Myriam Bienenstock, Department of Philosophy, University Fran\u00e7ois Rabelais at Tours (France)
\nLecture 1: The French Connection, Wednesday, April 10, 5 p.m.
\nLecture 2: The German Connection, Wednesday, April 17, 5 p.m.
\nLecture 3: The Jewish Connection, Wednesday, April 24, 5 p.m.
\nBoston University
\nElie Wiesel Center for Judaic Studies
\nBoard Room, 2nd Floor
\n147 Bay State Road<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

2011-2012 Lecture Series: Politics, Religion and Theology<\/h3>
<\/p>\n

The institute’s 2011-2012 series explored several important facets of the contemporary relation between politics, theology, and religious thought, including the specific notions of civil religion (in the broadest sense from Rousseau to Tocqueville to Robert Bellah) and political theology (in a comparative way, as it has been reflected especially in political thinkers whose work has been influenced by the three monotheistic traditions of Islam, Judaism, and Christianity).<\/p>\n

“How to Read Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address”Steven B. Smith, Department of Political Science, Yale University<\/strong>
\nThursday, September 22, 5 p.m.
\nBoston University School of Law Barristers Hall
\n765 Commonwealth Avenue, First Floor
\nModerator: Michael Zank (Department of Religion, Boston University)
\nRespondent: Judith Swanson (Department of Political Science, Boston University)
\nThis event co-sponsored by Boston University’s Elie Wiesel Center for Judaic Studies<\/em>
\nView the video<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/a>“World-denial and World Redemption: Franz Rosenzweig’s Early Marcionism”<\/strong>
\nBenjamin Pollock, Department of Religious Studies, Michigan State University
\nWednesday, October, 26, 5 p.m.
\nBoston University Photonics Center, Room 206
\n8 Saint Mary’s Street, Second Floor
\nModerator: Michael Zank (Department of Religion, Boston University)
\nThis event co-sponsored by Boston University’s Elie Wiesel Center for Judaic Studies<\/em>
\nView the video<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/a>“Miracles in an Age of Technological Reproducibility”<\/strong>
\nBenjamin Lazier, Department of History, Reed College
\nWednesday, November 16, 5 p.m.
\nBoston University School of Law Barristers Hall
\n765 Commonwealth Avenue, First Floor
\nModerator: Michael Zank (Department of Religion, Boston University)
\nThis event co-sponsored by Boston University’s Elie Wiesel Center for Judaic Studies<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a>“The Anti-Trinitarian Sources of Liberalism”<\/strong>
\nMichael Gillespie, Department of Political Science, Duke University
\nThursday, December 1, 5 p.m.
\nBoston University School of Law Barristers Hall
\n765 Commonwealth Avenue, First Floor
\nModerator: John Berthrong (School of Theology, Boston University)
\nView the video<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/a>“Confronting Spinoza’s Theologico-political Treatise: Hermann Cohen vs. Franz Rosenzweig”<\/strong>
\nMyriam Bienenstock, Department of Philosophy, University Fran\u00e7ois Rabelais at Tours (France)
\nWednesday, December 7, 5 p.m.
\nBoston University School of Law Barristers Hall
\n765 Commonwealth Avenue, First Floor
\nModerator: Michael Zank (Department of Religion, Boston University)
\nThis event co-sponsored by Boston University’s Elie Wiesel Center for Judaic Studies<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/a>“On Being a Mediocre Believer in an Age of Extremities”<\/strong>
\nCharles Mathewes, Department of Religion, University of Virginia
\nThursday, January 26, 5 p.m.
\nBoston University School of Law Barristers Hall
\n765 Commonwealth Avenue, First Floor
\nModerator: John Berthrong (School of Theology, Boston University)<\/p>\n

<\/a>“J\u00fcrgen Habermas and the Social Significance of Religion”<\/strong>
\nPeter Gordon, Department of History, Harvard University
\nWednesday, February 1, 5 p.m.
\nBoston University School of Law Barristers Hall
\n765 Commonwealth Avenue, First Floor
\nModerator: Michael Zank (Department of Religion, Boston University)
\nRespondent: Hugh Baxter, Department of Philosophy and School of Law, Boston University.
\nThis event co-sponsored by Boston University’s Elie Wiesel Center for Judaic Studies<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/a>“American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us”<\/strong>
\nRobert Putnam, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
\nThursday, March 1, 6 p.m.
\nBoston University School of Law Barristers Hall
\n765 Commonwealth Avenue, First Floor
\nModerator: Robert Hefner (Director, Institute on Culture, Religion & World Affairs, Boston University)
\nRespondent: Peter Berger (Director Emeritus, Institute on Culture, Religion & World Affairs, Boston University)
\nThis event co-sponsored by Boston University’s Institute on Culture, Religion & World Affairs<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/a>“Political Theology and Biblical Atheism: Revisiting The Schmitt-strauss Debate in Weimar”<\/strong>
\nJohn McCormick, Department of Political Science, University of Chicago
\nThursday, March 29, 5 p.m.
\nModerator: John Berthrong (School of Theology, Boston University)
\nBoston University Photonics Center Colloquium Room
\n8 Saint Mary’s Street, Ninth Floor<\/p>\n

<\/a>“Muslim Women and the Challenge of Authority”<\/strong>
\nSaturday, March 31, 9 a.m.\u20136 p.m.
\nIPR is one of the co-sponsors for this all-day conference, organized by Professor Kecia Ali (Department of Religion), which is also being supported by the Boston University Humanities Foundation; the Institute on Culture, Religion & World Affairs, the Department of Religion; the programs in Muslim Studies and Women’s, Gender, & Sexuality Studies; the New England\/Maritimes Region of the American Academy of Religion; and George Mason University’s Ali Vural Ak Center for Global Islamic Studies. (For more information on the conference and the year-long lecture series of which it is a part, see the website at http:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cura\/calendar\/muslim-women-and-the-challenge-of-authority<\/a>\/.)<\/p>\n

<\/a>“Politics, Religion and Violence: The Maccabean Wars”<\/strong>
\nJan Assmann, Departments of History and Sociology, University of Konstanz (Germany)
\nWednesday, April 4, 5 p.m.
\nThis event co-sponsored by Boston University’s Elie Wiesel Center for Judaic Studies<\/em>
\nRespondent: Martin Kavka (Department of Religion, Florida State University
\nModerator: Michael Zank (Department of Religion, Boston University)
\nBoston University School of Law Barristers Hall
\n765 Commonwealth Avenue, First Floor<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

2010-2011 Lecture Series: Toleration and Freedom in a Global Age<\/h3>
<\/p>\n

From head scarves to school prayer, the intersection of religion and politics raises important philosophical questions. How do American and European approaches to the issues of toleration and religious freedom compare? What are the best historical and contemporary arguments for toleration in an increasingly secular society? The institute’s annual lecture and conference series for 2010\u201311 will offer an interdisciplinary exploration of the relation between toleration and freedom in historical and contemporary perspective, culminating with a conference in Spring 2011 on specifically American approaches to the question of toleration. The institute will also play host in Spring 2011 to the annual Boston Area Symposium on the Philosophy of Religion.<\/p>\n

“The Secular, Secularizations, and Secularisms”<\/strong>
\nJos\u00e9 Casanova, Department of Sociology, Georgetown University
\nWednesday, September 15, 5 p.m.
\nBoston University School of Law Barristers Hall
\n765 Commonwealth Avenue First Floor
\nRespondent: Adam Seligman, Institute for Culture, Religion & World Affairs Boston University
\nThis event co-sponsored by Boston University’s Institute for Philosophy & Religion and Institute for Culture, Religion & World Affairs<\/em>
\nView the video<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cHobbes and Locke on Toleration\u201d<\/strong>
\nSusanne Sreedhar, Department of Philosophy, Boston University
\nWednesday, September 29, 5 p.m.
\nBoston University School of Law Barristers Hall
\n765 Commonwealth Avenue First Floor
\nView the video<\/a><\/p>\n

“Beyond Tolerance: Islam and Pluralism”<\/strong>
\nTariq Ramadan, HH Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani Professor of Contemporary Islamic Studies, Oxford University
\nWednesday, October 13, 5 p.m.
\nBoston University School of Law Auditorium 765
\nCommonwealth Avenue
\nThis event co-sponsored by Boston University’s Institute for Philosophy & Religion and Institute for Culture, Religion & World Affairs
\nView the video<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cCharitable Hatred? The Civil State and Liberty of Conscience in Early America\u201d<\/strong>
\nDavid D. Hall, Bartlett Research Professor of New England Church History, Harvard Divinity School
\nWednesday, October 20, 6 p.m.
\nBoston University School of Law Barristers Hall
\n765 Commonwealth Avenue First Floor
\nView the video<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cMadison’s Politics of Religion Revisisted\u201d<\/strong>
\nNoah Feldman, Bemis Professor of Law, Harvard Law School
\nWednesday, October 27, 5 p.m.
\nBoston University School of Law Barristers Hall
\n765 Commonwealth Avenue, First Floor
\nView the video<\/a><\/p>\n

