WEEKEND CONFERENCE WILL EXPLORE THE HISTORY OF MEDITATION IN THE WORLD'S RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS June 14 and 15 Conference "Meditations, Self-Reflections, and Therapy: Sacred and Personal" will be presented by the Institute of Advanced Theology at Bard

ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.-The Institute of Advanced Theology (IAT) at Bard College will present a two-day conference on the history of meditation within the world's religions on Friday, June 14, and Saturday, June 15. The conference, "Meditations, Self-Reflections, and Therapy: Sacred and Personal," will include workshops, panels, and discussions; preregistration and prepayment of the $50 fee ($40 for members of the IAT, or $20 for panels only, no meals) is requested.

The program includes panels on meditation traditions in East Asia and within Christianity, Judaism, Neoplatonism, and Islam, as well as practical workshops in Buddhist and Jewish meditative techniques.

"The Institute is convening this conference in order to analyze the forces within particular religions that have occasioned the emergence of these distinctive approaches to meditation," says Rev. Dr. Bruce Chilton, executive director of the IAT, Chaplain of the College, and Bernard Iddings Bell Professor of Religion at Bard. "We also hope to explore how and understand why these approaches have been taken up in contemporary culture."

The Institute of Advanced Theology at Bard College was established to foster critical understanding, based on scholarship that will make true religious pluralism possible. Since its inception in 1996, the Institute's work has focused on how religions influence history, society, and other religions, and are in turn influenced by them. The Institute gratefully acknowledges support provided by members of the Institute, the Crohn Family Trust, and the Tisch Family Foundation, as well as grants from The Levy Economics Institute of Bard College, the Pew Charitable Trusts, the American Council of Learned Societies, and Bard College.

For further information or to register for the conference, call the IAT office at 845-758-7279, e-mail [email protected], or visit the website www.bard.edu/iat.

11:00 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Registration and Brunch
Faculty Dining Room

12:30 to 2:00 p.m. Plenary Panel: Meditation in Christian, Greek Philosophical, and Jewish Traditions
Room 115, Olin Language Center
Rev. Bruce Chilton (chair, Bard College) "Christianity and the Visio Dei"; John P. Anton (University of South Florida) "Visions of Meditation, Transcendences, and Eros: Pythagoras, Plato, and Plotinus"; Oliver Leaman (University of Kentucky) "Meditation in the Jewish Tradition"

2:15 to 4:45 p.m. Two Concurrent Panels on Meditation

Meditation in East Asia, Session 1
Room 102, F. W. Olin Humanities Building
Michèle Dominy (chair, Dean of the College, Bard); Neal Delmonico (Society for the Study of Islamic Philosophy and Science) "Prayer and Meditation in Sacred Vedic Texts"; Marie-Louise Friquegnon (William Paterson University) "Meditative Aspects of Reflections in Tibetan Religions"; Li He (Institute of Philosophy, China Academy of Social Sciences, Harvard-Yenching Institute) "Meditative Dimensions of Hermeneutics in Chinese and German Philosophy"; Gong Jun (Beijing University, Harvard-Yenching Institute) "Meditation in Chinese Buddhism"; Chun-Fang Yu (Rutgers, State University of New Jersey) "Meditations in Buddhism"

Roundtable Discussion on Meditation in the Traditions of Christianity and Judaism
Room 115, Olin Language Center
Rev. Bruce Chilton (chair, Bard College), Rev. Virginia Grab (Bard College), Rev. Kenneth Jetto (St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Red Hook), Oliver Leaman (University of Kentucky), Rabbi Natan Margalit (Bard College), Liso Starrett (chaplain), Ellen Weaver (IAT and Woodstock Jewish Congregation)

5:00 to 6:15 p.m. Dinner
Faculty Dining Room

7:00 to 9:00 p.m. Neoplatonism
Room 115, Olin Language Center
Robert Berchman (Dowling College, chair); John Finamore (University of Iowa) "Meditative Dimensions of Procline Rituals"; Sara Rappe (University of Michigan) "Stoic Meditative Practices"; Greg Shaw (Stonehill College) "Meditative Dreaming in Neoplatonism"

7:30 to 9:00 p.m. Zen Buddhist Meditation
Room 305, F. W. Olin Humanities Building
Instruction, two meditation rounds (each 30 minutes) and kinhin (walking meditation).
Tatjana Myoko von Prittwitz (Zen Mountain Monastery, Mt. Tremper)

8:00 - 8:45 a.m. Zen Buddhist Meditation
Room 305, F. W. Olin Humanities Building
Instruction and one meditation round (30 minutes)
Tatjana Myoko von Prittwitz (Zen Mountain Monastery, Mt. Tremper)

9:00 to 11:45 a.m. Two Concurrent Panels on Meditation

Meditation in East Asia, Session 2
Room 115, Olin Humanities Building
Jonathan Brockopp (chair, Bard College); Bradley Clough (Bard College) "A Modern Theravada Buddhist Meditation Controversy"; Wu Chongqing (Harvard-Yenching Institute) "Meditations in Daoism"; Yong Huang (Kutztown University) "Ethical Dimensions of Meditations in Chinese Philosophy"; Wang Keping (Beijing Second Foreign Languages University) "On Enlightenment from a Perspective of Comparative Cultural Study"

Philosophy, Depth Psychology, and Religions
Room 102, F. W. Olin Humanities Building
Oliver Leaman (University of Kentucky, chair); Peter Groff (Bucknell University) "Asceticism Naturalized: Some Nietzschean Questions about Meditation"; Emilie F. Kutash (New York City) "Incubation and Meditations in the Ancient Near East: Judaism, Neoplatonism, and Psychoanalysis"; Parviz Morewedge (Binghamton University and fellow of the IAT at Bard College) "The Meditative Dimensions of Hermeneutics in Plato, Sufism, and the Analytic Psychology of C. G. Jung"; John Moyne (Graduate Center, CUNY) "The Message of Zoroaster and Its Mysticism"

10:00 to 11:00 a.m . Doing Nothing: Introduction to Shinay, or Calm Abiding, Meditation
Room 305, F. W. Olin Humanities Building
Visit, observe, or participate as methods and techniques are elucidated for meditation.
Charlotte Mandell Kelly (Kagyu Thubten Chöling Monastery, Wappingers Falls, NY)

Noon to 1:15 p.m. Lunch

1:30 to 3:45 p.m. Greek and Islamic Theories of Meditation
Room 115, Olin Language Center
Mehdi Faridzadeh (chair, Columbia University and the International Society for Iranian Culture); Anthony Preus (Binghamton University) "The Meditative Aspects of Aristotle's Concept of Theoria"; Nasrin Rouzati (International Society for Muslim Women and Education) "The Meditative Dimensions of the Rituals of Prayer in Islam"

2:30 to 4:00 p.m. Journeys into Jewish Meditation Practices
Room 305, F. W. Olin Humanities Building
Visit, observe, or participate as methods and techniques are elucidated for meditation.
Ellen Weaver (IAT and Woodstock Jewish Congregation)

4:00 p.m. Closing Remarks by Rev. Bruce Chilton
Room 115, Olin Language Center

This event was last updated on 06-12-2002

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