Peter Bolland

Join us for this two hour multi-media lecture presentation. There is a growing schism forming in the world’s religious landscape, a split between two powerful perspectives, fundamentalism and spirituality. “Fundamentalism” is the term commonly applied to conservative religious movements that seek a return to “fundamentals,” such as Fundamentalist Christianity or Wahhabi Islam. Three key components of fundamentalism are scriptural literalism, rigid adherence to ancient codes, and a longing to return to an idealized past where everything was better and purer than it is now. “Spirituality” on the other hand is commonly used to describe a mode of being where the sacred or the divine speaks to each of us individually through the authority of our own inner experience, here and now. These two perspectives are clashing as never before, and the project of coming to a deeper understanding of both of them is growing more urgent by the day. Until we better understand the underlying principles of these two positions, any talk of healing this rift is futile.