Uncategorized – Page 29 – The Comparison Project

2016-11-21

12/08/2016: Community Interfaith Dialogue

Moderator:

Norma Hirsch, Professor of Osteopathic Medicine at Des Moines University

Panelists:

Younes Ali Younes, imam of the Islamic Center of Des Moines
Ksenija Milinkovic, presbitera of St. Demetrius Serbian Orthodox Church
Ajahn Jackson and Ajahn Somphan, Wat Phothisomphan

Thursday, December 8, 7:00 p.m.
Iles Funeral Homes, Dunn’s Chapel
2121 Grand Ave, Des Moines

Among other questions, the panel seeks to explore beliefs about what happens after death and practices concerning what must be done before and after death. Representatives of three different local refugee communities will explore these beliefs and practices from the perspectives of their religious traditions: Vietnamese Buddhism, African Muslim, and Serbian Christian. The panelists will focus particularly on the tensions between traditional theologies and rituals of death, and the way in which death has increasingly become the domain of medicine and law.

Audio of the Panel:

Audio of the Q&A:

2016-11-082025-02-21

Interfaith and Multicultural Fair

November 15, 4 to 6 p.m., Parents Hall, Olmsted Center

The Iowa Interfaith and Multicultural Fair, scheduled from 4 to 6 p.m. in Drake’s Olmsted Center, will feature representatives from 15 central Iowa faith communities—including three Jewish synagogues, three Christian churches, three Muslim mosques, two Hindu temples, two Buddhist temples, and two Sikh temples. The fair is sponsored by The Comparison Project at Drake University, the Drake Community Press, and the Des Moines Area Religious Council.

The fair will feature music, food, photography, information, and religious objects from each of the participating faith communities. Attendees will also have an opportunity to pre-order copies of a photo-illustrated, student-written book about “Religions of Des Moines,” which is being written and produced by The Comparison Project, the Drake Community Press, and local photographer Bob Blanchard. The book is expected to publish in spring 2017.

The Interfaith and Multicultural Fair will precede the 37th Martin Bucksbaum Distinguished Lecture with Krista Tippett, taking place at 7:00 p.m. at Drake University’s Knapp Center.

Tippett is host of On Being, a Peabody Award-winning public radio program and podcast that traces the mysteries of human existence. In addition to being one of the world’s leading journalists covering faith and religion, Tippett is also an advocate for civil discourse. Her latest initiative, the Civil Conversations Project, fosters a series of conversations, public events, and resources to help heal the divisions within our communities.

2016-09-19

10/06/2016: “The Ritualization of Death: The Journey from the Living-living to the Living Dead in African Religions”

Herbert Moyo

Director of the Practical Theology Programme, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Thursday, October 6, 7:00 p.m.

Sussman Theater, Olmsted Center, Drake University

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Dr. Herbert Moyo’s talk will address Ndebele theologies and rituals of death and dying, especially as these involve ongoing relationships with the ancestors. Moyo will focus on the ways in which the modern medicalization of life and death offer challenges to these traditional philosophies and practices.

Dr. Moyo teaches practical theology, religion and governance, and church leadership in the School of Religion, Philosophy, and Classics at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Moyo’s research focuses on church and state relations in Africa, the relationship between traditional African religions and the Christian church, and coping with death and dying in Africa.

Response by Willy Mafuta, United Methodist minister and adjunct professor of religion

Video of the Lecture

2016-08-25

09/16/2016: “A Time to Be Born, and a Time to Die” (Ecclesiastes 3:2): A Jewish View of the Modern Medical Complexities of Dying

Elliot Dorff

Rector and Sol & Ann Dorff Distinguished Service Professor in Philosophy, American Jewish University

Thursday, September 15, 7:00 p.m.

Sussman Theater, Olmsted Center

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Dorff will be discussing how the medical and social features of contemporary societies make treating the dying much more morally fraught than it was in the past, and, given that, what the Jewish tradition can advise us on how to treat the dying not simply as patients, but as people worthy of respect.

Elliot Dorff is Rector and Distinguished Service Professor at American Jewish University and Visiting Professor at UCLA School of Law. He served on three federal commissions on matters of health care and now serves on a commissions on matters of health care and now serves on a commission for the State of California. He is the author of Matters of Life and Death: A Jewish Approach to Modern Medical Ethics.

To listen to the lecture: