Religious Studies Program at USU Opens Year With Lecture

The Religious Studies program at Utah State University was officially approved in April 2005 and opened its classes to students fall semester 2006. The only academic program of its kind in the Intermountain West, the young program is off to a tremendous start with full classes and ambitious plans that include offering a series of public lectures.


The opening event in that series features Steven Heine and his lecture “‘Bargainin’ for Salvation: Bob Dylan, A Zen Master?” The lecture is Friday, Oct. 26, at 2:30 p.m. in Old Main 225. All are invited.

“Throughout the year, the Religious Studies program will present lectures that cover a broad spectrum of topics,” said Charles Prebish, holder of the Charles Redd Chair in USU’s Religious Studies program. “We want the community to become acquainted with our program, and the lectures are a great way to do that. We promise interesting topics and speakers.”

 

In the opening lecture, Heine will examine Bob Dylan’s affinities with Zen Buddhist teaching in terms of the larger context of religious symbolism that is evidenced through much of his work.

 

“Professor Heine’s recent book White Collar Zen has attracted much recent attention in both Buddhist studies and religious studies,” said Prebish, a well-known Buddhist studies scholar in his own right. “This should be a popular lecture that combines elements of popular culture and music and the Zen tradition.”

 

Heine has published more than 20 books and more than 50 articles and chapters on the Zen tradition. He is professor of religious studies and history and is director of the Institute for Asian Studies at Florida International University. He is recognized as one of the foremost scholars of Zen in the world and was a recipient of the prestigious Japan Order of the Rising Sun Award in 2007. He has been a Fulbright senior researcher in Japan and twice won fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

 

The Religious Studies program at USU is based in the department of history in the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences. For information about the program or the lecture, contact Prebish, (435) 797-1529.

 

 

 

Contact: Charles S. Prebish (435) 797-1529
Writer: Patrick Williams (435) 797-1354