An ordained deacon from the Greek Orthodox Church will be the guest speaker for a pair of lectures hosted by the Richard L. Evans Chair of Religious Understanding at Brigham Young University Thursday and Friday, Sept. 23 and 24.
John Manoussakis, an Edward Bennett Williams fellow assistant professor of philosophy at the College of the Holy Cross in Boston, will give first his lecture titled “From the Beginning of the World to its End and Beyond: The Eight Days of St. Augustine’s Confessions” Thursday at 11 a.m. in B032 Joseph F. Smith Building.
Friday at 2 p.m., Manoussakis will give a general lecture on Greek Orthodoxy, titled “The Face of God: Some Phenomenological Aspects of Christian Iconography” in the Harold B. Lee Library Auditorium.
The first presentation is aimed at undergraduate philosophy majors, but all are invited to both lectures. Manoussakis will be available for questions and answers following both events.
“Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints generally know little about Greek Orthodoxy,” said James Faulconer, a Richard L. Evans professor at BYU. “It’s helpful to have communication between their faith and ours, especially in the context of interfaith dialogue that the Richard L. Evans Chair works to establish.”
Manoussakis was born in Athens, Greece, and received a doctorate in philosophy from Boston University. His research interests include ancient Greek philosophy, religious philosophy, phenomenology, and Patristics or the study of early Christian writers.
For more information about the lectures, call James Faulconer at (801) 422-9781 or e-mail james.faulconer@byu.edu.
Writer: Philip Volmar
