Uncategorized – Page 10 – The Comparison Project

March 6, 2017February 19, 2025

03/23/2017: “To Die in Peace”: Negotiating Advance Directives in a Navajo Context

Michelene Pesantubbee, Associate Professor of American Indian Studies, University of Iowa

Thursday, March 23, 7:00 p.m.
Sussman Theater, Olmsted Center

Health care providers in IHS facilities and hospitals have long been reluctant to raise end-of-life issues with Native American patients for fear of violating tribal customs. Dr. Pesantubbee will discuss Navajo beliefs associated with illness and death and how those ideas informed Navajo refusal to consider advance directives. She will conclude with a summary of how the Fort Defiance Indian Hospital staff worked with Navajo social workers to devise a plan that resulted in extraordinary success rates in obtaining Navajo end-of-life directives.

Michelene Pesantubbee is an associate professor of religious studies at the University of Iowa. She specializes in Native American religious traditions especially Native American women and religious change and Native American religious movements. She is the author of Choctaw Women in a Chaotic World published by the University of New Mexico Press.

Listen to the audio of the lecture below:

[sc_embed_player_template1 fileurl=”http://comparisonproject.wp.drake.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/92/2017/04/Pesantubbee_Lecture_Audio.mp3″]

February 10, 2017February 19, 2025

03/02/2017: Brain Death; Islamic Theological Responses to Medicalized Dying

Aasim Padela, Director of the Initiative on Islam and Medicine, University of Chicago

Thursday, March 2, 7:00 p.m.
Sussman Theater, Olmsted Center

Dr. Aasim Padela’s lecture will describe critical Islamic theological concepts and relevant juridical rulings pertaining to end-of-life healthcare. Specifically, it will examine ethico-legal perspectives on withdrawal and withholding of life support and brain death, and cover how notions about moral obligations and preservation of human dignity inform viewpoints on death and dying.

Dr. Aasim Padela is the Director of the Initiative on Islam and Medicine and an Associate Professor of Medicine at the MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics at the University of Chicago. Dr. Padela is a clinician-researcher and bioethicist whose scholarship lies at the intersection of community health and religion. He has served as a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholar from 2008–2011, a Visiting Fellow at the Oxford Centre of Islamic Studies in 2010, and a Templeton Foundation Scholar from 2013–2015.

Video of the lecture

November 21, 2016February 19, 2025

12/08/2016: Community Interfaith Dialogue

Moderator:

Norma Hirsch, Professor of Osteopathic Medicine at Des Moines University

Panelists:

Younes Ali Younes, imam of the Islamic Center of Des Moines
Ksenija Milinkovic, presbitera of St. Demetrius Serbian Orthodox Church
Ajahn Jackson and Ajahn Somphan, Wat Phothisomphan

Thursday, December 8, 7:00 p.m.
Iles Funeral Homes, Dunn’s Chapel
2121 Grand Ave, Des Moines

Among other questions, the panel seeks to explore beliefs about what happens after death and practices concerning what must be done before and after death. Representatives of three different local refugee communities will explore these beliefs and practices from the perspectives of their religious traditions: Vietnamese Buddhism, African Muslim, and Serbian Christian. The panelists will focus particularly on the tensions between traditional theologies and rituals of death, and the way in which death has increasingly become the domain of medicine and law.

Audio of the Panel:

[sc_embed_player_template1 fileurl=”http://comparisonproject.wp.drake.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/92/2016/11/Dec-8-Part-I.mp3″]

Audio of the Q&A:

[sc_embed_player_template1 fileurl=”http://comparisonproject.wp.drake.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/92/2016/11/Dec-8-Part-II.mp3″]

November 8, 2016

Interfaith and Multicultural Fair

November 15, 4 to 6 p.m., Parents Hall, Olmsted Center

The Iowa Interfaith and Multicultural Fair, scheduled from 4 to 6 p.m. in Drake’s Olmsted Center, will feature representatives from 15 central Iowa faith communities—including three Jewish synagogues, three Christian churches, three Muslim mosques, two Hindu temples, two Buddhist temples, and two Sikh temples. The fair is sponsored by The Comparison Project at Drake University, the Drake Community Press, and the Des Moines Area Religious Council.

The fair will feature music, food, photography, information, and religious objects from each of the participating faith communities. Attendees will also have an opportunity to pre-order copies of a photo-illustrated, student-written book about “Religions of Des Moines,” which is being written and produced by The Comparison Project, the Drake Community Press, and local photographer Bob Blanchard. The book is expected to publish in spring 2017.

The Interfaith and Multicultural Fair will precede the 37th Martin Bucksbaum Distinguished Lecture with Krista Tippett, taking place at 7:00 p.m. at Drake University’s Knapp Center.

Tippett is host of On Being, a Peabody Award-winning public radio program and podcast that traces the mysteries of human existence. In addition to being one of the world’s leading journalists covering faith and religion, Tippett is also an advocate for civil discourse. Her latest initiative, the Civil Conversations Project, fosters a series of conversations, public events, and resources to help heal the divisions within our communities.

September 19, 2016February 19, 2025

10/06/2016: “The Ritualization of Death: The Journey from the Living-living to the Living Dead in African Religions”

Herbert Moyo

Director of the Practical Theology Programme, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Thursday, October 6, 7:00 p.m.

Sussman Theater, Olmsted Center, Drake University

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Dr. Herbert Moyo’s talk will address Ndebele theologies and rituals of death and dying, especially as these involve ongoing relationships with the ancestors. Moyo will focus on the ways in which the modern medicalization of life and death offer challenges to these traditional philosophies and practices.

