Luther College presents Religion Forum lecture with Gereon Kopf Feb. 9
In times of change and uncertainty, human minds turn towards the age-old questions that have plagued them since the beginning of human thought. Who are we? Why are we here? And what are we here for?
Gereon Kopf, Luther College professor of religion, will discuss how we develop identities and their psychological, political, moral and religious dimensions at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 9, in the Center for Faith and Life Recital Hall on the Luther campus.
The lecture, titled "Shape-Shifting Identities: Seeking Stability in a Sea of Change," is part of the Luther College 2015-16 Religion Forum Series. The event is open to the public with no charge for admission.
Kopf's research interest in East Asian religions has led to many opportunities for conducting research and teaching abroad. He served as a research fellow at the Japan Foundation and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, and conducted research at Ōbirin University in Machida and at the Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture in Nagoya, Japan.
Kopf has also served as a visiting lecturer at Saitama University and visiting researcher at Tōyō University. Most recently, he taught the Luther January term course "Disaster and Enlightenment: Pilgrimages in China and Japan," which visited the sites of natural and human disasters such as Sendai, Hiroshima and Nanjing.
In addition to his articles published in academic journals such as the Journal for Chinese Philosophy and the Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, Kopf is the author of "Beyond Personal Identity," the co-editor of "Merleau-Ponty and Buddhism" and the editor of the Journal of Buddhist Philosophy.
Kopf has been a professor in the religion department since 1997, teaching courses on East Asian religions and comparative religion. He holds a doctoral degree in religious studies from Temple University in Philadelphia.
A national liberal arts college with an enrollment of 2,400, Luther offers an academic curriculum that leads to the Bachelor of Arts degree in more than 60 majors and pre-professional programs. For more information about Luther visit the college's website: http://www.luther.edu.
