THREE INTERGENERATIONAL SEMINARS OFFERED AT BARD COLLEGE IN NOVEMBER

Topics are Humanism, the Y1K Bug, and Great Changes of the 21st Century

ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.-Three intergenerational seminars will be offered at Bard College during the month of November. Designed to foster an exchange of ideas between the participants-Bard undergraduates and Hudson Valley residents-each seminar will be held weekly at 7:00 p.m. The seminar fee is $25.00 and preregistration is requested by calling 914-758-7508.

"Humanism: A Philosophy of Life" meets for three Mondays beginning on November 1. It is led by Justus Rosenberg, professor of languages and literature at Bard College. The seminar will discuss whether a lifestyle and commitment to human values are possible without believing in a god, the immortality of the soul, or any other absolutes, either spiritual or political. Each session will focus on a specific topic: "The Quest for Immortality and the Verdict of Science," "Past and Present Advocates of Humanism," and "Ethics Without Religion."

The second seminar "The 1YK Bug: Or How the Christian/Muslim World-In Different Ways, and for Different Reasons-Survived its First Great Millennium Crisis," is held on three consecutive Wednesdays beginning November 3. Luis Perez, adjunct professor at Bard, will present a short oral history of the European and Mediterranean world from 500 to 1500 AD. The first session will explore the execution of the Roman Boethius, Byzantium and the "Nika Rebellion" suppressed by the Empress Theodora, and the entrance of the Rus and Magyars into Eastern Europe. The second session focuses on the Vikings, the influence of Arab intellectuals on western culture, and the defeat of the Magyars followed by the rise of the first Christian King of the Hungarians in 1000. The final session will explore the millennial confusion and fear of 1000 AD and the subsequent five hundred years of history.

The third seminar, which begins on Wednesday, November 10, is "Three Great Changes of the 21st Century," led by Kurt Flexner, professor emeritus at the University of Memphis and principal speaker at the 1999 World Peace and Unity Conference in Munich, Germany. He will discuss "A Global Political System," "An Alternative Information System" (Wednesday, November 17), and "From Plutocracy to Democracy" (Monday, November 22).

For further information, call the Continuing Studies Program at Bard College, 914-758-7508; e-mail [email protected].

This event was last updated on 03-02-2001

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