The Department of Philosophy and Religion at Mississippi State University is hosting a lecture by Professor Graham Schweig Nov. 2 in McCool Hall’s Taylor Auditorium.
Schweig is a professor of religion at Christopher Newport University with a doctorate from Harvard University and is a scholar of comparative religions. Schweig, who gives approximately 15 talks a year, will be lecturing about religious pluralism in a global context, a topic he feels is pertinent in today’s society.
“People really want to understand the nature of religious truth and how different religious truths make sense when [people] look at them together. This has been apparent to me from very early on. I’ve always been fascinated with the question of the nature of religious truth. What is religious truth? I think this is an area of humanity at large that has yet to mature,” Schweig said.
Schweig’s lecture is only a piece of the 90-minute program organized by the Philosophy and Religion Club. After the talk, there will be a response by Adaton Baptist Church Pastor J.D. Shaw, followed by a question-and-answer session involving the audience. John Edelmann, faculty advisor for the Philosophy and Religion Club, saw the necessity of having a Christian voice represented in the discussion.
“We thought that given there’s such a huge interest in Christianity on campus, both in the students, faculty and alumni, and the general public as well, that something that engages a comparative discussion or thinks about other religions would be of interest to people,” Edelmann said.
Schweig agrees that discussion can strengthen the substance of the open-minded atmosphere as well as lead to more revelations for those involved.
“Dialogue has the potential for moving into a true conversation of hearts, where two people, two hearts, develop a kind of trust and openness to gain some greater knowledge of the nature of religious truth,” Schweig said.
This lecture is one of eight events the Department of Philosophy and Religion has hosted this semester. Edelmann, who has known Schweig for several years, was convinced that Schweig would be integral in reaching a larger audience than just the department at MSU.
“One of my goals in inviting [Schweig] was to try and get the larger student body involved in thinking about religion in an academic, critical and philosophical way. So my hope would be that people would walk away thinking a bit more philosophically about their traditions and religious views,” Edelmann said.
Tucker Napier, freshman civil engineering major, plans on attending the lecture and hopes to broaden his exposure to other ways of thinking.
“I hope to get an enlightened perspective on religion. I think if you just stick to your one side of Christianity, or whatever religion that you’re a part of, and if you don’t take in other perspectives on the same idea, then you become narrow-minded,” Napier said.
All in all, Edelmann believes people’s respect and courteousness in discussion in the forum will be the determinant to the event’s success.
“Hopefully, what will come out of this is that there is a way people of different religious traditions and philosophical views can discuss with each other in an open-minded and philosophical way,” Edelmann said.

For more information about Graham Schweig’s lecture on pluralism, contact the Department of Philosophy and Religion at 325-2238.