Guest lectures by Audrius Beinorius

Audrius Beinorius, the current Visiting Professor of East Asian Religions at the School of Theology and Religious Studies is going to give two public lectures, first on the 12th of February and second on the 14th of February, to start the spring semester. One of them will be dealing with the classics of the psychology of religion, the other with intriguing issues related to the matters of orientalism, postcolonial studies and the study of religion.

Everybody is invited! Detailed information below:

"Freudian and Jungian approaches to religion"
12.02.2018 kell 14:15-15:45 Ülikooli 18-230.

Present lecture be focused on the early development of the field of psychology of religion and one influential its approach, namely, the psychoanalytical perspective to religious studies will be introduced. Question be raised: What were the principal differences between Jungian and Freudian approaches to religious studies? Why S. Freud suggested that religion and neurosis are similar products of the human mind? How C. G. Jung described the collective unconscious and what role in his analysis of religious experiences is intended to the theory of archetypes and the process of individuation? How, according to him, myths, symbols and religious images are related to the contents of our dreams? Why he took so much interest in Gnosticism, alchemy and astrology? What was Jungian treatment of Christianity and his perception of Eastern religious traditions? Lecture will be concluded with appreciation and criticism of both Freudian and Jungian approaches.
 
"Orientalism, postcolonial studies and study of religion"
14.02.2018 kell 18:15-19:45 Ülikooli 18-307.
          
The lecture is dedicated to the epistemic violence of classical Orientalism and its response to the colonial past by problematizing the way in which Indian religion has been represented within Western scholarship. While analyzing the contribution of Western colonization to the construction of the notion of ‘Hinduism’ the re-evaluation of the conception of Orientalism within the context of postcolonial discourse shall be provided. We will review the ‘Orientalist debate’ implemented by Edward Said and explore later responses to Said's ideas by trying to answer some relevant questions: How colonization has contributed to the westernization and modern construction of ‘Hinduism’? What is relation between the theories and discourses of postcolonialism, poststructuralism and postmodernism? How postcolonial discourse changes our understanding of the nature of religion?  

 

These events have been financed by the University of Tartu ASTRA Project PER ASPERA (European Regional Development Fund).