“Tolerance Under Fire”<\/strong>
\nIan Buruma, Henry R. Luce Professor of Human Rights and Journalism, Bard College
\nWednesday, November 3, 5 p.m.
\nBoston University School of Law Barristers Hall
\n765 Commonwealth Avenue, First Floor
\nModerator: M. David Eckel, Department of Religion, Boston University
\nThis event co-sponsored by the Distinguished Teaching Professor Fund of the Core Curriculum<\/em>
\nView the video<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cFrom Augustine to Spinoza and Locke: Answering the Christian Case Against Religious Liberty\u201d<\/strong>
\nEdwin Curley, James B. and Grace J. Nelson Professor, Department of Philosophy, University of Michigan
\nWednesday, November 10, 5 p.m.
\nBoston University School of Law Barristers Hall
\n765 Commonwealth Avenue, First Floor
\nView the video<\/a><\/p>\n

“Tolerance Among the Virtues”<\/strong>
\nJohn Bowlin, Rimmer and Ruth de Vries Associate Professor of Reformed Theology and Public Life, Princeton Theological Seminary
\nWednesday, December 1, 6 p.m.
\nBoston University School of Law Barristers Hall
\n765 Commonwealth Avenue, First Floor
\nView the video<\/a><\/p>\n

“Toleration and Subscription: An Early Enlightenment Debate”<\/strong>
\nKnud Haakonssen, Professor of Intellectual History, Sussex Centre for Intellectual History, University of Sussex (UK)
\nWednesday, December 8, 6 pm
\nBoston University School of Law Barristers Hall
\n765 Commonwealth Avenue, First Floor<\/a><\/p>\n

IPR Focal Conference: \u201cToleration and Freedom:\u00a0The American Experience in Context\u201d<\/strong>
\nFriday, March 25, 2011, 9 a.m.\u20135 p.m.
\nBoston University Photonics Center Colloquium Room
\n<\/a>Participants:
\nAbdullah Ahmed An-Na’im, Emory University School of Law
\nNoah Feldman, Harvard Law School
\nDavid Hall, Harvard Divinity School
\nDavid Hollinger, Department of History, University of California, Berkeley
\nBenjamin Kaplan, Department of History, University College, London
\nErik Owens, Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life, Boston College
\nStuart Schwartz, Department of History, Yale University
\nJay Wexler, Boston University School of Law
\nIPR Annual Boston Area Symposium on the Philosophy of Religion: Book Session with Mark Johnston, Author of Saving God: Religion After Idolatry<\/em><\/strong>
\nTuesday, May 3, 2011, 3\u20135 p.m.
\nBoston University, 745 Commonwealth Avenue, Room STH 525
\nDiscussants:
\nAndrew Chignell (Cornell) and Dean Zimmerman (Rutgers) with a Response by Mark Johnston (Princeton)<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

2009-2010 Lecture Series: Narrative Wisdom\u2014Narrative Meaning<\/h3>
<\/p>\n

What is the role of story or narrative in human understanding? What specific human cognitive or imaginative capacities are required for the construction and discernment of narrative patterns in our lives? The institute’s annual lecture and conference series for 2009\u201310 will offer an interdisciplinary exploration of the importance of philosophical and religious narrative in human self-understanding, culminating with a conference in Spring 2010 on philosophical and intellectual life-story writing. The institute will also play host in February 2010 to the Boston Area Symposium on the Philosophy of Religion.<\/p>\n

“The Whole Story: Personal Identity, Narrative, and Biology”<\/strong>
\nMarya Schechtman, Department of Philosophy, University of Illinois at Chicago
\nWednesday, September 9, 5 p.m.
\nBoston University Photonics Center Colloquium Room
\n8 Saint Mary’s Street, Ninth Floor
\nModerator: Richard Eldridge, Department of Philosophy, Swarthmore College<\/p>\n

“Philosophical Insight, Emotion and Popular Fiction: The Case of Sunset Boulevard”<\/strong>
\nNo\u00ebl Carroll, Department of Philosophy, The Graduate Center\u2014City University of New York
\nWednesday, September 23
\nFilm Showing 5 p.m.
\nLecture 7 p.m.
\nBoston University Photonics Center Colloquium Room
\n8 Saint Mary’s Street, Ninth Floor
\nModerator: Leland Monk, Department of English, Boston University<\/p>\n

“Dostoevsky and the Literature of Process: What Open Time Looks Like”<\/strong>
\nGary Saul Morson, Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, Northwestern University
\nWednesday, October 14, 5 p.m.
\nBoston University College of Arts & Sciences Building
\n745 Commonwealth Avenue, Room 313
\nModerator: Katherine O’Connor, Department of Modern Languages & Comparative Literature, Boston University<\/p>\n

