The current global economic crisis has provoked a broad discussion that extends far beyond debates about payments, supports, subsidies, debt, and stimulus packages. Social critics excoriate corporate greed, demand vigilant regulation, castigate the excesses underlying the crisis, and call for a transformation of a "more-is-better" consumerist lifestyle. "Never before," observes sociologist Robert Bellah, "have calls for criticism of and alternatives to the existing order seemed so urgent." And responding to Barack Obama's inauguration as America's 44th president, Thomas L. Friedman observed, "While it is impossible to exaggerate what a radical departure it is from our past that we have inaugurated a black man as president, it is equally impossible to exaggerate how much our future depends on a radical departure from our present." For theologian Sallie McFague this departure requires a lifestyle that acknowledges the basic needs of all human beings and other creatures living in mutual need and reciprocity; or in other terms, an ecology of human flourishing grounded in the recognition of the interdependence of all life-forms and the consequent ethic of communality and enoughness that flows from it.
In conjunction with the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, the Harvard University Center for the Environment, and the Initiative on Religion in International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School, the CSWR presents a series of programs to explore several dimensions of an ecology of human flourishing—economic, sociological, religious, ethical, environmental, historical, literary; how notions of human flourishing, quality of life, and common good have been constructed; and in the contemporary world, how they are illuminated or are challenged by issues of distributive justice, poverty and economic inequality, global health, and environmental sustainability. The concept of an ecology of human flourishing comes from CSWR director Donald Swearer's 2008 HDS convocation talk, which is available online in text and audio formats. Please note also the recent publication of Professor Swearer's book Ecology and the Environment.
The following is a list of speakers in this series. For full event announcements and a comprehensive listing of all public events at the CSWR, visit the Calendar. These events are free and open to the public, but seating is limited and reservations are required. More events may be added.
2009-10 Series
A World in Crisis: The Relevance of Spiritual-Moral Principles
Thursday, October 1, 2009, noon-2:30 pm
NEW Location: Braun Room, Andover Hall, 45 Francis Avenue
A presentation by Dr. Chandra Muzaffar, President of the International Movement for a Just World (JUST), and the Noordin Sopiee Professor of Global Studies at the Science University of Malaysia (USM) in Penang. A response will be given by Ronald Thiemann, Bussey Professor of Theology, Harvard Divinity School. A light lunch will be served noon; the lecture will begin at 12:30.
Cities, Climate Change, and Christianity: Religion and Sustainable Urbanism
Wednesday, October 28, 2009, 5:15 pm
Location: Sperry Room, Andover Hall, 45 Francis Avenue
A presentation by Sallie McFague, Distinguished Theologian in Residence, Vancouver School of Theology, formerly Carpenter Professor of Theology at Vanderbilt Divinity School, and a leader in linking ecofeminism and Christian theology. A response will be given by David Lamberth, Professor of Philosophy and Theology, Harvard Divinity School. This event is the Harvard Divinity School 2009-10 Dudleian Lecture.
Religious Values and Global Health
Wednesday, November 18, 2009, 5:15 pm
Location: Tsai Auditorium (S-010), 1730 Cambridge Street (CGIS South)
A presentation by Arthur
Kleinman, M.D., Esther and Sidney Rabb Professor, Department of Anthropology, Harvard University;
Professor of Medical Anthropology in Social Medicine and Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical
School; and Victor and William Fung Director of Harvard University's Asia Center.
A response will be given by Paul
Farmer, Maude and Lillian Presley Professor of Social Medicine in the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School, where he is also Chair, and a founding director of
Partners In Health.
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Ecologies of Human Flourishing: A Case from Pre-modern South India
Thursday, February 18, 2010, noon-2:30 pm
Location: Common Room, Center for the Study of World Religions, 42 Francis Avenue
A presentation by Anne
Monius, Professor of South Asian Religions, Harvard Divinity School. A
response will be given by Archana Venkatesan,
Assistant Professor, Comparative Literature and Religious Studies, University of California, Davis.
A light lunch will be available at noon; the lecture will begin
at 12:30.
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Reality Check: How the Facts of Life on a Tough New Planet Shape Our Choices
Monday, March 8, 2010, 5:15 pm
Location: Sperry Room, Andover Hall, 45 Francis Avenue
A presentation by Bill McKibben,
scholar in residence at Middlebury College and American environmentalist and writer who frequently writes about
global warming, alternative energy, and the risks associated with human genetic engineering.
A response will be given by Daniel Schrag,
Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences and Director of the Harvard University Center for the Environment.
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Does Thoreau Have a Future: Reimagining Voluntary Simplicity for the 21st Century
Thursday, March 25, 2010, 5:15 pm
Location: Sperry Room, Andover Hall, 45 Francis Avenue
A presentation by Lawrence
Buell, Powell M. Cabot Professor of American Literature, in Harvard’s Department of English and American Literature and
Language. A response will be given by Diana
Eck, Professor of Comparative Religion and Indian Studies in Harvard's Faculty of Arts and
Sciences and Member of the Faculty of Divinity.
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