Downtown Talk Explores 'World Religions'

Charles Farhadian, Westmont professor of world religions and Christian mission, reflects on the movement of various major religions and the ways they have profoundly transformed the world in a free, public lecture Thursday, Nov. 14, at 5:30 p.m. at University Club, 1332 Santa Barbara St. No tickets are required; the limited seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis. For more information, please call (805) 565-6051. The talk, “World Religions in a Global Community,” is part of Westmont Downtown: Conversations about Things that Matter, which is sponsored by the Westmont Foundation.

“More than a century ago, some of the most influential thinkers predicted the future demise of religion,” Farhadian says, “many arguing that they were at that time in the very midst of religion’s last gasp. Had they lived longer, these scholars would have witnessed a significant resurgence of the world religions globally and the accompanying burgeoning of new forms of those religions.”

Farhadian, who has been teaching at Westmont since 2004, has developed this talk for the non-specialist. He graduated from Seattle Pacific University, earned a Master of Divinity at Yale, studied at San Francisco Theological Seminary and earned a doctorate at Boston University.

Farhadian has written and edited several books, including “Introducing World Christianity,” “Christian Worship Worldwide: Expanding Horizons, Deepening Practices” and “Christianity, Islam and Nationalism in Indonesia.” His research focuses on the relationship between religions and cultures, particularly Christianity in non-Western contexts. He also specializes in world Christianity, comparative missiology, and religion and globalization.

He was named Westmont Faculty Researcher of the Year in 2011 and Teacher of the Year in 2012.