Dr. Raymond Bulman, a chair of the Studies in Religion Seminar for the past twenty years, passed away on March 23 after a brief illness.  Ray Bulman was a Professor of Systematic Theology and Religious Studies at St. John’s University in Queens.  He was the author of A Blueprint for Humanity: Paul Tillich’s Theology of Culture, which won a 1981 Choice Award for the best academic book in religion, and The Lure of the Millennium: The Year 2000 and Beyond.  With Frederick Parrella, Dr. Bulman co-edited the volumes Paul Tillich: A New Catholic Assessment, From Trent to Vatican II: Historical and Theological Investigations, and Religion on the New Millennium.  His articles were published in the Journal of Church and State, Dialog, the Journal of Ecumenical Studies, and Theology Today.  He earned his Ph.D. from Columbia in 1973 after completing graduate studies at the Gregorian University in Rome.

In lieu of flowers, Dr. Bulman’s family has asked that any memorial donations be made to St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital (www.stjude.org) or Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church, 79 Buell Lane, East Hampton, NY 11937.

Boris Gasparov is the 2013 winner of Columbia’s Lionel Trilling Book Award. This award is given annually to the faculty author of the book “that is deemed to best exhibit the standards of intellect and scholarship found in Lionel Trilling’s work.”

Boris Gasparov is honored for Beyond Pure Reason: Ferdinand de Saussure’s Philosophy of Language and Its Early Romantic Antecedents, published by Columbia University Press in 2012 and based on his Leonard Hastings Schoff Lectures.

Columbia University Press has newly released a paperback edition of Robert Pollack’s, The Faith of Biology and the Biology of Faith.

Are there parallels between the “moment of insight” in science and the emergence of the “unknowable” in religious faith? Where does scientific insight come from? Award-winning biologist Robert Pollack argues that an alliance between religious faith and science is not necessarily an argument in favor of irrationality: the two can inform each other’s visions of the world. (CUP) Read more…

There have been many days when I stand somewhat fatigued by my labors in Higher Education but I need only reflect back upon my personal engagements at the table of the University Seminar on Innovation in Education to put into perspective what really matters. Over the years, I have often referred to notes taken at the table and looked up a reference of a book or article that I first learned of at the Seminar. I am grateful to you for organizing and galvanizing a quality learning experience that still stays with me. 

–Peter M. Rojcewicz, Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean of Faculty at Antioch University Seattle

Jason Pine

Myriam Cottias and Madeline Dobie

Andrew S. Dolkart

Gopal Sukhu

Jason Pine

December 14, 2012. Please click here for the full event listing.