Oxbridge Lecture Series Spring 2010
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Dr. Jeffrey Lidke
Associate Professor of World Religions
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This course uses the English model of instruction
with public lectures and private tutorials. Students enrolled benefit
from small group, intensive student-faculty interaction, and exploratory
assignments that stimulate inquiry and intellectual growth. The course
is offered once a year and taught by Berry’s best professors. The
content varies with each offering.
Spring 2010 Oxbridge Lecture Series Course
HON 251 HA: The Messiah and the Awakened One
The Doctrine and Practice of Compassion in the East and West
In this course, we will take an in-depth interdisciplinary,
historical and cross-cultural look at the origins, development, and
consequences of acting with compassion. The idea that humans find their
deepest purpose in cultivating the depths of their moral character
through acts of love and service towards others is one of the seminal
products of religious thought. This idea was arguably given most potent
expression in the teachings and example of the Buddha in the East and
Jesus in the West. In both cases, they were echoing an understanding
already in currency in their homelands. From the teachings and
hagiographic memories of both would arise major missionary world
movements that would transform the inner and outer worlds of billions of
individuals in the centuries after their deaths. The religions that
linked themselves to these historical figures would both give rise to
monastic traditions for the purpose of self-cultivation, universities of
higher education, systems of governance that sought to ground politics
in spirituality (with profoundly mixed results), a rich tradition of
artistic expression, and a humanist vision that would spawn the politics
of non-violence as the only logical and effective way to truly do onto
others as you would have them do unto you.
