Parliament of Worlds Religion 2009 Melbourne Australia

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

Page 192

PROGRAM DES
Saturday, December 5, 2009
of religion, form a partnership that alone will enable us to overcome the challenges that our planet faces today. This is the first of three coordinated sessions on the topic of science and spirituality. A grant from the International Society for Science and Religion enables us to bring leading figures in this field to present and to discuss with the audience. These scientists and religious practitioners will describe how science and spirituality are similar, how they are different, and how they can work in harmony. The later two sessions, Science, Spirituality, and Overcoming Religious Conflict' and 'Science, Spirituality, and Environmental Activism', will then focus on how the partnership can have a positive effect on concrete issues in the world. After an opening presentation on the global dialogue between science and religion today, Peter Doherty, winner of the Nobel Prize for Medicine, will present on the global environmental crisis. Following his talk, a panel will engage in a time of open dialogue with the audience.
Philip Clayton is Ingraham Professor at Claremont School of Theology and Professor of Religion and Philosophy at Claremont Graduate University. He specialises in conflicts and connections between the sciences and religion, with particular focus on the biological sciences and the environmental crisis. He is the author or editor of seventeen books and over 100 articles, including the recent 'Oxford Handbook of Religion and Science' and 'In Quest of Freedom: The Emergence of Spirit in the Natural World'.
Peter Doherty is one of the world's leading medical researchers. Among many other honours, Doherty received the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1996 for his work on the immune system, and he was named Australian of the Year in 1997. In recent years, he has lectured widely on the global environmental crisis.
Dr Chaudhari received his PhD in physical metallurgy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He joined IBM in 1996. In addition to carrying out his personal research, he has held various management responsibilities in science and technologies. He retired from IBM in 2003 and became the Director of Brookhaven National Laboratory until 2006, when he returned to science. Dr Chaudhari has published over 160 technical papers and holds over three dozen patents.
F LeRon Shults is professor of theology and philosophy at the University of Agder in Kristiansand, Norway. A leading authority on science and theology, he has published some ten books and dozens of articles in the field. Shults is the editor of the Brill book series 'Philosophical Studies in Science and Religion and scientific director of the Transforming Compassion project at Stiftelsen Arkivet, a peace-building institute in Norway. His other current research interests include ethics, desire, differentiation and religious symbolism.
Denis Edwards is professor of theology at Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia. An ecological theologian, he has published widely on the interactions among ecology, environmental science and religion. Among his best-known books are 'Breath of Life: A Theology of the Creator Spirit'. The God of Evolution: A Trinitarian Theology, and Jesus and the Cosmos. He will soon publish 'The Holy Spirit and Ecological Theology".
Prof Pauline Rudd, BSc, LRIC, MA (Oxon), PhD, one of the world's leading molecular biologists, is head of the Dublin-Oxford Glycobiology Lab in Dublin, Ireland. She is Honorary Professor at St George's Hospital, London; is affiliated with the SAB Rega Institute for Medical Research, University of Leuven; and is Founding Scientist at Wessex Biochemicals (Sigma London). Rudd is a lay member of the Community of St Mary the Virgin in Oxfordshire and an internationally sought-after speaker on the world's mystical traditions.
188 PWR- Parliament of the World's Religions Jain Education International
9:30-11:00am INTRARELIGIOUS SESSION
Working with Self, Benefiting Others
Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche
Kelvin Koay
Stanley Chun-Wei Lee Room 211
Panel Discussion
Local religious practitioners will share and discuss how we can balance working with ourselves and benefiting others. Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche, President and Spiritual Director of Kagyu E-Vam Buddhist Institute in Melbourne and the E-Vam Institute in upstate New York, will discuss the importance and impact of interfaith dialogue and the benefits such dialogue brings to all spiritual practitioners. In the second part of this program the Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation will moderate discussion focused on how the Tzu Chi way is to walk into the community to help those in need to make the world a better place to live. The aim is to start influencing people around you and your community into engaging work that can help other people, and the earth, such as environmental protection and charity within the community. Through the act of helping others and the earth, we learn from it, and uplift our spirituality.
Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche is President and Spiritual Director of Kagyu E-Vam Buddhist Institute in Melbourne and E-Vam Institute in upstate New York. He was recognised as the ninth incarnation of the Traleg line by His Holiness the XVI Gyalwa Karmapa and was accorded the title Kyabgon, a significant distinction retained by only a few lineage holders of the Tibetan tradition. Rinpoche has been a leader in Australia in interfaith and Buddhist intrafaith dialogue for over twenty-five years.
Kelvin Koay is a Medical Science student in Melbourne University. Kelvin, who is Malaysian Chinese, was inspired by the teachings of Master Cheng Yen to come to Melbourne to study medicine in 2006. At the age of 8, he became actively involved in volunteer work of Tzu Chi Foundation in Malaysia. Kelvin is currently the president of Tzu Chi Collegiate Youth Association in Melbourne.
Stanley Chun-Wei Lee comes from a family of Chinese descent. Born in Taipei, Taiwan in 1983, his family migrated to New Zealand in 1995. He has a BS with honours and MS in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Auckland, and is working toward a PhD in Melbourne. Stanley joined Tzu Chi Collegiate Youth Association in 2002, inspired by the wisdom of Master Cheng Yen. He considers being a Tzu Chi volunteer a lifetime mission.
Thomas Berry and
the Great Work of Our Time
Mary Evelyn Tucker
John Grim
Christopher Key Chapple
Anne Marie Dalton
Room 212
Panel Discussion
The renowned cultural historian and geologian, Thomas Berry, passed away in June of this year at age 94. For decades, he brought a vision of hope and inspiration to so many around the world through his articulation of a new story for our time. He viewed the evolution of the universe, of Earth, and of humans as an immense journey through time. From this unifying journey story he urged us to