Temenos Academy Newsletter June 2024

[Temenos Academy]

NEWSLETTER June 2024 EVENING LECTURES Sacred Nature Seeking the Presence of God in Nature RABBI JONATHAN WITTENBERG Thursday 6 June In the chair Dr Jeremy Naydler The so-named Judeo-Christian heritage has often been seen as setting humanity and nature apart and granting humans an unlimited dominance over all other forms of life. But is that really the case? Are there other ways of understanding the relationship between humanity and the natural world in the Hebrew Bible, in classical rabbinical sources, and in the Jewish mystical tradition? If so, what should our relationship with nature be today and what responsibilities do we have? JONATHAN WITTENBERG has been rabbi of the New North London Synagogue since 1987 and Senior Rabbi of Masorti Judaism UK since 2008. He was brought up with a love of plants and animals which has only become keener over the years. He is a co-founder of EcoJudaism and is involved in interfaith work to cherish and protect our planet. Walking, wandering and connections with trees and animals are an important part of his spiritual life. His books include Things My Dog Has taught Me About Being A Better Human. Venue & Timing Rudolf Steiner House 35 Park Road London, NW1 6XT Nearest Underground – Baker Street Doors open 6.10pm, Lecture begins 6.30pm Admission £10 or £5 Members of the Temenos Academy/Concession FREE for full time students with ID card E temenos...@myfastmail.com T 07513 883 335 Sacred Nature Spirituality – The Inner and Outler Landscape PROFESSOR SEYYED HOSSEIN NASR (via video-link) Tuesday 11 June In the chair Emma Clark Spirituality in its authentic sense transforms the nature of human beings and also unveils for them the spirituality with which the natural world untainted by man is imbued. The reduction of nature to a vast machine in the modern West is a consequence of the eclipse of authentic spirituality resulting from the advent of modernism. The environmental crisis, which now threatens human life itself, is the result and consequence of the dimming of the light of spirituality within the mind and soul of humanity. The causes of the environmental crisis first appear to be simply improper use of technology, but actually have their roots in the crisis within the spiritual landscape of contemporary human beings. In rebelling against heaven humanity has become the destroyer of the earth and of the harmony and spiritual emanation of nature. SEYYED HOSSEIN NASR is University Professor of Islamic Studies at The George Washington University. He has authored over fifty books and over five hundred articles, including pioneering works on religion and the environment, such as Man and Nature: The Spiritual Crisis in Modern Man and Religion and the Order of Nature. Dr. Nasr graduated from MIT and Harvard University in the 1950s and was Dean of The Faculty of Arts of Tehran University (1968-1972), president of Aryamehr University (1972-1975), and founder and first president of the Imperial Iranian Academy of Philosophy (1973-1979). He was the first Muslim to deliver the prestigious Gifford Lectures in 1981. In addition to his writings, Dr. Nasr’s productivity has continued with his training of several generations of scholars. Venue & Timing The Institute of Ismaili Studies Aga Khan Centre 10 Handyside Street London, N1C 4DN Nearest Underground – King’s Cross Doors open 6.10pm Lecture begins 6.30pm Admission £10 or £5 Members of the Temenos Academy/Concession FREE for full time students with ID card E temenos...@myfastmail.com T 07513 883 335 Dante’s Poetic Knowledge ANDREW FRISARDI Monday 24 June In the chair Dr Jeremy Naydler If every poem is an expression of some kind of knowledge, Dante’s poetry ultimately embodies knowledge that is all-embracing. His lyrics attest to his incessant experimentation with language and style attuned to various levels of experience. His first book, the Vita nova, depicts his coming-of-age as a poet and his discovery of the spiritual knowledge that love has brought through the figure of Beatrice. His unfinished treatises the Convivio and De vulgari eloquentia continue his explorations into language, poetry, and philosophy. Finally, the Divine Comedy, amounts to a Christian vernacular summa or total integration of Dante’s passions, experiences, learning, art, and religion. This lecture will sketch Dante’s poetic search for truth, and consider how the Comedy embodies the comprehensive, transformative knowledge of reality that he—as poet-prophet—wants to share with the world. ANDREW FRISARDI has authored a number of books including annotated translations of Dante’s Vita nova (Northwestern University Press, 2012) and Convivio (Cambridge University Press, 2018); and Love’s Scribe: Reading Dante in the Book of Creation (Angelico Press, 2020). He has recently written an introduction to Petrarch for a new edition of the complete Canzoniere, translated into English by A. M. Juster (W. W. Norton, forthcoming in 2025). He is a Fellow of the Temenos Academy. Venue & Timing St George the Martyr 44 Queen Square London, WC1N 3AH Nearest Underground – Holborn Doors open 6.10pm, Lecture begins 6.30pm Admission £10 or £5 Members of the Temenos Academy/Concession FREE for full time students with ID card E temenos...@myfastmail.com T 07513 883 335   THE ARCHIVE Our website Archive hosts many audio and video recordings of lectures, digital versions of all thirteen issues of the journal TEMENOS, and the texts of seventy articles from Temenos Academy Review. New material is added regularly. https://temenosacademy.org/main-lecture-archive https://temenosacademy.org/temenos-journal-archive https://temenosacademy.org/temenos-academy-review-archive Many of our audio recordings are available as PODCASTS. PAYPAL GIVING FUND UK The Temenos Academy is registered with PayPal Giving Fund UK. When using PayPal if you choose you may also make a donation in support of the Temenos Academy. 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