Dr. Jon Pahl to Lecture on "the Desire to Acquire"
The Muhlenberg College Center for Ethics presents The Desire to Acquire: Or, Why Shopping Malls are Sites of Religious Violence, a lecture by Dr. Jon Pahl, Professor of the History of Christianity in North America at the Lutheran Theological Seminary, on Monday, October 5 at 7:00 p.m., Great Room Seegers Union.Tuesday, September 29, 2009 11:22 AM
This event is free and open to the public and is co-sponsored by the Department of Religion Studies and the Lutheran Student Movement.
Have you ever gotten lost in a shopping mall? That disorientation is a symptom of the spiritual problem Jon Pahl sees with malls as "sacred places" in a global religion of the market. Based on his books Shopping Malls and Other Sacred Places and Empire of Sacrifice: The Religious Origins of American Violence, this multimedia presentation will introduce a viewing of the recent film in which he appears, Malls R Us (2009, Instinct Films). Followed by a Q and A discussion with Pahl.
This event is part of the series Ethics of Space: Power of Place, programs that will examine three different sub-themes relating to the concept of “space:” BOUNDARIES, including the invisible, the visible, and the geo-political; CONTROLLING SPACE, considering the differences and overlaps between public and private space, and physical and metaphorical space; and SPACE IN BODIES, which will tackle issues of shared identity, constructing differences, and the spaces between people.
Each year, the Center for Ethics sponsors an intensive series designed to encourage discussion and reflection on a timely, pertinent topic. Center for Ethics programs are free and open to all members of the Muhlenberg campus and the local community. For more information on the series, visit www.muhlenberg.edu/cultural/ethics.
Muhlenberg College gratefully acknowledges the Christian A. Johnson Endeavor Foundation’s support of the Center for Ethics
