On Wednesday, April 23, there will be a discussion, “Where Does Sacredness Reside? Transformations of Religious Meaning in the 21st Century,” featuring faculty and student panelists.
The discussion will focus on the future of religion and religious culture. Usually, the sacred and the secular are thought of as inhabiting very different spaces. Today, however, they intermingle and merge in a variety of ways, from museums to social media to popular culture. The sacred is found in the secular, and the secular breaking into the sacred. It is increasingly difficult to discern where the secular ends and the religious begins, and vice versa. This breaking down of boundaries forces us to reconsider what secular and sacred mean in the contemporary world.
The panelists hope to begin an investigation of what it means when something moves from the secular realm to the religious realm or from the religious to the secular, and how these two realms intersect and influence each other.
Featured panelists are:
- Peter Haas – Abba Hillel Silver Professor of Jewish Studies, chair of the Department of Religious Studies
- Deepak Sarma – Professor of South Asian religions and philosophy, Department of Religious Studies
- Steve Paley – senior, Department of Religious Studies
- Deepa Manjunath – senior, Department of Religious Studies
- Barbara Reebel – senior, Department of Religious Studies
The panel will take place on Wednesday, April 23, from 3 to 4:30 p.m., in Kelvin Smith Library’s Dampeer Room. Refreshments, cookies and fruit will be served. Contact Mark Eddy at 216.368.5457 or mxe37@case.edu for more information.