An unusual fall lecture series at the...
An unusual fall lecture series at the University of Judaism, starting Monday, explores discoveries about the Sumerians, Israelites, Canaanites and Philistines as well as the two great manuscript discoveries of the 20th Century--the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Nag Hammadi Library.
The series, co-sponsored by the California Museum of Ancient Art, costs $88 for all seven lectures and $15 for individual lectures. The first program, at 7:45 p.m. Monday at the campus at 15600 Mulholland Drive, is actually a performance of the story of Inanna, a Sumerian love goddess, by Diane Wolkstein, who reconstructed the ancient myth with the help of noted Sumerian scholar Samuel Noah Kramer.
The other lectures are:
Oct. 29, “Gilgamesh and the Great Flood: The Search for Immortality,” Piotr Michalowski, University of Michigan; Nov. 5, “Who Wrote the Bible II: A Newly Discovered Author,” Richard E. Friedman, UC San Diego; Nov. 12, “In the World of the Canaanites: Their Religion, Literature and Way of Life,” William Fulco, Pontifical Biblical Institute Museum in Jerusalem; Nov. 26, “The Culture and Origin of the Philistines,” William Dever, University of Arizona; Dec. 3, “Discoveries at Nag Hammadi: Early Christian Gnostic Gospels,” James M. Robinson, Claremont Graduate School, and Dec. 10, “The Dead Sea Scrolls: Their Impact on Our Understanding of the Bible,” James A. Sanders, School of Theology at Claremont.
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Catholic Archbishop Arturo Rivera Damas of San Salvador will deliver the homily during a Mass at 8 p.m. Sunday in the Sacred Heart Chapel at Loyola Marymount University as a part of his Los Angeles visit, which coincides with the 10th anniversary of the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero in the capital of El Salvador.
Rabbi Jonathan Omer-Man, founder of the School for Jewish Meditation in Los Angeles, was to leave New York Friday with several other rabbis and scholars for a dialogue with Tibetan Buddhist thinkers who are part of the Dalai Lama’s government-in-exile near the Himalaya Mountains. Jewish leaders had a brief exchange with the Tibetan spiritual-political figure during his 1989 U.S. tour, but the topics to be discussed for six days later this month include surviving exile, mystical and meditative traditions and the preservation of culture.
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St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral in San Diego will hold a daylong celebration Sunday marking the completion last month of the Washington National Cathedral. Besides forums, music, displays and a sand sculpture of the large cathedral, the program includes a discussion by the Very Rev. James Carroll, dean of St. Paul’s, at the 10:30 a.m. service with Presbyterian minister Vaughn Lyons, director of the San Diego Ecumenical Conference.
Jane Dempsey Douglas, president of the 178-denomination World Alliance of Reformed Churches, will present a series of talks next Saturday at St. Peter’s by the Sea Presbyterian Church in Rancho Palos Verdes. The former professor of church history at the School of Theology at Claremont is the first woman to head any worldwide council of Christian denominations. She will also preach at the 8:15 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. services on Oct. 28.