SMPT is meeting at the University of Utah on March 27-29, and the conference program is now posted on the web. Featured speakers include Stephen T. Davis of Claremont McKenna College and Jad Hatem of Saint Joseph University, Beirut. The conference is free and open to the public. Davis will also deliver a Tanner-McMurrin Lecture at Westminster College that weekend.
Stephen Davis is actually at Claremont McKenna College, not Claremont Graduate University.
Woah, woah, hold on a minute! Jad Hatem from Saint-Joseph University in Beirut? For starters about the only interest in the Mideast I’ve seen in Mormons has been either distant curiosity (sometimes friendly, sometimes not – sometimes accurate, sometimes not) or else very often badly misinformed outright bile. A decent portion of the bile has come from a few Lebanese sources including one rabidly anti-Mormon and badly written book (“al-Mormoon: Koofadees?”) written in the 90s. So to see a Lebanese speaker here, from a Christian university in Lebanon, speaking intelligently on Lehi’s philosphy is…well, refreshing at a minimum and incredibly positive in my view! Anyone know more about who Jad Hatem is? I presume he is not a member, is that correct? Anyone know how to get in touch with him?
Ah, would appear he’s set to do several lectures at the BYU Kennedy Center as well:
Mon, 24 Mar
Middle East Studies Arabic Lecture
“Faith and Intellect: Empathy and Neutrality: Itinerary of a Catholic Scholar,†Jad Hatem, professor of philosophy, University of Saint Joseph, Lebanon, 2:00–3:30 P.M. (Q&A to follow lecture), HBLL auditorium
Tue, 25 Mar
Middle East Studies Arabic Lecture
“The 3 Nephites, the Bodhisattva, and the Mahdi: The 3 Nephites as a Paradigm Context of Comparative Religion,” Jad Hatem, professor of philosophy, University of Saint Joseph, Lebanon, 2:00–3:30 P.M. (Q&A to follow lecture), HBLL auditorium
Wed, 26 Mar
Middle East Studies Arabic Lecture
“Pure Love in Islam and Christianity: Itinerary of a Catholic Scholar,” Jad Hatem, professor of philosophy, University of Saint Joseph, Lebanon, 2:00–3:30 P.M. (Q&A to follow lecture), HBLL auditorium
If anybody goes, please do report, he and his topics look truly interesting.
Thanks, narrator! I fixed it.
Jamal, thanks for noticing. I’m very glad too. Jim Faulconer knows Hatem and has been communicating with him about his visit. Perhaps he’ll weigh in.
I went to a conference at Notre Dame this past fall (and JIm was there actually) and heard two Catholic priests speak, one from Iraq and one from Galilee, and it was really exciting to get a sense of who they are, what it’s like to be a Christian there, and hear their perspective on what was going on around them. I don’t know if Hatem will go into that sort of thing, but I’m very much looking forward to hearing from him.
Thanks Ben. Will these sessions be recorded and available to download/purchase anytime soon?
The Author meets critics session with Blake Ostler – that’s for the 3rd volume, not the second volume, correct?
Hatem is a Catholic, teaching philosophy of religion and philosophy of literature at St. Joseph’s. He has published quite a bit with French publishers.
I met him at a conference on Orthodox philosophy of religion in Romania last August. I’m not sure how he became interested in Mormons, but he had already written a book on the three Nephites, Les Trois Nephites, Le Bodhisattva et le Mahdi, and had read the LDS Standard Works, the Encycylopedia of Mormonism, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, and some other things.
Hatem’s visit to BYU is sponsored by the BYU Faculty Center, under the auspices of their “Faith and Intellect” initiative. Some of the lectures are co-sponsored by the Kennedy Center and the French Department. His presentations at BYU will be video-recorded and will be available on-line, but unfortunately only for those using computers on campus. His lecture for SMPT is grace, thrown in because he’s interested in meeting Mormon thinkers.
Jacob, the Ostler author meets critic sessions is for the second volume since we haven’t been able to get copies of the third.
Jamal, if you’d like to get in contact with Hatem, why don’t you e-mail me? I can put you in touch with him.
Jim: Any chance that audio recordings of the SMPT sessions will be made available online?
Nate, you’ll have to ask Ben Huff. He does our web site. It would require us getting permission, but I don’t think that would be difficult. If Ben is up to posting them and we get the permissions, I don’t see why not.
Well, audio would also require us to have someone record the sessions. Know anybody who would do that for us, Jim?
I can supply the digital audio recorder.
I went to his lecture today at BYU …very inspiring and revealing!
For those who are interested in Hatem, you are more than welcome to attend his two lectures tomorrow on the 3 Nephites and wed. on mysticism (2pm at HBLL Auditorium).
By the way: BYU HBLL library has now some of his books.