Watch the 2022 Surjit Singh Lecture
Dr. Jorge Cañizares-Esguerra, Alice Drysdale Sheffield Professor of History and Director, Institute for Historical Studies at the University of Texas, Austin, presented the GTU's annual Singh Lecture in Comparative Religious Thought. Dr. Cañizares-Esguerra's lecture is titled “The Virgin Mary as Warrior: Marian models of women’s religious experience in colonial Latin America.” View the preview video below, or watch the full lecture here.
The Graduate Theological Union has long been a leading center for ecumenical theological education and for interreligious dialogue and understanding. The annual Surjit Singh Lecture in Comparative Religious Thought and Culture builds on this tradition by fostering interreligious and cross-cultural communication and understanding, without compromising the integrity and essential telos of a religion or a culture.
This endowed lectureship brings to the GTU a distinguished scholar/church leader to address religion and culture from a cross-cultural perspective.
About Surjit Singh
The late Dr. Surjit Singh was professor emeritus of Christian Philosophy at the San Francisco Theological Seminary. He was dean of the seminary from 1972 to 1978, and was professor at the GTU from 1962 to 1988. Before arriving in the Bay Area in 1951, Dr. Singh served as a national secretary of the Student Christian Movement of New Zealand, India, Burma and Sri Lanka. He has also served as professor of systematic theology and philosophy of religion at United Theological College, Saharanpur, India. His publications included Prophetic Realism; Preface to Personality; Christology and Personality; Communism, Christianity, Democracy; and A Philosophy of Integral Relation.
Selected audio and/or video recordings and other files for these events can be accessed through the GTU Archives in the Hewlett Library.
Past Lectures
Spring 2021 |
Spring 2020 |
Spring 2019 |
Spring 2018 |
February 22, 2017 |
May 25, 2016 |
April 10, 2015
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February 21, 2013 |
February 28, 2012 |
April 12, 2011 |
April 13, 2010 The Theology of Forgiveness in a Comparative Perspective Anri Morimoto Professor & Chair, Department of Philosophy and Religion, International Christian University, Japan Listen to the Introduction by Jeffrey Kuan (PSR) |
April 29, 2009
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April 17, 2008 |
November 8, 2006 Sacred Sites in Changing Landscapes: Shamans and Commercial Shrines in the Republic of Korea Laurel Kendall Curator, Division of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History |
November 2, 2005 |
November 3, 2004 Dr. Williams’ lecture discussed Akbar, the remarkable Mughal Emperor who ruled at the same time as Elizabeth 1 in England, and was open to all the religions that he encountered in India: Hinduism, Jainism, Christianity, as well as various forms of Islam. He was also a great patron of painting, which reflects both his ecumenical ideas and a certain skepticism about dogma. Williams is the author of The Two-Headed Deer: Illustrations of the Ramayana in Orissa. |
November 5, 2003 |
November 6, 2002 |
November 7, 2001 |
October 1, 2000 |
October 1, 1999 |
October 1, 1998 |
November 1, 1997 |
October 1, 1996 |
October 1, 1995 |
October 1, 1994 |
October 1, 1993 |
October 1, 1992 |
October 1, 1991 |