BRC Seminar Celebrates Nur Yalman-Daisaku Ikeda Dialogue, "A Passage to Peace"
On February 19, the BRC hosted a
seminar celebrating the English-language publication of the Nur Yalman-Daisaku Ikeda dialogue, A Passage to Peace: Global Solutions from East and West. Joining Professor Yalman (above), a noted social anthropologist, were several of his Harvard University colleagues, including Shahab Ahmed, Harvey Cox, Leila Ahmed, William Graham, and Noah Feldman. During a spirited two-hour discussion, the assembled scholars explored the challenges of pursuing dialogue in a world marked by severe divisions of power and ideology.
The Quest for Human Connection in the Age of "Virtualization" One component of the BRC's inquiry for 2009, Humanizing Our Lives, Humanizing Our World, is an investigation into those aspects of modern life that conspire against the nurturing of core human qualities such as empathy, connection, and compassion. In his 2004 Peace Proposal to the UN, "Inner Transformation: Creating a Global Groundswell for Peace," BRC founder Daisaku Ikeda builds on John Dewey's concept of public identity to show how these core human qualities can be strengthened in the face of "virtualization."
Daisaku Ikeda on the quest for human connection
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From the Archives: Chandra Muzaffar Explores Religious Perspectives on the World Economy
Perhaps because religions concern themselves with those aspects of life that are not so easily quantifiable, the religious perspective is usually missing from economic analysis. The BRC's 2002 title
Subverting Greed: Religious Perspectives on the Global Economy was intended, at least in part, as a corrective to this state of affairs. As co-editor (with Paul Knitter) of this multi-author volume, Chandra Muzaffar wrote a conclusion in which he explores a range of religious and spiritual values, principles, and ideals that can add substance to our discussion of global systems. Dr. Muzaffar is a Malaysian scholar and president of the International Movement for a Just World.