“There was an interesting discussion on the different types of intellectual humility, and for whom. One was essentially on the importance of fostering new voices, for which it is important that old fogies such as myself practice humility.”
“Thank you very much for it. Northwestern is a place where most faculty are very busy working on their own topic. But it is extremely important that we need to be connected with colleagues and friends in the community. This activity is very helpful to build a collaborative and open-minded teaching and research community.”
“Fascinating to hear them [presenters]. Wanted to hear even more.”
“This was excellent. I really appreciate the small group part being included.”
“A lovely event - thank you for your energy and effort!”
“It was excellent.”
“I appreciated the serious, complex, nuanced approach to the issues.”
“I found the comparative global date quite fascinating as well as the data disaggregating by sub-field and by religion. Those generated useful research and political questions.”
“I thought the small breakout rooms were very good. Our group had what I thought was a really good and interesting discussion.”
“The quality of the presentations, including the video/audio feed, was superior to many Zoom conferences I have viewed.”
“I really, really enjoyed the talk and the research. I also enjoyed the post-lecture discussion. It’s a privilege to join the roundtable because this is one of only a handful of venues where non-religious and religious believers can have well-considered and reasoned discussion without getting defensive or offensive. I find these discussions very rewarding.”
“I found the concept of ‘threat’ associated with exploring scientific bases for religious experiences to be interesting, and perhaps rather generalizable to the challenge we currently face with rediscovering ways to talk with and relate to people with different outlooks.”
“All the speakers made excellent points and they were of interest for me to actually do more research myself in this area.”
“Lombrozzo’s comment near the end about “the possibility that the psychological functions of religion are orthogonal to truth-seeking” was very provocative. Would like to know what she really meant by that.”
“Knowing more about the science behind our belief in God does not un-dermine that belief. Indeed it makes us more reverent about its marvel.”
“It will certainly make me look at believers vs nonbelievers in a different light”
“I was most intrigued by the method of looking at the brain while inquiring about religion. I am curious to explore this method for my own research.”
“The neuroscientific approach to the topic was just fascinating - I promptly started reading various Grafman articles and sharing them with my department! This is not to say that Dr. Lombrozo was not also excellent, but her work is closer to home for me and less “novel”. I will say that their chemistry as presenters was by far the best I’ve experienced yet in a roundtable. They were loose, attentive, playful, collaborative...it was a joy to have that kind of lecture energy on zoom.”
“This panel was amazing. By far the best panel of the three roundtables I’ve attended. I loved that the panelists interacted so seamlessly with each other and with the moderator.”
“This was the best of the online Roundtables I have seen because the two participants were both very thoughtful, most respectful of each other, and the moderator, recognizing this, allowed them to drive a lively back-and-forth without undue intrusion.”
“As a therapist, this entire event was very valuable to me.”
“Thank you . . . . you are the only real unit organizing conversations across the university, for which I am grateful.”
“I will take away the idea that teaching how to live may be more important than teaching how to die....and yet, students are more interested in learning how to die well.”
“Talking about death made me gave me better perspectives toward my daily life and relationships.”
“The online Roundtables are demonstrating that there is a wide appetite for thoughtful, respectful discussions among scholars of differing beliefs.”
“Helpful in thinking about what my wife is dealing with after her father died early in the pandemic, preventing any sort of funeral or memorial service to date.”
“Most poignant was probably the idea of “dying well” & how that affects others, grappling with the “God” or “after-life” question & what prompts that differently for different people depending on perspective, life experiences, etc., and the debate on “living like you’re dying”...holding in tension the expectation of and preparation for death while living fully and with the expectation of a long life as well.”
Reviews from past Roundtables at other Universities
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“The program was provocative; the evening was deeply satisfying. This was sociability at its best.”
“I thought it was great and provided a safe space to have some interesting conversations with other faculty that I certainly would have never had otherwise.”
“It was the kind of night that should be the norm in academia — serious conversation among smart people about contested issues, with pretty much everyone who spoke and counter-spoke both witty and civil.”