Elaine Pagels - Why Religion? - 2019 Interfaith Academic Conference

On October 30, 2019, we hosted Dr. Elaine Pagels as the featured speaker at our annual interfaith academic conference.

She gave two lectures, the first being "What do 'secret gospels' suggest about Jesus and his teaching?" (   / zaq8dsxdxq  ) which was followed by a Panel discussion with Robert Van Voorst, Professor Emeritus of Western Theological Seminary, Sheldon Kopperl, Professor Emeritus, GVSU, Diane Madoush-Pitzer, Professor of Religious studies, GVSU with Douglas Kindschi, Kaufman Interfaith Institute's director, moderating. The panel discussion is viewable here:    • Elaine Pagels - Why Religion? Interfaith A...  

The evening session was a conversation between Dr. Pagels and Calvin University's Frans van Liere which focused on her latest book, "Why Religion: A Personal Story" in which she reflects on the persistence and nature of belief and why religion matters in the wake of her own great personal tragedy: the death of her young son, followed a year later by the shocking loss of her husband. The evening session is available here:    • Elaine Pagels - Why Religion? - 2019 Inter...  

Dr. Pagels is an American religion historian. She is the Harrington Spear Paine Professor of Religion at Princeton University. Pagels conducted extensive research into early Christianity and Gnosticism as a part of her graduate study at Harvard University. Her best-selling book The Gnostic Gospels examines the divisions in the early Christian church, and the way women were viewed throughout Jewish and Christian history. Modern Library named it as one of the 100 best books of the twentieth century.

In 2001, Sylvia Kaufman brought together a group called the West Michigan Academic Consortium in order to extend the work of the West Shore Committee for Jewish-Christian Dialogue and the Kaufman Interfaith Institute. The mission of these groups is to provide programming that leads to greater interfaith understanding and mutual acceptance.

The committee consists of representatives from Aquinas College, Calvin College, Calvin Theological Seminary, Cornerstone University, Grand Valley State University, Hope College, Kuyper College and Western Theological Seminary. They jointly choose the speakers and plan the conferences; the participating schools rotate hosting the conferences.