<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;
text-align:center;line-height:150%"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="font-size:20.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Segoe UI";mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman";mso-fareast-language:EN-AU">“Sacred Ground in the Academy: Researching
Religion in a Secular Institution”</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;
text-align:center;line-height:150%"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="font-size:20.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Segoe UI";mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman";mso-fareast-language:EN-AU">Public Lecture at Macquarie
University, Sydney</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:
justify;line-height:150%"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:150%;
font-family:"Segoe UI";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-fareast-language:
EN-AU"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:
justify"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Segoe UI";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-fareast-language:EN-AU">Macquarie
University’s Department of Media, Music, Communication and Cultural Studies are
pleased to announce<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"> “Sacred Ground in
the Academy: Researching Religion in a Secular Institution”</b>, a joint public
lecture featuring Associate Professors John Potts and Stuart Piggin on November
10<sup>th</sup> at Macquarie University, North Ryde, Sydney.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:
justify"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Segoe UI";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-fareast-language:EN-AU"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:
justify"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Segoe UI";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-fareast-language:EN-AU">Associate
Professors <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">John Potts </b>and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">Stuart Piggin</b> will discuss the tensions
and contradictions of conducting research on religion in a deeply secularised
academy and the challenges sacred and religious viewpoints pose to secular
scholarship. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:
justify"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Segoe UI";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-fareast-language:EN-AU"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:
justify"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Segoe UI";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-fareast-language:EN-AU">John
Potts is Associate Professor in Media at Macquarie University. He has published
five books, including <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">A History of
Charisma</i>. His lecture entitled, “Heavens Below: The Religious Impulse in a
Secular Age”, explores the religious underpinnings of various forms of secular
cultural and political expression. This discussion of the secularisation of
religious thought and practice includes reference to oppositional politics,
environmentalism, cultural studies and arts.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:
justify"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Segoe UI";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-fareast-language:EN-AU"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:
justify"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Segoe UI";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-fareast-language:EN-AU">Stuart
Piggin is the Director of the History of Christian Thought and Experience in
the Ancient History Department, Macquarie University. His books include two
published by Oxford University Press on disaster and Australian Christianity,
which are not two accounts of the one phenomenon. Associate Professor Piggin
will be speaking to a lecture entitled, “Adventures in Desecularisation:
Researching Religious Experience in Ancient, Feminist and Australian History”.
Secularism typically privileges a reductionist approach to religion, thereby
reducing the role of religion in social history. This lecture explores what
happens when the historian seeks to look at history from the perspective of
those who made it and takes seriously the significance of religion in shaping
historical and social change.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:
justify"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Segoe UI";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-fareast-language:EN-AU"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:
justify"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Segoe UI";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-fareast-language:EN-AU">The
public lecture is free and open to the public. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:
justify"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Segoe UI";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-fareast-language:EN-AU"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-align:justify"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="font-size:17.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:
12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Segoe UI";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-language:EN-AU">Details</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
150%"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;
line-height:150%;font-family:"Segoe UI";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-language:EN-AU">Time: </span></b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;
line-height:150%;font-family:"Segoe UI";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-language:EN-AU">4.00-6.00pm </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
150%"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;
line-height:150%;font-family:"Segoe UI";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-language:EN-AU">Venue: </span></b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;
line-height:150%;font-family:"Segoe UI";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-language:EN-AU">Y3A.T1, Macquarie University (near the corner of
Epping and Balaclava Roads)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:
justify"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Segoe UI";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-fareast-language:EN-AU"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:
justify"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;
line-height:115%;font-family:"Segoe UI";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-language:EN-AU">For further information please contact Dr. Holly
Randell-Moon at: </span></i><a href="mailto:holly.randell-moon@mq.edu.au"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:
115%;font-family:"Segoe UI";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-language:EN-AU">holly.randell-moon@mq.edu.au</span></i></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:
115%;font-family:"Segoe UI";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-language:EN-AU"> </span></i></p>
<div><br></div>-- <br><span style="font-family:Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;line-height:17px;font-size:13px;color:rgb(42, 42, 42)"><span style="line-height:17px;font-family:monospace, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif"><div style="line-height:17px">
<span style="line-height:17px;font-family:Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif"><pre style="line-height:17px;text-indent:0in !important;white-space:normal"><span style="font-family:monospace, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">Dr. Holly Randell-Moon</span><br>
Department of Media, Music, Communication and Cultural Studies<br>Faculty of Arts<br>Macquarie University, NSW 2109<br>Australia</pre><pre style="line-height:17px;text-indent:0in !important;white-space:normal"><span style="line-height:17px;font-family:monospace, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif"></span></pre>
</span></div></span><div style="line-height:17px"><span style="line-height:17px"></span></div></span><br>