Dr. Tom Csordas
(Case Western Reserve University, Department of Anthropology)
"Children of the Word of God: Morality
and Spirituality in the Second Generation of a Charismatic Community"
Wednesday, March 28th, 2001, 3:00 p.m.
In 1991 The Word of God, the largest and most highly structured
Catholic Charismatic community in the world, underwent a dramatic
schism. Much of the tension that led to this schism was over
the nature of family life and childrearing as the community
faced the challenge of transmitting its religious vision and
lifestyle to a second generation. In the wake of the schism,
an atmosphere of self-questioning created the opportunity within
this formerly closed community for a series of ethnographic
interviews with parents, teachers, and students in the community's
school. This lecture represents a step toward understanding
the unique moral and spiritual dilemmas with which they were
confronted.
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Thomas J. Csordas received his Ph.D. in Anthropology
from Duke University in 1980, and is currently Professor of
Anthropology and Religion at Case Western Reserve University.
He was the recipient of the 1988 Stirling Award for Contributions
in Psychological Anthropology. His research interests include
anthropological theory, comparative religion, medical and psychological
anthropology, cultural phenomenology and embodiment, globalization
and social change, and language and culture. He has conducted
fieldwork funded by major grants from NIMH on the Catholic Charismatic
Renewal movement, examining topics including healing ritual,
religious language, bodily experience, and child development;
and among Navajo Indians, examining topics including the experience
of Navajo cancer patients, therapeutic process in Navajo religious
healing, and language and narrative in interviews with Navajo
patients and healers. He is the author of The Sacred Self:
A Cultural Phenomenology of Charismatic Healing (Berkeley:
University of California Press, 1994); Language, Charisma,
and Creativity: The Ritual Life of a Religious Movement
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997); and editor
of Embodiment and Experience: The Existential Ground of Culture
and Self (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994).
He has recently completed a five year term as Editor of Ethos:
Journal of the Society for Psychological Anthropology; he
also serves on the editoial boards of Medical Anthropology
Quarterly and Culture, Medicine, and Psychiatry.
He currently holds the office of President of the Society for
the Anthropology of Religion.
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The MARIAL Center
Emory West, 4th Floor, Room 415E
Open to the public
Refreshments will be served
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DIRECTIONS TO THE MARIAL CENTER
The MARIAL Center is located on the 4th floor
of the main building of Emory West, 1256 Briarcliff Rd. There
is ample parking close to the building. Alternatively, you may
take the Emory shuttle (Route W). The shuttle leaves every half
hour from the main campus and is a 10-minute ride. Route W shuttle
stops are located at the corner of Asbury Circle and Pierce
Drive, along Pierce Drive, and in front of the Administration
Building.
Please tell the receptionist at the front window
that you are here for the MARIAL Center lecture.