Panel: Cross-Cultural Religious Perspectives on Narrative<\/strong>
\nMichael Puett, Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, Harvard University
\nAnne Monius, Department of Sanskrit and Indian Studies, Harvard University
\nM. David Eckel, Department of Religion, Boston University
\nTuesday, October 27, 5 p.m.
\nBoston University Photonics Center Colloquium Room
\n8 Saint Mary\u2019s Street
\nModerator: John Berthrong, Associate Dean, School of Theology, Boston University<\/p>\n

“Narrative Form and the ‘Meaning’ of a Life”<\/strong>
\nJoshua Landy, Department of French and Italian, Stanford University
\nWednesday, November 4, 5 p.m.
\nBoston University School of Law Barristers Hall
\n765 Commonwealth Avenue, First Floor
\nRespondent: Professor Will Waters, Chair, Department of Modern Languages & Comparative Literature, Boston University<\/p>\n

“Narrative Thinking, Emotion, and Autobiographical Memory”<\/strong>
\nPeter Goldie, Department of Philosophy, University of Manchester (UK)
\nWednesday, November 18, 5 p.m.
\nBoston University School of Law Barristers Hall
\n765 Commonwealth Avenue, First Floor
\nModerator: Charles Griswold, Department of Philosophy, Boston University<\/p>\n

“Narrative, Anti-Narrative, and Self-Understanding”<\/strong>
\nRichard Moran, Department of Philosophy, Harvard University
\nWednesday, December 9, 6 p.m.
\nBoston University School of Law Barristers Hall
\n765 Commonwealth Avenue, First Floor
\nRespondent: David Roochnik, Professor of Philosophy, Boston University<\/p>\n

“We Live Beyond Any Tale That We Happen to Enact” [V. S. Pritchett]<\/strong>
\nGalen Strawson, Department of Philosophy, University of Reading (UK)
\nWednesday, February 17, 6 p.m.
\nBoston University School of Law Barristers Hall
\n765 Commonwealth Avenue, First Floor
\nCommentator: Christopher Ricks, Editorial Institute, Boston University
\nModerator: Am\u00e9lie Rorty, Department of Philosophy, Boston University<\/a><\/p>\n

IPR Annual Conference on the Philosophy of Religion: “What Is Religion?”<\/strong>
\nFriday, February 26, 9:30 a.m.\u20135 p.m.
\nBoston University School of Management, Kenmore Conference Center
\nOne Silber Way
\nPanel #1: David Eckel (Boston University), Moderator
\nDan Arnold (Chicago) “‘Religion’ as What is Tolerable: Jayanta Bhatta and the Issue of a Philosophical Case for Pluralism”
\nParimal Patil (Harvard), TBA
\nPanel #2: John Berthrong (Boston University), Moderator
\nAndrew Chignell (Cornell) “Religion as Hope”
\nAndrew Dole (Amherst) “Religion is about supernatural agents, and it is not (necessarily) universal”
\nPanel #3: Michael Zank (Boston University), Moderator
\nThomas A. Lewis (Brown) \u201cIntuition and Religion in the Kantian Aftermath\u201d
\nGarth W. Green (Boston University) “In the Shadow of Kant: ‘Religion’ and ‘Theology’ in Phenomenological Philosophy of Religion”
\nJennifer Herdt (Notre Dame) \u201cDisplacing the Secular: Transcendence and the Sacred\u201d<\/p>\n

IPR Focal Conference on Philosophical and Intellectual Biography, Autobiography and Memoir: A Fortieth Anniversary Celebration of the Institute<\/strong>
\nFriday, March 19, 9 a.m.\u20135 p.m.
\nBoston University Castle
\n225 Bay State Road
\nParticipants:
\nCharles Capper, Department of History, Boston University
\nDesmond Clarke, Emeritus, Department of Philosophy, University College, Cork (Ireland)
\nAaron Garrett, Department of Philosophy, Boston University
\nManfred Kuehn, Department of Philosophy, Boston University
\nAnthony LaVopa, Emeritus, Department of History, North Carolina State University
\nDavid Lyons, Department of Philosophy and School of Law, Boston University
\nRay Monk, Department of Philosophy, University of Southampton (UK)
\nSteven Nadler, Department of Philosophy, University of Wisconsin-Madison
\nSylvia Nasar, School of Journalism, Columbia University
\nAm\u00e9lie Rorty, Department of Philosophy, Boston University<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

