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"Culture Evolving:
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Series Guests and Co-Hosts
Guests Representing the World Religious Traditions:
Deborah Bronstein (Judaism)
Theme: JUSTICE
Educated at Spertus College of Jewish Studies and Northeastern Illinois University, Deborah is Rabbi at Congregation Har HaShem in Boulder, Colorado. She has a deep interest in the prophetic dimension of Judaism and its relevance in our time.
Bro. David Steindl-Rast (Christianity)
Theme: GRATITUDE
An Austrian-American Roman Catholic theologian and Benedictine monk, notable for his active participation in interfaith dialogue, and his work on the interaction between spirituality and science. In addition to being a pioneer in Buddhist-Christian dialogue, he has contributed to understanding and peace in the world through interdisciplinary social commitment. Among the vital findings which have brought changes in the scientific view of spiritual practice are: the role of gratefulness in political and altruistic action, the relationship between gratefulness and happiness.
Jamal Rahman: Islam
Theme: PEACE
A Muslim Sufi interfaith minister originally from Bangladesh, Jamal serves at the Interfaith Community Church in Seattle. He is cohost of Interfaith Talk Radio, and adjunct faculty at Seattle University. He is the author of several books, including The Enlightened Heart of Islam.
K.L. Seshagiri Rao: Hinduism
Theme: SERVICE
Author of many books, including Mahatma Gandhi and Comparative Religion, Seshagiri is the Editor-in-Chief of the recently released Encyclopedia of Hinduism. A veteran of the interfaith movement, he serves as co-editor of Interreligious Insight: a Journal of Dialogue and Engagement.
Dr. Nawang Phuntsog: Buddhism
Theme: COMPASSION
Associate professor of education in the Department of Education at California State University at Fullerton, his areas of specialization include multicultural education and school curriculum development. He integrates post-modern educational perspectives and practices into the process of curriculum delineation. With a high level of proficiency in Tibetan, English, and Hindi, his current research focuses on culturally responsive teaching practices in schools populated by students of diverse ethnic, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds. Exiled with his family from Tibet at an early age, he now studies the challenges of educating children in the Diaspora. He is the first Tibetan educator teaching at a major teacher education university in the US. He helped organize two major events in Orange County, CA, with the gracious presence of His Holiness The Dalai Lama at the helm. He is a practicing Buddhist.
Charles Nolley: Baha'i
Theme: FORGIVENESS
A longtime leader in the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’i Faith in North America, Charles was a founding trustee and first Board Chair of the Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions. He currently serves as Director of Division of Digital Learning and Media Design at Governor’s State University in Illinois.
Michael Bernard Beckwith: New Thought
Theme: HEALING
Founder and Spiritual Director of the Agape International Spiritual Center, he is President of Association for Global New Thought, originator of the Life Visioning Process, and international co-chair of the Seasons for Peace and Nonviolence campaigns. His media appearances include: the Oprah Winfrey Show, Larry King Live, Tavis Smiley, The Secret, and national sconvention for social and political leaders. Hi numerous awards include The Gandhi-King-Ikeda Award from Morehouse College, the Humanitarian Award of the National Council for Community and Justice, The Howard Thurman Stained Glass Window Award.
Jennie Joe: Native American
Theme: NATURE
A member of the Navajo nation, Jenny is a professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine in the College of Medicine (DFCM), University of Arizona, and is also a faculty member in American Indian Studies. She is the Director of the Native American Research and Training Center (NARTC) and is deeply engaged in intercultural activities.
Chungliang Al Huang: Confucianism & Taoism
Theme: MEDITATION & PRAYER
An internationally respected Tai Ji master and authority of East-West cultural synthesis, he is the author of numerous books on Tai Ji, and Taoism as it relates to business, performance and daily life, including the best-selling classic, Embrace Tiger, Return to Mountain: The Essence of Tai Ji. He is a research fellow at the Academia Sinica, a member of the World Academy of Art and Science, and recipient of the Republic of China's Gold Medal of Education.
Co-Hosts
Jim Kenney
Author of newly released: Thriving in the Crosscurrent
Founder and Director of Common Ground and the Interreligious Engagement Project
Jim Kenney is the Executive Director of the Interreligious Engagement Project (IEP21), working with global religious communities to address the world’s critical problems through cooperative partnerships with government, business, education, media, intergovernmental organizations, and civil society.
He is also the Executive Director of Common Ground, an adult study center focusing on the world's great religious, philosophical and spiritual traditions and their implications for every dimension of human endeavor and experience. He lectures widely on a variety of subjects relating to politics, religion, history, and culture.
He serves as Co-Editor of Interreligious Insight: a Journal of Dialogue and Engagement, published internationally four times each year in the US and the UK by the World Congress of Faiths, the Interreligious Engagement Project, and Common Ground.
Jim is former Global Director of the Parliament of the World’s Religions (one of the world’s major interfaith organizations) and Project Coordinator for the International Interreligious Peace Council.
Dr. Barbara Fields
Executive Director, The Association for Global New Thought
Co-founder and Project Director – The Gandhi King Season for Nonviolence 1998-present; Co-founder and Project Director of the Synthesis Dialogues I, II, and III with His Holiness, the Dalai Lama of Tibet, Dharamsala, India, 1999, Trent, Italy, 2001, and Castelgandolfo, Rome; Retreat organizer and liaison for the Dalai Lama and personal entourage during his 2009 UCSB events; Program Director – 1993 Parliament of the World's Religions in Chicago; Coordinator of local chapters, The Abraham Path Initiative in the Middle East, a program of Harvard University’s Program on Negotiation; Conference and Program Director for the Society for Buddhist-Christian Studies and the International Buddhist-Christian Theological Encounter, Purdue University and the Lilly Foundation; Delegate - UNESCO Seminar on Religion and Peace, Granada, Spain. She was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from the Holmes Institute of Consciousness Studies, and is recipient of honors including the Peace Museum's Peacemaker Award (in the area of Diplomacy), International Centers for Spiritual Living’s first Peace Award, and The Gandhi King Ikeda Peace Award from Morehouse College. Serves on the Board of the Foundation for Conscious Evolution in Santa Barbara, CA. Co-founder of The Earth Network, a non-profit alternative television organization dedicated to the environment, social action, and the human spirit for which she received the Visionary Award from the Center For New Television; Contributing author, The Community of Religions (Continuum Press, 1996).