Parliament of Worlds Religion 1993 Chicago IL

Author(s): Parliament of the World’s Religions
Publisher: USA Parliament of the Worlds Religions

Page 130

SESSION 12
4:00 PM-4:30 PM Sandburg Wing #8
*Religious Pluralism in Hinduism
in Light of Sri Vivekananda's Message" Dr. Chandana Chakrabarti
This paper will explore and analyse various implications of two fundamental theories viz., religious pluralism and religious monism. Most of the so-called religious wars are the result of taking any one religion to be "the only" religion of the world. In order to transcend this distinction we need to have a better understanding of the Ultimate Reality which appears to be masked in different "costumes." To a monistic Hindu, this revelation is real and true only from the empirical and conventional point of view. Religious and racist violence will be traced to mistaken identification of the conventional with other possibilities for the "real" nature of truth.
4:30 PM-5:00 PM Sandburg Wing #8 "Hinduisms' and 'Judaisms': Embodied Communities and Ethnocultural Integrity" Barbara Holdrege
The differences between the Hindu and Jewish traditions have often been emphasized, so much so that these traditions have generally been characterized as representing opposite ends of the spectrum of world religions. Contrary to the stereotypical characterizations, brahmanical "Hinduism" and rabbinic "Judaism" may represent two species of the same genus of "religious tradition." The comparative study of these traditions provides the basis for developing an alternative paradigm of "religious tradition" founded on categories different from those Christian-based categories of interpretation which have tended to dominate the academic study of religion. Barbara Holdrege-Associate Professor of the Comparative History of Religions, University of California, Santa Barbara; research has focused on historical and textual studies of selected topics within the Hindu and Jewish traditions, as well as cross-cultural analyses of categories such as scripture, myth, and ritual; author, Veda and Torah; Transcending the Textuality of Scripture; and The Mythic Dimension of Religious Life; as well as an edited collection, Ritual and Power, Journal of Ritual Studies, 4, #2 (Summer 1990).
00 PM-5:30 PM Sandburg Wing #8
Swami Vivekananda's Neo-Vedantic
Universality: Its Relevance to the Reconstruction of South African Society" Dr. Nelistra Singh
This paper will seek to portray the universalistic principles spoused in the Neo-Vedanta philosophy of Swami Vivekananda, with a particular focus on his philosophy of the harmony of religions. A further focus of the paper will be on the relevance of universalism and harmony to the spiritual recontruction of South African society.
Dr. Nelistra Singh-Senior Lecturer, Department of Science and Religion, University of Durban-Westville, Durban, South Africa; specialist in Hinduism, new religious movements; sociology of religion.
SESSIONS 13-18, THURSDAY, 9/2
SESSION 13
10:00 AM-10:45 AM Sandburg Wing #7 Beyond East and West: The Vedantic Vision of a Global Village Community"
am N. Singh
the participation of the spiritual leader, Swami Vivekanada, in he First World's Parliament of Religions in 1893 contributed
The Academy-Thursday, September 2
greatly to bringing Eastern and Western religions together. This paper presents the Swami's message about abandoning provincialism and exploring our common biological, psychological, social, and cultural needs in order to build a global community.
10:45 AM-11:30 AM Sandburg Wing #7 "Experiential Phenomenology: A New Paradigm from Comparative Religion?" George M. Williams
Can there be meaningful interfaith dialogue without an understanding of the diversity of religious experience?
11:30 AM-12:15 PM Sandburg Wing #7
"The Significance of Religious Diversity"
Robert McKim
The purpose of this lecture is to explore some implications of the fact that the major religions of the world disagree fundamentally in their claims about those things which religions purport to describe, such as the nature of any supernatural beings, if they claim that there are any such beings, the nature of human beings, and how it came about that there is a universe. This paper appeals to the diversity of beliefs in making a case for the importance of examining, questioning, and comparing our beliefs about religion. It argues that the fact of religious diversity suggests that the matters about which the beliefs are held are ambiguous, that these are areas in which the available evidence does not point clearly in one direction rather than another, and in which it is unclear what we ought to believe. Robert McKim-Associate Professor in the departments of Religion and Philosophy at the Universityof Illinois at Urbana; has written on the philosophy of religion, the history of philosophy and ethics.
SESSION 14
4:30 PM-5:00 PM Sandburg Wing #7
"Buddhism and Pluralism: A Tension?"
Ven. Mahinda Deegalle
This paper will examine Theravada Buddhist attitudes towards other religions and how tension emerges in relations between religions in modern society. Focus on doctrinal dimensions of the problem as well as on practical aspects of religious pluralism in Sri Lanka today. Ven. Mahinda Deegalle-Theravadin Buddhist monk from Sri Lanka; Ph.D. Candidate in History of Religions, University of Chicago; has taught at the Pali and Buddhist University of Sri Lanka.
5:00 PM-5:30 PM Sandburg Wing #7 "Angarika Dharmapala, The Man and His Vision of Buddhism in a Religiously Plural World" Dr. Ananda Wickremeratne
Angarika Dharmapala, a particpant in the original World Parliament of Religions, is a critical figure in the historiography of South Asia and in the spheres of religious anthropology and culture in the Western World. This paper explores his significance then and now.
Dr. Ananda Wickremeratne-Visiting Professor in Religion at Loyola University; Visiting Fellow and Associate Member of the Committee on Southern Asian Studies, University of Chicago.
SESSION 15
4:00 PM-4:30 PM Sandburg Wing #7 "Separation of Church and State at the Crossroads: Zobrest v. Catalina Hills School District" Prof. Paul Siegel; Robert Hahn, M.S., CSC
As commentators and jurists have frequently pointed out, the
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