Illahee Lecture Series
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The Illahee Lecture Series began in 1999 and has hosted over 50 nationally and internationally known speakers. The lectures provide a forum for science-based, policy-relevant environmental inquiry. Please visit our archives page for more information about our past lectures.
All lectures at First Congregational Church (1126 SW Park, Portland).
7:30 PM (Doors open at 6:30).
2008 Illahee Lecture Series
Why We Believe
What We Believe
Purchase Tickets
Why do we buy the car we can’t afford? Vote for the politician we know will let us down? Fight in the “War to End All Wars” over and over? Believe in a higher power we can’t see? In short, why do we believe what we believe? After looking at motivations for our odd economic, cooperative and bellicose behavior, we’ll zero in on a belief common to nearly all people around the world: the presence of a higher power to provide answers to life’s most difficult questions. Why are we here? How should we live? How should we treat each other? How should we treat the rest of creation? We might be so bold as to ask, “If we agree that spirituality, through religion, can guide us to better relationships with each other and with creation, why aren’t we there yet?” Join us in 2008 as we explore "why we believe what we believe."
Speakers:
Thursday, Jan 24, 2008
Andrew Newberg
Born to Believe
Where do our beliefs come from, and why do we hold on to some of them even if there is evidence to the contrary? Why, for example, do we continue to be fascinated by God, religion, haunted houses, UFOs, conspiracy theories, and miracle cures, even when science can dispute many of these claims? Based upon his neurological research (including new studies with Franciscan nuns, atheists, and evangelicals speaking in tongues), Dr. Newberg correlates a wide range of human beliefs with specific perceptual, social, and biological factors. He argues that some beliefs can enhance our physical and emotional well-being while others can function destructively, not only upon one’s self, but upon society as well. Andrew Newberg is an Associate Professor in the Department of Radiology and Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the director and co-founder of the Center for Spirituality and the Neurosciences, also at the University of Pennsylvania.
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Thursday, February 28, 2008
Juliet Schor
Why We Buy
In the aftermath of 9/11, what was asked of Americans? Just one thing: keep shopping. Ours is a culture of consumption. How did a nation of thrifty immigrants become obsessed with buying stuff, and more stuff? What are the implications of our fifty-year spending spree, for how we live, for how we work, and for the future of the planet? Juliet Schor explores some of these questions in her current work, and in her best-selling books, The Overworked American: The Unexpected Decline of Leisure, The Overspent American: Why We Want What We Don't Need, and Born to Buy: The Commercialized Child and the New Consumer Culture. Dr. Schor is Professor of Sociology at Boston College. Before joining Boston College, she taught at Harvard University for 17 years, in the Department of Economics and the Committee on Degrees in Women's Studies.
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Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Christopher Hedges
Why We Fight…
From Latin America, to the Balkans, to the Middle East, Christopher Hedges has witnessed and written about war for nearly twenty years. In addition to his tenure at The New York Times, he has written for The Nation, Foreign Affairs, Harper's Magazine, The New York Review of Books, Granta, Mother Jones, New Humanist and Truthdig. Hedges was an early and vocal critic of the plan to invade and occupy Iraq. He questioned the rationale for war by the Bush administration and was critical of the early press coverage, calling it "shameful cheerleading." Hedges maintains that he is not a pacifist, but describes war as "the most potent narcotic invented by humankind." Hedges books include War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, American Fascists and Why I Don't Believe in Atheists. He holds a Masters of Divinity from Harvard University.
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Wednesday, April 9, 2008
RESCHEDULED TO FALL 2008
Scott Atran
…And Die for It
Scott Atran’s wide-ranging, interdisciplinary approach to social, psychological and cultural issues, along with the unusual breadth and depth of his personal experience in both the Arab and Israeli Middle East, provides his analysis of the religious roots of suicide terrorism a rare blend of intellectual and practical force. Published in scientific journals, this work has also been featured by news and print media around the world. Atran's books include The Cognitive Foundations of Natural History: Towards an Anthropology of Science, In Gods We Trust: The Evolutionary Landscape of Religion, and The Native Mind: Cognition and Culture in Human Knowledge of Nature. Dr. Atran is research director in anthropology at the National Center for Scientific Research in Paris, France, and visiting professor of psychology and public policy at the University of Michigan.
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Tuesday, April 29, 2008
James D. Tabor
Who Was Jesus?
We often hear that America “is a Christian nation” and indeed most Americans practice some form of Christianity. But who is – or was - Jesus Christ? James Tabor has studied the earliest surviving documents of Christianity for more than thirty years and has participated in important archeological excavations in Israel. Drawing on this background, Tabor reconstructs for us the movement that sought the spiritual, social, and political redemption of the Jews, a movement led by one family. He offers an alternative version of Christian origins, one that takes us closer than ever to Jesus and his family and followers. James D. Tabor is chair of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He holds a Ph.D. in biblical studies from the University of Chicago and is an expert on the Dead Sea Scrolls and Christian origins.
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Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Julia Sweeney
Letting Go of God
What happens when we lose our faith? Julia Sweeney has a knack for creating characters on stage and screen, who we recognize in the mirror. She been a cast member of Saturday Night Live, well-known for her depiction of the androgynous nerd “Pat.” She has appeared on the big screen in Pulp Fiction, Clockstoppers, Whatever It Takes, and Stuart Little; and on the small screen in George & Leo, Maybe It's Me, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Hope & Gloria, Mad About You, According to Jim, and Sex and the City. Her more recent stage work includes In the Family Way and Letting Go of God, in which she discusses her Catholic upbringing, early religious ideology, and the life events and internal search that led her to believe that the universe can function on its own without a deity to preside over it.
Why We Believe
What We Believe
Purchase Tickets
Why do we buy the car we can’t afford? Vote for the politician we know will let us down? Fight in the “War to End All Wars” over and over? Believe in a higher power we can’t see? In short, why do we believe what we believe? After looking at motivations for our odd economic, cooperative and bellicose behavior, we’ll zero in on a belief common to nearly all people around the world: the presence of a higher power to provide answers to life’s most difficult questions. Why are we here? How should we live? How should we treat each other? How should we treat the rest of creation? We might be so bold as to ask, “If we agree that spirituality, through religion, can guide us to better relationships with each other and with creation, why aren’t we there yet?” Join us in 2008 as we explore "why we believe what we believe."
Speakers:
Thursday, Jan 24, 2008
Andrew Newberg
Born to Believe
Where do our beliefs come from, and why do we hold on to some of them even if there is evidence to the contrary? Why, for example, do we continue to be fascinated by God, religion, haunted houses, UFOs, conspiracy theories, and miracle cures, even when science can dispute many of these claims? Based upon his neurological research (including new studies with Franciscan nuns, atheists, and evangelicals speaking in tongues), Dr. Newberg correlates a wide range of human beliefs with specific perceptual, social, and biological factors. He argues that some beliefs can enhance our physical and emotional well-being while others can function destructively, not only upon one’s self, but upon society as well. Andrew Newberg is an Associate Professor in the Department of Radiology and Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the director and co-founder of the Center for Spirituality and the Neurosciences, also at the University of Pennsylvania.
-----
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Juliet Schor
Why We Buy
In the aftermath of 9/11, what was asked of Americans? Just one thing: keep shopping. Ours is a culture of consumption. How did a nation of thrifty immigrants become obsessed with buying stuff, and more stuff? What are the implications of our fifty-year spending spree, for how we live, for how we work, and for the future of the planet? Juliet Schor explores some of these questions in her current work, and in her best-selling books, The Overworked American: The Unexpected Decline of Leisure, The Overspent American: Why We Want What We Don't Need, and Born to Buy: The Commercialized Child and the New Consumer Culture. Dr. Schor is Professor of Sociology at Boston College. Before joining Boston College, she taught at Harvard University for 17 years, in the Department of Economics and the Committee on Degrees in Women's Studies.
-----
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Christopher Hedges
Why We Fight…
From Latin America, to the Balkans, to the Middle East, Christopher Hedges has witnessed and written about war for nearly twenty years. In addition to his tenure at The New York Times, he has written for The Nation, Foreign Affairs, Harper's Magazine, The New York Review of Books, Granta, Mother Jones, New Humanist and Truthdig. Hedges was an early and vocal critic of the plan to invade and occupy Iraq. He questioned the rationale for war by the Bush administration and was critical of the early press coverage, calling it "shameful cheerleading." Hedges maintains that he is not a pacifist, but describes war as "the most potent narcotic invented by humankind." Hedges books include War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, American Fascists and Why I Don't Believe in Atheists. He holds a Masters of Divinity from Harvard University.
-----
RESCHEDULED TO FALL 2008
Scott Atran
…And Die for It
Scott Atran’s wide-ranging, interdisciplinary approach to social, psychological and cultural issues, along with the unusual breadth and depth of his personal experience in both the Arab and Israeli Middle East, provides his analysis of the religious roots of suicide terrorism a rare blend of intellectual and practical force. Published in scientific journals, this work has also been featured by news and print media around the world. Atran's books include The Cognitive Foundations of Natural History: Towards an Anthropology of Science, In Gods We Trust: The Evolutionary Landscape of Religion, and The Native Mind: Cognition and Culture in Human Knowledge of Nature. Dr. Atran is research director in anthropology at the National Center for Scientific Research in Paris, France, and visiting professor of psychology and public policy at the University of Michigan.
-----
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
James D. Tabor
Who Was Jesus?
We often hear that America “is a Christian nation” and indeed most Americans practice some form of Christianity. But who is – or was - Jesus Christ? James Tabor has studied the earliest surviving documents of Christianity for more than thirty years and has participated in important archeological excavations in Israel. Drawing on this background, Tabor reconstructs for us the movement that sought the spiritual, social, and political redemption of the Jews, a movement led by one family. He offers an alternative version of Christian origins, one that takes us closer than ever to Jesus and his family and followers. James D. Tabor is chair of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He holds a Ph.D. in biblical studies from the University of Chicago and is an expert on the Dead Sea Scrolls and Christian origins.
-----
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Julia Sweeney
Letting Go of God
What happens when we lose our faith? Julia Sweeney has a knack for creating characters on stage and screen, who we recognize in the mirror. She been a cast member of Saturday Night Live, well-known for her depiction of the androgynous nerd “Pat.” She has appeared on the big screen in Pulp Fiction, Clockstoppers, Whatever It Takes, and Stuart Little; and on the small screen in George & Leo, Maybe It's Me, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Hope & Gloria, Mad About You, According to Jim, and Sex and the City. Her more recent stage work includes In the Family Way and Letting Go of God, in which she discusses her Catholic upbringing, early religious ideology, and the life events and internal search that led her to believe that the universe can function on its own without a deity to preside over it.