Huston Smith Kicks Off Cullum Series for 2001

Noted author Huston Smith will kick off the university's 2001 Cullum Series with two programs on Wednesday, January 17, addressing the topic, Why Religion? A 10 a.m. program carries the same title, Why Religion, and a 7 p.m. program focuses on The Human Spirit in the Third Millennium. All Cullum Lecture Series programs will be held in Butler Lecture Hall and admission is free.

Dr. Smith is the author of eight books including, The World's Religions, Forgotten Truth, Beyond the Post-Modern Mind, One Nation Under God: The Triumph of the Native American Church, and Cleansing the Doors of Perception: The Religious Significance of Entheogenic Plants and Chemicals. His film documentaries on Hinduism, Tibetan Buddhism, and Sufism have all won international awards and his discovery of Tibetan multiphonic chanting has been hailed as "an important landmark in the study of music" by the Journal of Ethnomusicology.

He is the Thomas J. Watson Professor of Religion and Distinguished Adjunct Professor of Philosophy, Emeritus, at Syracuse University. For 15 years Dr. Smith was professor of philosophy at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and for a decade before that he taught at Washington University in St. Louis. Most recently he served as visiting professor of religious studies, University of California, Berkeley. Cullum programs are held throughout spring semester, with guest speakers presenting programs on the following dates:

January 24 - Buddhism, presented by Jeffrey Hopkins, professor of religion, University of Virginia.

February 5 - Islam, presented by Sylvia Tiwon, professor of Malay/Indonesia, University of California, Berkeley.

February 12 - Native American Religion, speaker TBA.

March 5 - Judaism, Chain Potok, author of eight novels including, The Chosen and I am the Clay.

March 19 - Hinduism, Vasudha Narayanan, professor of religion, University of Florida.

March 26 - African Religion, Akinloye Ojo, assistant professor of African languages, University of Georgia.

April 9 - Christianity, Bart Ehrman, professor of religion, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.