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Free online lectures: Explore a world of ideas

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Boston College

Boston College is a coeducational university with undergraduate and graduate students hailing from every state and more than 95 countries. Founded in 1863, it is one of the oldest Jesuit, Catholic universities in the United States.

Since its founding in 1957, the Lowell Humanities Series has brought distinguished writers, artists, performers, and scholars to Boston College. Follow the series on Twitter at @BCLowellHS .

http://www.bc.edu

  • Delivering the Urban Ecology annual keynote address, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks about the importance of urban ecosystems in a healthy environment. He explains how the straining effects of suburban sprawl and urban populations threaten the economy, ecology, and public health in cities in New England.
    Partner:
    Boston College
  • This talk from David L. Kirp, for the sixth annual Monan Lecture on Higher Education, shares its title with Kirp's recently published book. Kirp describes the conflict between the ways in which American universities are increasingly pressured to function as businesses within a competitive market, and their educational goals.
    Partner:
    Boston College
  • Harry M. Kraemer, president and CEO of Baxter International Inc., discusses the crisis of values that CEOs and leaders of companies deal with every day in the workplace, and also offers insight on how companies can develop value-based organizations. Kraemer has been with Baxter for 22 years and was elected CEO in 1999. Kraemer is introduced by Orit Gadiesh, Chairman of Bain & Company.
    Partner:
    Boston College
  • Jon Levenson, the Albert A. List professor of Jewish Studies at Harvard Divinity School, focuses on the tension between the theological aspects of the flawed members of the Catholic Church and the holy community of people protected by God's promises. He is a specialist in the literary and theological dimensions of the Hebrew Bible. Levenson is the author of nine books, including *Sinai and Zion: An Entry into the Jewish Bible* and *Creation and the Persistence of Evil: The Jewish Drama of Divine Omnipotence*. Levenson is introduced by Fred Lawrence, director of the Lonergan Workshop, and Ben Birnbaum, editor, *Boston College Magazine*.
    Partner:
    Boston College
  • Howard Gray, rector at John Carroll University; Geshe Tsetan, Tibetan Buddhist monk; and Swami Tyagananda, Hindu rector at MIT, offer perspectives on celibacy from the viewpoints of their respective religions. Mary Ann Hinsdale, from the Boston College Theology Department, introduces the speakers.
    Partner:
    Boston College
  • Authors Andrew Sullivan and David Morrison discuss homosexuality in Catholic culture. Sullivan argues that there is no scriptural substantiation for the Church's stance against homosexuality, while Morrison promotes chastity for those who are attracted to persons of the same sex. The program is introduced by Joseph Appleyard, vice president for University mission and ministry at Boston College.
    Partner:
    Boston College
  • Harvard Professor Charles Ogletree Jr. and Boston University Law Professor Keith Hylton give a two-part keynote address from a Boston College symposium, "Healing the Wounds of Slavery: Can Present Legal Remedies Cure Past Wrongs?"
    Partner:
    Boston College
  • Five journalists and scholars explore the changing landscape of American faith, using as a starting point two recent books: *A People Adrift: The Crisis of the Catholic Church in America*, by *New York Times* religion correspondent and former *Commonwealth* editor Peter Steinfels; and *The Transformation of American Religion: How We Actually Live Our Faith*, by Boston College political science professor and Boisi Center director Alan Wolfe. Steinfels and Wolfe are joined on the panel by R. Scott Appleby, director of the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies and professor of history at Notre Dame; David Brooks, a columnist for *The New York Times*; and Wendy Kaminer, contributing editor of *The Atlantic Monthly*. The panel is introduced by moderator Ben Birnbaum, special assistant to the president and editor of *Boston College Magazine*.
    Partner:
    Boston College
  • Professor James Smith of Boston College's English department discusses the beginnings of an "architecture of containment" in Ireland, constructed to silence those whose sexual behavior or family circumstances contradicted an emerging image of Irish Catholic identity. James O'Toole, history professor at Boston College, responds. This talk is the second in the series "Ireland Before the Republic: Culture and Politics 1922-1949." Smith is introduced by Robin Lydenberg, English professor at Boston College.
    Partner:
    Boston College
  • Alan Berger, the Raddock Chair of Holocaust Studies at Florida Atlantic University, talks about educating students for altruism, and the lessons that can be learned from Holocaust rescuers. Berger is introduced by Philip Cunningham, executive director of the Center for Christian-Jewish Learning.
    Partner:
    Boston College