Religion and Spirituality (Video)

Wendy Doniger is a Professor of the History of Religions at the University of Chicago and one of the most important interpreters of myth. In this Fourth Annual Ninian Smart Memorial Lecture at UC Santa Barbara she explores the narrative convention in myth. Series: "Humanitas" [Humanities] [Show ID: 9410]

Jim Wallis, author of the best-selling "God's Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It.," and his wife Joy Carroll Wallis join Dean Nelson for a spirited talk on religion, writing and politics in this program from the 2005 Writer's Symposium by the Sea sponsored by Point Loma Nazarene University. Series: "Writer's Symposium By The Sea" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 9276]

Professor Eck is interviewed by Professor Wade Clark Roof, Director of the Walter H. Capps Center for the Study of Ethics, Religion and Public Life at UC Santa Barbara. Their conversation centers on the growing diversity of religious thought in America and the impact that this is having on American culture and society. Series: "Ethics, Religion and Public Life: Walter H. Capps Center Series" [Humanities] [Show ID: 9411]

Author and Harvard professor Diana Eck documents the growing presence of Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Sikh and other religious communities in the United States and offers insight into how people of all faiths should celebrate this rich diversity in this event sponsored by the Helen Edison Lecture Series and the San Diego Public Library. Series: "Helen Edison Lecture Series" [Humanities] [Show ID: 9339]

Political Scientist Vali Nasr joins host Harry Kreisler for a discussion of the role of Islam in politics. Series: "Conversations with History" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 9171]

A pre-eminent voice for liberal Christianity, John Shelby Spong was the Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Newark for 24 years before his retirement in 2000. His admirers acclaim his making contemporary theology accessible to the ordinary lay person—he's considered a champion of an inclusive faith by many both inside and outside the Christian church. His challenges to the church have also made him a target of hostility, fear, and death threats. Calling himself "a joyful, passionate, convinced believer in the reality of God," he seeks not to create a new religion, but to reform the church he loves. Series: "Burke Lectureship on Religion and Society" [Humanities] [Show ID: 9117]

Rabbi James Rudin, senior inter-religious adviser at the American Jewish Committee, and Professor Akbar S. Ahmed, the Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies and professor of International Relations at American University in Washington, D.C. discuss Judaism and Islam. Series: "Taubman Symposia in Jewish Studies" [Humanities] [Show ID: 9088]

Noted Holocaust scholar, author and lecturer, Alvin H. Rosenfeld, Director of the Institute of Jewish Culture and the Arts, and Professor of English at Indiana University, explores the changing images of the Holocaust's most famous victim over time, and attempts to explain why one particular version of Anne Frank has been favored over others. Sponsored by the Herman P. and Sophia Taubman Foundation at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Series: "Taubman Symposia in Jewish Studies" [Humanities] [Show ID: 8872]

Craig Blomberg, a specialist in the parables and the writings of Luke and Acts, discusses the historical Jesus. Series: "Let There Be Light" [Humanities] [Show ID: 8894]

Geoffrey Hartman, Sterling Professor Emeritus of English and Comparative Literature at Yale University, discusses the multi-voiced archives which have been gathered to document the destruction of European Jewry. As faculty advisor and project director to the Fortunoff Video Archives of Holocaust Testimonies at Yale University, Professor Hartman has been actively involved in its growth and has written extensively about the Archive and its work. Series: "Taubman Symposia in Jewish Studies" [Humanities] [Show ID: 8829]