15 scholars met at Drake University for a two-day workshop organized by Tim Knepper to generate topics and materials for undergraduate courses in philosophy of religion. The workshop was supported by the Wabash Center, the Drake Center for the Humanities , and The Comparison Project .
The group of scholars focused their efforts on Knepper’s proposed categories involving the component parts of the journey of the self and the cosmos: What is the “self”? What is its original condition? Does it survive death and if so how? By what path does it reach its destination? What obstacles stand in the way of it reaching its destination? What is the cosmos? Does the cosmos have a origin or creator? Does the cosmos have an end? What is the role of anomalous events and experiences in the religious functioning of the cosmos? What obstacles stand in the way of the religious functioning of the cosmos and its inhabitants? The results of these efforts were a rich repository of thinkers, texts, and traditions with regard to each of these philosophical questions.
The other 14 participants were:
- Purushottama Bilimoria
- Fritz Detwiler
- Morny Joy
- Leah Kalmanson
- Louis Komjathy
- Gereon Kopf
- Nathan Loewen
- Willy Mafuta
- Herbert Moyo
- Oludamini Ogunnaike
- Jin Park
- Kevin Schilbrack
- Nikky Singh
- Daria Trentini