April 23, 2015
On May 1st, renowned religious scholar Ursula King will lecture on Earth consciousness and the new spiritual paradigm. The talk, entitled Cosmic, Human, and Divine: A Dialogue with Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and Raimon Panikkar, will take place in Namaste Hall from 4-5:45pm at CIIS.
About the Talk:
Both Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955) and Raimon Panikkar (1918-2010) look at the world from a similar perspective when speaking about a threefold dimension of the cosmic, human, and divine. Panikkar often refers to this as "cosmotheandrism".
What is the meaning of this? And how significant is their vision within an evolutionary world? Both thinkers are well aware of the epic of evolution, and the impact of evolutionary becoming on all realms of human experience and self-understanding. Both were deeply influenced by the developments of modern science and the emergence of a new Earth consciousness, as also by what Teilhard perceived as the accelerating process of "planetization". What does this mean for humanity's further self-evolution and its understanding of Spirit? Will the new Earth consciousness lead to a new Earth community, and to new spiritual paradigms? In other words, will humans be able to discover the great wisdom of the Earth? Can they detect a spiritual significance and purpose in the epic of evolution?
Her talk will outline Panikkar's and Teilhard's ideas on these questions, to be followed by a discussion of their most salient insights.
About Ursula King:
Ursula King, STL (Paris), MA (Delhi) PhD (London), FRSA, is Professor Emerita of Theology and Religious Studies and Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies, University of Bristol.
Educated in Germany, France, India and England, she has lectured all over the world and published numerous books and articles, especially on gender issues in religions, method and theory, modern Hinduism, interfaith dialogue, spirituality, and on the French thinker, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin.
Among more recent publications are the edited volume on Gender, Religion and Diversity: Cross-Cultural Perspectives (2005) and The Search for Spirituality: Our Global Quest for Meaning and Fulfilment (2009).
