Marian Miner Cook
Athenaeum

A distinctive
feature of social and
cultural life at CMC

 

What Turns Us Violent? Sacred Emergencies

Mon, February 3, 2020
Dinner Program
Michael Jerryson

As long as there have been recorded histories, humanity has engaged in violence. In this macabre mosaic that pits human against human, religion becomes a reoccurring justifier. While religion has been a force for generosity, empathy, and social justice, it also demonstrates a dark side. Particular structures of thought dominate the ways in which we understand and ethicize situations and which transform the ways in which we understand the world and our ethical obligations. Using contemporary examples such as ISIS and Burmese Buddhist extremists, among others, Dr. Michael Jerryson, professor of religious studies at Youngstown State University, will trace these cognitive patterns across religious traditions to explain contemporary violence both within the U.S. and abroad.

Michael Jerryson, professor of religious studies in the department of philosophy and religious studies at Youngstown State University, looks at the intersections between identity and violence and the ways in which we associate religious identities with peace and violence.

He earned his B.A in Western Philosophy at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. After volunteering for the Peace Corps in Mongolia, Jerryson returned to the University of Wisconsin, Madison and acquired his M.A in Languages and Cultures of Asia with a focus on the socio-political history of Mongolian Buddhism.

He furthered his interest in religion at the University of California, Santa Barbara, earning a Ph.D. in Religious Studies with a Global Studies emphasis.

Professor Jerryson's Athenaeum presentation is co-sponsored by the Kutten Lectureship in Religious Studies at CMC.

(Parents Dining Room)

 

Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum

Claremont McKenna College
385 E. Eighth Street
Claremont, CA 91711

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