Lecture Series at USC: Catholicism and World Religions

Annual Lecture Series
Sponsored by the Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies

The Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies at the University of Southern California, a research-oriented institution that supports ecumenical and inter-faith explorations of Catholic intellectual traditions, plans to offer an annual public lecture series at the University of Southern California. Local, national and international scholars will be invited to speak on the rich and varied dimensions of Catholicism, examining its history and development, its current condition and possibilities, and the multiple ways in which it has, can and ought to interact with society, governments, and other religions.

The Institute will feature four public lectures each year, two each semester. The theme of the first year of lectures (academic year 2007-2008) will be Catholicism and other world religions: Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism. Geo-political issues of the last few years have made it very clear that religions can be forces for good or they can contribute to conflict. What role does and can Catholicism play in replacing a conflict of civilizations with a dialogue of religions? What steps are needed to help inter-religious dialogue avoid proselytism or being simply courteous? Can we prevent religious leaders from comparing the strength’s of their own religion to the weaknesses of another’s, or side-stepping real differences altogether? Two people, one a member of the faculty at USC faculty and another from the LA community will respond to each major lecture.

The lectures will be well advertised on the campus and throughout the city, and will be given at 4:30 on a weekday evening. Following each lecture, there will be a social and dinner for selected guests. The Institute will make the lectures available on its website, and will arrange for the publication of each year's four lectures, and the responses to them, as a book. These scholarly yet accessible lectures feature and explore Catholicism's relationship with and contribution to important developments, trends and major issues in society and the world today.

Fr. James L. Heft, S.M.
Alton Brooks Professor of Religion at USC
President: Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies