Introduction to the Lectures - Tolerance's Boundaries
Our world’s boundaries shrink each year as trade, communication, and culture globalize. And as countries, ethnic groups, and religious structures come in closer contact, conflict continues to escalate, highlighting the difficulty of bringing together people of different origins, faiths, and opinions. A sense and practice of tolerance would seem to hold the key to breaking down such boundaries, yet tolerance clearly has it limits as each group, society, or country defines what constitutes the intolerable. The lectures will consider how the concept of tolerance has developed, particularly by examining the tension between tolerance seen as a form of respect (to tolerate is to accept) and of permission (to tolerate is to allow). The lectures will also examine a specific case in French history during which state and church authorities faced a religious group that pushed the boundaries of accepted belief. Finally, the series will examine how humor can break down barriers but also reflect and create new barriers, and even intolerance. The overall goal of the lectures is to see how tolerance could be reframed—that is, how its boundaries could be redrawn—to allow for both the free expression of conviction and the peaceful coexistence of different and even opposing convictions.
Lecture One:Tolerance: Virtue or Vice? When examined closely, “tolerance” is a rather Suitable for general educated audiences, particularly those interested in Cultural Studies, French, Political Science, Religious Studies, Philosophy, History, and Sociology. |
Lecture Two:Tolerance and Fanaticism: The Huguenot “Sect” of the Multipliers (Montpellier, France, 1720-1723) In early Eighteenth-Century France, a Huguenot (French-Calvinist) widow named Anne Robert-Verchand had a vision that inspired her to organize clandestine worship services in her Montpellier home. Known as les Multipliants (the Multipliers), her group followed prophetic inspirations to create occult rituals based on Christian practices. Arrested in 1723, the group’s leaders were executed that same year, but not before undergoing lengthy interrogations. During the same period, Huguenot leaders in France and Geneva debated how to react to the group. This lecture will analyze why both royal and church authorities could not “tolerate,” nor understand, the Multipliants’ prophetic mindset. Suitable for an academic audience. Disciplines: French, History, Religious Studies, Sociology, Philosophy, Women’s Studies, and Law. |
Lecture Three:Just Kidding? Tolerance, Religion, and Humor Everything seems to start with a joke, as preachers join politicians, late-night Suitable for general audiences, student and non-academic, with an interest in the ties between Christianity and contemporary culture. |
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slippery word. Praised by many as an essential value that holds together a pluralistic society, others criticize tolerance as a form of moral relativism and the sign of a society lacking in stable beliefs. And when used, does “tolerance” refer to religion, sexual identity, politics, taste in music, or all of the above? Is the boundary between what a society “tolerates” absolute or changeable? For example, do the U.S., Canada, and Europe have opposing views of what “tolerance” means? In providing an overview of how the concept of tolerance developed in the West, particularly during the Enlightenment, this lecture will examine the place of tolerance in contemporary society, both globally and locally. 
comedians, and newscasters to warm up their listeners with a humorous anecdote, right before diving into the good news. Yet how far should the joking go? In a free society, for example, do you not have the right to poke fun at my beliefs and I at yours? Humor has indeed been used effectively to argue for tolerance—to get stern believers to “lighten up,” but a religious joke can quickly be perceived as an insult, if not a sacrilege. This lecture will study the place of humor within Christianity and, more broadly, the relationship between humor and religion in contemporary society.