Last modified: Monday, February 18, 2002
IU symposium on religious traditions honors memory of Samuel Preus
The ongoing challenge of describing, interpreting and evaluating religious traditions and topics will be the theme for an upcoming symposium at Indiana University on Feb. 28-March 1. The event's programs will be open to the public free of charge.
The IU Department of Religious Studies is sponsoring the symposium in memory of Ruth N. Halls Professor Emeritus J. Samuel Preus, who taught in the Religious Studies Department from 1973 until his retirement in 1998. Preus, who died last year, specialized in the history of biblical interpretations, the Reformation and modern European intellectual history. He was the department's director of graduate studies for several years.
The first of two programs planned for the symposium is a keynote address by Wayne Proudfoot, professor of philosophy of religion at Columbia University, on Feb. 28 at 4 p.m. in the Frangipani Room of the Indiana Memorial Union. His topic will be "Should religious studies adopt a posture of neutrality with regard to religious claims?"
A panel discussion on Proudfoot's presentation is scheduled for March 1 at 10 a.m. in State Room West at the Indiana Memorial Union. The panelists will be Proudfoot; Michael Morgan, IU professor of philosophy, Jewish studies and religious studies; Professor Raymond Williams of the Wabash College Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion; and Terence Martin Jr., professor of religious studies at St. Mary's College at Notre Dame. The work of Preus will be a point of departure for the discussion.
Those expected to attend include scholars in the fields of religious studies and philosophy, clergy, IU students and the general public.
Proudfoot's publications include God and Self and Religious Experience, the 1986 winner of the American Academy of Religion Award for Excellence. He is co-editor of several religious publications and is currently working on a book on pragmatism and American religious thought.
For more details on the symposium, contact Caroline Dowd-Higgins in the Department of Religious Studies at 812-856-4549 or cdowd@indiana.edu.
