A University of Queensland researcher will examine whether religion is a good idea in a free public lecture in Brisbane on April 20.
Professor Philip Almond will examine the notion that the single most pressing problem facing religion in the new millennium is that of religious pluralism.
The lecture is the second in a program of public lectures by Faculty of Arts researchers for UQ's new Centre for Critical and Cultural Studies, which aims to promote research culture within the arts and humanities.
Professor Almond said religions formed a crucial part of the ideologies which reinforced modern nationalisms and ethnic and cultural identities.
"Conflict within and between religions will remain a feature of the religious contemporary scene as we move into the new Millennium," he said.
Professor Almond said people in Western cultures knew more about religions - about Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Judaism, and the religions of tribal peoples - than ever before. Religious life in the West was now lived in the context of religious pluralism.
His lecture will examine Western understanding of the world's religions particularly since the 17th century "Enlightenment" movement. It will argue that the problem of religious pluralism needed to be seen in the light both of the Enlightenment "naturalising" of religions and 19th century colonialism and imperialism.
The discussion will attempt to open up possibilities of inter-religious understanding to mitigate the problems inherent in a religiously plural world.
Phillip C. Almond is a Professor of Studies in Religion and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. He is the author of many articles and a number of books including Mystical Experience and Religious Doctrine (Berlin 1982), The British Discovery of Buddhism (Cambridge 1988), Muhummad and the Victorians (Wiesbaden, 1989), Heaven and Hell in Enlightenment England (Cambridge 1994), and Adam & Eve in Seventeenth-Century Thought (Cambridge, 1999).
The Centre for Critical and Cultural Studies' 2000 lecture program will showcase the diversity of research in the fields of critical and cultural studies at The University of Queensland.
The Almond lecture, to be chaired by Centre director Professor Graeme Turner, will begin at 5.30pm on Thursday, April 20 in Mayne Hall, St Lucia campus.
Media: For more information, contact Professor Graeme Turner telephone 3365 7183; Professor Philip Almond, telephone 07 3365 3288; or Jan King, UQ Communications, telephone 07 3365 1120.
Enquiries can also be directed to communications@mailbox.uq.edu.au
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