“THE MYSTICAL PRACTICES OF JESUS AND PAUL” IS THE TOPIC OF THE FALL LUNCHEON LECTURE SERIES PRESENTED BY THE INSTITUTE OF ADVANCED THEOLOGY AT BARD COLLEGE

Lectures will meet weekly on Fridays, from October 15 through November 12 ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.—The 2004 Fall Luncheon Lecture Series with the Rev. Dr. Bruce Chilton, “The Mystical Practices of Jesus and Paul," will begin on Friday, October 15, and continue weekly through Friday, November 12. (Please note that there is no luncheon lecture on October 29.) Presented by the Institute of Advanced Theology (IAT) at Bard College, the weekly luncheons will meet in the multipurpose room of the Bertelsmann Campus Center at noon. The cost for each lecture (including lunch) is $12 or $10 for members of the Institute of Advanced Theology, Bard students, faculty, and staff. As space is limited, preregistration is requested. “Jesus and Paul crafted disciplined practices of meditation designed to focus and clarify their experiences of God,” explains Bruce Chilton, Bernard Iddings Bell Professor of Philosophy and Religion and executive director of the Institute of Advanced Theology. “Each reported his own visionary insight as a result of his discipline, either in oral accounts (in Jesus’s case) or written letters (in Paul’s case). Each attempted to convey his distinctive method to his followers.” “The purpose of the lecture series for the Institute of Advanced Theology is to appreciate Jesus’s method and Paul’s method, their kinship and their differences, and the mystical tradition of Judaism that fed them both,” says Chilton. At the close of the IAT lectures, an intensive seminar at Miriam’s Well in Saugerties, December 3–5, will explore practical techniques of meditation in the traditions of Jesus and Paul. Bruce Chilton, chaplain of the College, is a scholar of early Christianity and Judaism and the author of the first critical translation of the Aramaic version of Isaiah (The Isaiah Targum, 1987). He has written academic studies that put Jesus in his Jewish context (Rabbi Jesus: An Intimate Biography, 2000; Pure Kingdom, 1996; The Temple of Jesus, 1992; and The Galilean Rabbi and His Bible, 1984). Chilton has taught in Europe at the universities of Cambridge, Sheffield, and Münster, and in the United States at Yale University (as the first Lillian Claus Professor of New Testament) and at Bard College. Throughout his career he has been active in the pastoral ministry of the Anglican Church; he is currently rector of the Church of St. John the Evangelist in Barrytown, New York. The Institute of Advanced Theology was established to foster critical understanding based on scholarship, which aims to 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 from members of the Institute, the Crohn Family Trust, and Tisch Family Foundation, as well as grants from The Levy Economics Institute and Bard College. For further information about the December 3–5 weekend seminar led by Bruce Chilton at Miriam’s Well, visit the website www.miriamswell.org, e-mail [email protected], or call 845-245-5805. Tuition is $225 (for registration 60 days ahead) or $275; $125 for members of the Institute of Advanced Theology; and $50 for Bard faculty, students, and staff. To register for the luncheon series or for further information about the IAT, its programs, or membership, call 845-758-7279, e-mail [email protected], or visit the website www.bard.edu/iat. # # # (9/14/04)

This event was last updated on 11-12-2004

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