Tag Archives: lecture

Religion and Theology in Asian America: An ISAAC Lecture Series

ISAAC is delighted to announce the inauguration of “Religion and Theology in Asian America” (RTAA) lectureship in 2009. ISAAC, in partnership with colleges, universities and seminaries across North America, will sponsor talks by scholars and practitioners who specialize in Asian American Religion and Theology (with special attention to Christianity). We are in conversation with U.C. Berkeley, University of San Francisco, and Fuller Theological Seminary about hosting at least three lectures in 2009.

The Society of Asian North American Christian Studies (SANACS) steering committee oversees and recruits speakers for the RTAA lectures. The members of the steering committee are:

Dr. Russell Jeung
Associate Professor of Asian American Studies
College of Ethnic Studies
San Francisco State University
San Francisco, California

Dr. Rebecca Y. Kim
Assistant Professor of Sociology
Pepperdine University
Malibu, California

Dr. Jonathan Tan
Assistant Professor of Minorities’ Studies and World Religions
Xavier University
Cincinnati, Ohio

Dr. Timothy Tseng
Executive Director
Institute for the Study of Asian American Christianity
Castro Valley, California

Dr. Russell Yee
Managing Editor
SANACS Journal
Oakland, California

For our “speakers pool,” we are interested in identifying scholars or practitioners who can address a wide range of issues that intersect with the experiences of Asian Christians in North America (e.g, the civic engagement practices of Asian American Catholics, Protestants, and evangelicals; trans-national and diasporic aspects of religion and theology in Asia America; the impact of the North American context on ethnic Asian spirituality and religious practices; reflections on the intersections or disconnections between the study of race, gender, politics, and religion in Asian American studies; etc.).

ISAAC also seeks donors who would like to make these lectures more widely available. We estimate a budget of $5,000 for each lecture. You may direct your gifts to this lecture – go to isaacweb.org for more information or to make an on-line gift.

If you represent an educational institution that is interested in hosting a lecture, if you are interested in becoming a member of the “speakers pool,” or if you are interested in contributing to the lectures, please email Tim Tseng for details.

Dr. Helene Slessarev-Jamir to Give Inaugural Lecture at Claremont School of Theology (Sept. 18)

Dr. Helene Slessarev-Jamir, a friend of ISAAC, will give her inaugural lecture at Claremont School of Theology on Thursday, Sept. 18th in the Mudd Theatre at 4:30 PM. Dr. Young Lee Hertig, Vice-President and Southern California director of ISAAC will be a responding panelist. For more information go to:
http://www.cst.edu/about_claremont/news_HSJ.inaugural.php

“What Do Asian Americans Really Believe?” Fenggang Yang lecture at Middlebury College

On March 15, 2007, Dr. Fenggang Yang, Associate Professor of Sociology at Purdue University, and author of Chinese Christians in America Conversion, Assimilation, and Adhesive Identities (Penn State University Press, 1999) delivered one of the William P. Scott lectures at Middlebury College in Vermont entitled “The Pluralism Project of Distortion: What Do Asian Americans Really Believe?” where he argues that Christianity is much more prevalent among Asian Americans than is commonly understood, especially by the Pluralism Project at Harvard University.

Watch a digital video with RealPlayer.
Podcast of the same lecture is also available here.

The following related lectures can also be viewed at this webpage:

April 19, 2007
Jane Smith
Hartford Seminary
“Islam: A Truly American Religion?”
Watch a digital video

April 9, 2007
Prema Kurien
Associate Professor, Syracuse University
“A Place at the Multicultural Table: The Development of an American Hinduism”
Watch a digital video

March 9, 2007
Sharon Suh
Associate Professor in the department of Theology and Religious Studies, Seattle University
“Religion, Immigration and the Quest for a Self: An Examination of Contemporary Korean American Buddhism”
Watch a digital video

March 2, 2007
Nathan Brown
Professor of Political Science and International Affairs, George Washington University
“Islam, Human Rights and Constitutionalism”
Watch a digital video

March 1, 2007
Raymond Williams
Charles D. and Elizabeth S. LaFollette Distinguished Professor in the Humanities, Emeritus, Wabash College
“Transnational Religions and American Identities”
Watch a digital video