2008-2009 Lecture Series: Justice in Conflict\u2014Justice in Peace<\/h3>
<\/p>\n

The institute’s main annual lecture and conference series for 2008\u201309 will focus on the topic of “Justice in Conflict\u2014Justice in Peace.” This series will gather a diverse group of scholars and leaders to focus on the question of how reconciliation emerges from conflict, to analyze the moral and political obligations following a conflict, and to suggest ways in which philosophical and religious thought may help guide decision-making.
\nThe nature of social, ethical and religious reconciliation will be explored in this series from a number of important perspectives. Some of our speakers have been concerned with the philosophical analysis of concepts like forgiveness and atonement; others have pursued research more directly on the religious conceptions of peace and toleration. Particular points of focus will include the notions of moral reconstruction following conflict, the institutional structure of efforts at “truth and reconciliation,” as well as the ongoing development of “just war” theory to incorporate not only its traditional concerns with the justice of the cause of war (jus ad bellum<\/em>) and how it is justly conducted (jus in bello<\/em>) but also with the moral obligations concerned with the period following a conflict (jus post bellum<\/em>).
\nA hallmark of this year’s series will be a focal conference on reconciliation, moral obligation and moral reconstruction in the wake of conflict (March 20\u201321, 2009). This conference will offer the opportunity for the interconnection of theoretical perspectives with the policy experience of those who have had direct involvement with important post-conflictual situations (Bosnia, South Africa, Israel\/Palestine). In addition to its series on “Justice in Conflict\u2014Justice in Peace,” the institute will also play host to the second annual Boston Area Symposium on the Philosophy of Religion.<\/p>\n

“Justice After War: Who Believes What? and Why?”<\/strong>
\nBrian Orend, University of Waterloo
\nWednesday, September 24, 5 p.m.
\nBoston University School of Law Barristers Hall
\n765 Commonwealth Avenue, First Floor<\/p>\n

“The Iraq War: \u2018Fishing with a Golden Net\u2019?”<\/strong>
\nDan Caldwell, Pepperdine University
\nWednesday, October 15, 5 p.m.
\nBoston University School of Law Barristers Hall
\n765 Commonwealth Avenue, First Floor<\/p>\n

“The Status and Standing of Just War Theory”<\/strong>
\nBryan Hehir, Harvard Kennedy School
\nTuesday, November 4, 5 p.m.
\nBoston University School of Law Barristers Hall
\n765 Commonwealth Avenue, First Floor<\/p>\n

“Jus Post Bellum<\/em> and Dilemmas of Individual Criminal Responsibility”<\/strong>
\nCarsten Stahn, Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies, Leiden University
\nTuesday, November 18, 5 p.m.
\nBoston University Photonics Center
\n8 Saint Mary\u2019s Street, Room 211<\/p>\n

“War and Poetry”: An Evening of Readings, Analysis, and Discussion<\/strong>
\nJames Winn, Boston University
\nTuesday, December 2, 7\u20139 p.m.
\nThe Castle
\n225 Bay State Road<\/p>\n

“A World Government: Is It Possible? Is It Needed?”<\/strong>
\nPredrag Cicovacki, College of the Holy Cross
\nWednesday, January 21, 5 p.m.
\nBoston University School of Law Barristers Hall
\n765 Commonwealth Avenue, First Floor<\/p>\n

The Leroy Rouner Memorial Lecture<\/strong>
\nJean Bethke Elshtain, University of Chicago
\nWednesday, March 4, 5 p.m.
\nBoston University School of Law Barristers Hall
\n765 Commonwealth Avenue, First Floor<\/p>\n

IPR Focal Conference on Reconciliation, Moral Obligation, and Moral Reconstruction in the Wake of Conflict<\/strong>
\nFriday, March 20\u2013Saturday March 21, 9 a.m.\u20135 p.m.
\nBoston University Photonics Center Colloquium Room
\n8 Saint Mary\u2019s Street, Ninth Floor
\nParticipants:
\nAndrew Bacevich, Boston University
\nAnat Biletzki, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Tel Aviv
\nClaudia Card, University of Wisconsin-Madison
\nEhud Eiran, Brandeis University, Harvard Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
\nNir Eisikovits, Suffolk University
\nCharles Griswold, Boston University
\nWilliam Long, Georgia Institute of Technology
\nAlice MacLachlan, York University
\nPadraig O’Malley, University of Massachusetts at Boston
\nAbdulaziz Sachedina, University of Virginia
\nMargaret Urban Walker, Arizona State University
\nAjume Wingo, University of Colorado<\/p>\n

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