Dr. Moyo teaches practical theology, religion and governance, and church leadership in the School of Religion, Philosophy, and Classics at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Moyo’s research focuses on church and state relations in Africa, the relationship between traditional African religions and the Christian church, and coping with death and dying in Africa.

Response by Willy Mafuta, United Methodist minister and adjunct professor of religion

Video of the Lecture

August 25, 2016February 19, 2025

09/16/2016: “A Time to Be Born, and a Time to Die” (Ecclesiastes 3:2): A Jewish View of the Modern Medical Complexities of Dying

Elliot Dorff

Rector and Sol & Ann Dorff Distinguished Service Professor in Philosophy, American Jewish University

Thursday, September 15, 7:00 p.m.

Sussman Theater, Olmsted Center

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Dorff will be discussing how the medical and social features of contemporary societies make treating the dying much more morally fraught than it was in the past, and, given that, what the Jewish tradition can advise us on how to treat the dying not simply as patients, but as people worthy of respect.

Elliot Dorff is Rector and Distinguished Service Professor at American Jewish University and Visiting Professor at UCLA School of Law. He served on three federal commissions on matters of health care and now serves on a commissions on matters of health care and now serves on a commission for the State of California. He is the author of Matters of Life and Death: A Jewish Approach to Modern Medical Ethics.

To listen to the lecture:

[sc_embed_player_template1 fileurl=”http://comparisonproject.wp.drake.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/92/2016/09/Dorff_lecture_default.mp3″]

March 28, 2016February 19, 2025

04/14/2015: Secular Death

Amy Hollywood

Elizabeth H. Monrad Professor of Christian Studies, Harvard University

Thursday, April 14, 6:00 p.m.

Sussman Theater, Olmsted Center

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Amy Hollywood came to Harvard Divinity School after teaching at Rhodes College, Dartmouth College, and the University of Chicago. She is the author of The Soul as Virgin Wife: Mechthild of Magdeburg, Marguerite Porete, and Meister Eckhart, which received the Otto Grundler Prize for the best book in medieval studies from the International Congress of Medieval Studies. Professor Hollywood is currently exploring the place of the mystical, often redescribed as enthusiasm, within modern philosophy, theology, and poetry.

Listen to the audio of the presentation below:

[sc_embed_player_template1 fileurl=”http://comparisonproject.wp.drake.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/92/2016/03/hollywood_lecture_default.mp3″]

March 3, 2016

Embrace Aging: Care-Giving

Charles Wurth

Arbor Spring Management Services

Tuesday, March 29, 7:00 p.m.

Sussman Theater, Olmsted Center, Drake University

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In a World of Dementia And Alzheimer’s Disease

Chuck Wurth specializes in care for those with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia. He and his family have worked to redesign dementia care through a holistic program in a home-like setting.

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Moderator: Martha Willits, AARP Iowa State President

Willits is the volunteer Iowa State President of AARP, the nonprofit, nonpartisan organization for 50+ with 370,000 members in Iowa. She was formerly president and CEO of the Greater Des Moines Partnership as well as formerly President and Chief Professional Officer of the United Way of Central Iowa.

Video of the Lecture

Continuing education credit is available for nurses and other healthcare professionals who attend this event. It is approved by Iowa Board of Nursing Provider #302, HCI Care Services for 0.15 CEUs or 1.5 contact hours of continuing education.

January 28, 2016February 19, 2025

02/11/2015: Spring Community Interfaith Dialogue

Moderator:

Norma Hirsch, Professor of Osteopathic Medicine
at Des Moines University

Panelists:

Robert Aubrey, Chaplin (Retired); Unity Point and Broadlawns
David Kaufman, Rabbi, Temple B’nai Jeshurun
Yogesh Shah, Associate Dean, Des Moines University

Thursday, February 11, 7:00 p.m.
Iles Funeral Homes, Dunn’s Chapel
2121 Grand Ave, Des Moines

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How do the religions of the world understand death and dying? What rituals do they practice as preparation for death and in response to death? What effects has the “medicalization of death” had on these traditional understandings and practices? And what does the medical community need to know about traditional religious theologies and rituals related to death and dying?

The Comparison Project’s Community Interfaith Dialogue will explore these questions from the perspectives of Judaism, Catholicism, and Buddhism. Our moderator and panelists will focus particularly on the tensions between traditional theologies and rituals of death and the way in which death has increasingly become the domain of medicine and law. There will be ample time for questions from the audience.

The video from the panel can be viewed here.

January 28, 2016February 19, 2025

12/03/2015: Fall Interfaith Dialogue

Moderator:

Norma Hirsch, Professor of Osteopathic Medicine
at Des Moines University

Panelists:

Sayeed Hussain, Pediatrician, West Des Moines Children’s Clinic
Pramod Mahajan, Associate Professor of Pharmacology, Drake University
You Bin, Fulbright Visiting Scholar of Religion, Minzu University of China
Joseph Moravec, Professor of Theology and Philosophy, Mercy College

Thursday, December 3, 7:00 p.m.
Iles Funeral Homes, Dunn’s Chapel
2121 Grand Ave, Des Moines

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The Comparison Project’s Community Interfaith Dialogue will explore these questions from the perspectives of Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, and Chinese Religion. Our moderator and panelists will focus particularly on the tensions between traditional theologies and rituals of death and the way in which death has increasingly become the domain of medicine and law. There will be ample time for questions from the audience.

Videos:
Dialogue
Questions