CONFERENCE PROGRAM
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 25TH
9:55am
Gregory Simpson, Dean of the College of Arts and
Sciences
Welcome Address
10am
– 11:30am
Gadadhara Pandit Dasa, Columbia University &
NYU
Keynote Address: ‘Teaching Hinduism to non-Hindus’
11:30am
– 1pm: Lunch Break
1pm
– 2pm
Daniel Liechty, Illinois State University
‘A Psychosocial Theory of Religion: Its
Significance for Academic Religious Studies’
2pm
– 3pm
Jack Laughlin & Kornel Zathureczky, University
of Sudbury
‘Citizens United for Religious Studies Education:
Teaching Religion Beyond the Curses of Literacy & Eliminationism’
3pm
– 4pm
Katherine Jo, University of
Illinois—Champaign-Urbana
‘Philosophy as Religious Education: Exploring the
Common Ground & Divergent Truths of the Religious and the Secular’
4pm
– 5:30pm
Mark Berkson, Hamline University
Keynote Address: ‘Why, How, & Who? Exploring the Big Questions in Religious Studies Pedagogy’
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 26TH
9am
– 10am
Michael Barnes Norton, University of Arkansas
‘The Importance of the Study of Religion for
Philosophy: Two Cases’
10am
– 11am
Lisa Landoe-Hedrick, University of Chicago Divinity
School
‘Cognitive Maturity & Responsible Selves:
Pragmatist Insights for Interpersonal Communication & their Methodological
Import for Religious Studies’
11am
– Noon
Nathan C.
Walker, Columbia University Teachers College
‘Teaching Legal Research &
Analysis in Religious Studies’
Noon
– 1pm: Lunch Break
1pm
– 2pm
Daniel Breyer, Illinois
State University
‘Naturalizing Religion: Three Buddhist Ideas that
Even Non-Buddhists Can Endorse’
Distinguished
Speakers
Mark Berkson is Chair of the Department of Religion at Hamline
University in St. Paul, MN. Professor Berkson’s research focuses on comparative
religion, religious ethics, and interreligious dialogue. In 2008, he received
Hamline University’s prestigious Outstanding Faculty Award. Recently, Professor
Berkson produced a lecture series with The
Great Courses entitled Cultural
Literacy for Religion: Everything the Well-Educated Person Should Know.
Gadadhara Pandit Dasa (aka, Pandit) is a Hindu monk, a dynamic lecturer,
and the first-ever Hindu chaplain for Columbia University and New York
University. Pandit regularly contributes to the Huffington Post and recently published his autobiography, Urban Monk - Exploring Karma, Consciouness
and the Divine. Recently, NPR featured Pandit in its story, ‘Long Days and
Short Nights of a Hindu Monk.’
Mark Muesse is an Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Rhodes
College in Memphis, TN. Professor Muesse’s research focuses on comparative
religion and spirituality. This August, he
published his most recent book, The Age of Sages: The Axial Age in Asia.
In 2008, Professor
Muesse won the Clarence Day Award for Outstanding Teaching, Rhodes College's
highest faculty honor. Unfortunately, Professor Muesse experienced health
problems that prevented him from attending the conference. Look for a version
of his paper on the conference blog soon: http://whystudyreligion.blogspot.com