Wed 3/10/2010 5:15 PM ~ Wed 3/10/2010 6:30 PM

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A lecture by Devin A. DeWeese, professor in the Department of Central Eurasian Studies and the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at Indiana University (Bloomington). This presentation explores recently discovered documents about the life and religious personality of Khudāydād (d. 939/1532), the most important saint of the Yasavī Sufi order of Central Asia during the early 16th century. These new materials shed light on a pattern of selective adaptation and augmentation in the hagiographical depiction of Khudāydād, and this pattern is in turn of interest with regard to a frequent conundrum in the study of hagiographical works: when (and how) do such works bend the memory of the saint they celebrate in order to reflect paradigmatic norms and the formulaic narrative patterns that evoke them, and when (and how) do they bring us close to a unique, flesh-and-blood personality? Co-sponsored with the Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies and the Ho Center for Buddhist Studies at Stanford. Free and open to the public.

Thu 4/8/2010 5:15 PM ~ Thu 4/8/2010 6:30 PM

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A lecture by Stephen J. Patterson, Professor of New Testament, Eden Theological Seminary. Jesus of Nazareth was a teacher. In the New Testament this is often overshadowed by the much greater interest these texts take in Jesus the savior, Jesus the Christ. But in the Gospel of Thomas, an early Christian gospel not found in the New Testament, Jesus is remembered as a sage, whose wise words bring insight and enlightenment to the student willing to contemplate their meaning. In this very different gospel, Jesus does not answer questions like, "How shall I be saved?" or "How will the world end?" Instead, he utters provocative aphorisms and parables designed to make one think about life, the human self, and the world around us. In this lecture, Prof. Patterson will invite consideration of how different Christianity appears in the Gospel of Thomas: a religion not of Jesus the savior, but of Jesus the sage. Free and open to the public.

Thu 5/13/2010 5:15 PM ~ Thu 5/13/2010 6:30 PM

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A lecture by Robert Gimello (Notre Dame), 2009-10 Shinnyo-en Visiting Professor at Stanford. In the forty-five years since its promulgation during Vatican II, Nostra Aetate’s impact has been enormous. It has both stimulated and licensed a veritable flood of theological reflection and argument, even to the point of generating whole new sub-disciplines of theology, like “comparative theology” and “theology of the religions.” This presentation will survey the major themes and voices in post-Vatican II debates about the Church's relationship to other religions, but it will also join in them as they pertain especially to the Buddhadharma, this with the intent of showing how Catholic theology can acknowledge, celebrate, and profit from those aspects of Buddhist thought and practice that are consonant with its own verities without ignoring important, even fundamental differences and antinomies. Click on the title of the lecture above for a full abstract and more information about the speaker. Co-sponsored with the Ho Center for Buddhist Studies at Stanford. Free and open to the public.

Thu 4/29/2010 5:15 PM ~ Thu 4/29/2010 6:30 PM

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A lecture by Ra'anan Boustan, assistant professor of ancient Mediterranean religious, UCLA. Cosponsored by the Ho Center for Buddhist Studies at Stanford and The Taube Center for Jewish Studies at Stanford. Free and open to the public.

Thu 4/15/2010 7:30 PM ~ Thu 4/15/2010 8:30 PM

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A lecture by Leonard van der Kuijp, Harvard University. Cosponsored by Department of Religious Studies, Stanford Humanities Center, Ho Center for Buddhist Studies at Stanford, and the Tibetan Studies Initiative. Free and open to the public.