John Main Seminar 1999 - Huston Smith

August 12-15, 1991 Tucson, Arizona

Huston Smith was born of missionary parents in Soochow, China and lived there until he was seventeen. This formative experience prepared him for his lifetime's study of comparative philosophies and religions. He has taught at Washington University in St Louis and for fifteen years was Professor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Most recently he has been Visiting Professor of Religious Studies at the University of California at Berkely. Interested in education beyond the classroom Dr Smith made with Bill Moyers an acclaimed television series on world religions. His films on Hinduism, Tibetan Buddhism, and Sufism have won international awards. His book The World Religions has for many years been the most widely used textbook for courses in comparative religion and has sold over two million copies.

In leading this year's John Main Seminar, Dr Smith shared his latest thinking on the spiritual consciousness of our time. His insight into the long dark tunnel into which the human spirit has been driven through legalism and scientism offers a hopeful and challenging perspective at the threshold of a new millennium.

Once again, the Seminar retreat was led by Fr Laurence Freeman before the Seminar, August 9-11 at Picture Rocks Retreat Centre, a beautiful place of prayer and solitude in the Sonoran Desert high in the foothills of the Tucson Mountains and adjacent to the Saquaro National Park. It is the site of the ancient Hohokam Indian rock art (petroglyphs) which gives Picture Rock its name. Accommodation for the retreat was limited to 70 people.

"Return to the Light"
Huston Smith

These tapes are the talks given by Huston Smith at the 1999 John Main Seminar held in Tucson, Arizona, August 1999. Professor Smith walks us through the dark tunnel. And as we looked up and down and from side to side, he showed us the costs and consequences of the misreading of science and the mismeasure of the human person. Professor Smith gives us a glimpse of the vast and radiant being outside the self-imposed confinement of the tunnel. He shows us that our rightful home is there in the light, where even a thimble full of nothing is really something, something wonderfully and mysteriously part of who we are.

To Order "Return to the Light" Seminar Cassette Tapes

"Why Religion Matters The Fate Of The Human Spirit In An Age of Disbelief"

Now in paperback! Huston Smith - Based on 1999 John Main Seminar held in Tuscson Arizona. Huston Smith, the most eloquent and respected world authority on religion, offers a timely manifesto on the urgent need to restore the role of religion as the primary humanizing force for individuals and society.

To Order the Book Why Religion Matters