This April, Penn State is honored to be hosting Venerable Soorakkulame Pemaratana, Ph.D., chief abbot of the Pittsburgh Buddhist Center.  During his visit to University Park, Dr. Ven. Pemaratana will be offering a public lecture and a morning meditation; faculty, students, and staff are all welcome to attend!  We look forward to seeing you all in person at each of these events (unfortunately, we cannot offer a virtual option).  Check out the information below, and send this post to anyone who might be interested in attending Dr. Ven. Pemaratana’s events!

Please reach out to Dr. Erica Brindley (efb12@psu.edu) with any questions; we can’t wait to see you!

Please note that Dr. Ven. Pemaratana will visit Penn State Abington campus on Thursday April 21, 2022.  For further details, please see the bottom of this post.

Tuesday, April 19, 2022
1:30- 3:00 pm
“Buddhist Responses to COVID-19 in Sri Lanka”
Public Lecture
Location: Worship Hall, Pasquerilla Spiritual Center

The COVID-19 pandemic presented a serious challenge to communities in Sri Lanka to find a way to stay healthy both physically and mentally. In responding this challenge, Buddhists in Sri Lanka turned to traditional rituals, healing chants and indigenous medicine. This talk explores specific ways that Sri Lankan Buddhists handled the pandemic during the past two years.

Wednesday, April 20, 2022
9:30 – 11:00 am
“Meditation with a monk”
Meditation session and Dhamma talk
Location: Eisenhower Chapel, Pasquerilla Spiritual Center

Venerable Soorakkulame Pemaratana, Ph.D., serves as the chief abbot of the Pittsburgh Buddhist Center in Allison Park, PA. From 2019-2021, he was the Robert Ho Family Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of  Pennsylvania. Born in Sri Lanka, he completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka and master’s degree in Philosophy at the National University of Singapore. After moving to the US in 2008, he pursued doctoral studies at the University of Pittsburgh and completed his PhD in Religious Studies in 2017.

Ven. Pemaratana’s current book project is A Refuge for Our Time: Modern Manifestations of the Buddha in Sri Lanka. This work explores who the Buddha has become for Buddhists in contemporary Sri Lanka in the face of modernity and globalization. The current scholarship focuses only on one trend of modernizing the Buddha as a rational thinker who introduced a set of teachings that is compatible with modern western science. This “scientific Buddha” was first constructed by orientalist scholars of the west and later promoted by Asian Buddhist reformers. This limited focus misconstrues the lived religion of contemporary Sri Lankan Buddhists while portraying Buddhist communities in Asia as unreflective and passive receivers of western concepts. This book argues that more prominent modern manifestations of the Buddha in Sri Lanka exemplify not a rational thinker of the past or the transcendent Buddha of pre-modern period but a lively and caring Buddha who is thoroughly involved with the present-day issues of ordinary Buddhists. In recent decades, the Buddha has been brought to private homes, schools, hospitals, prisons, workplaces and public arenas. In these physical spaces, the Buddha is utilized for teaching children Buddhist cultural values, enhancing religious commitment of lay Buddhists and achieving psychological wellbeing. Understanding these novel roles of the Buddha is essential to fully comprehend contemporary Sri Lankan Buddhism in particular, and the modernization of Buddhism in general.

Details for Dr. Ven. Pemaratana’s Penn State Abington visit:

Thursday, April 21, 2022
Abington Campus
12:00 – 1:30pm
“Buddhist Responses to COVID-19 in Sri Lanka”
Public Lecture
222 Sutherland Building

Join us for the second event in the SSR’s Spring Seminar Series!  Dr. Roy Robson, Professor of History and Religious Studies at Penn State Abington, will give his presentation: “A Community of Young Old Believers: Tradition and Acculturation in Erie, PA 1930-75.”   The presentation will be followed by commentary from Professor Emeritus Gregg Roeber, Penn State University Park.

Event Details:

Date: Wednesday, February 23, 2022   

Time: 12:15-1:15

Location: Zoom

Register here:

Monday, January 31, 2:00-3:30pm.

The Religious Studies Leadership Team at Penn State would like to extend a warm welcome to all the students, faculty, and staff interested in the study of religion at Penn State!  All are cordially invited to the Second Annual All-RLST meeting, to be held remotely on Monday, January 31, 2:00-3:30pm.

The meeting, following a introductory welcome and a report of the last year’s progress, will be largely composed of a breakout room session.  All attendees are welcome to select whichever of the following sessions they prefer: undergraduate, graduate, outreach, and research and research support.

This is a wonderful opportunity to meet the wide array of scholars, students, and staff that compose Religious Studies at Penn State.  Please join us to introduce yourself, learn about our programming, and get involved!

To register, please contact Dr. Jonathan Brockopp at jeb38@psu.edu.

The Penn State Society for the Study of Religion (SSR) warmly invites you to our book club discussion of Dr. Khyati Joshi’s book White Christian Priviege: The Illusion of Religious Equality in America.  The Book Club will meet on Wednesday, February 9th, 2022 from 5:30 – 7:00pm on Zoom (Link TBA).  In order to facilitate discussion and engagement, the SSR Outreach Team will send out a form to collect questions from Book Club members on January 26th; all are welcome to submit questions, comments, feedback, and other discussion prompts about Dr. Joshi’s book.  Please note that the SSR has 10 free copies of the book remaining – please email Dr. Jessica Birkenholtz at jvb6460@psu.edu to request your copy.

Note: By requesting a copy of White Christian Privilege, you are committing to attending the Book Club discussion on February 9th.  Please do not request a copy if you are unable to attend.

Additionally, please see our article regarding the Spring 2022 Harshbarger Lecture – Dr. Joshi, the author of White Christian Privilege, will be the primary speaker. This is a wonderful opportunity for students, faculty, staff, and community members alike!

The Zoom registration link will be posted on this page.

Please join us in giving a warm welcome to Dr. Khyati Joshi, our Harshbarger Lecturer for 2021-2022 year!  Dr. Joshi will be visiting Happy Valley to deliver her lecture on March 1, 2022, at 7 p.m. in Foster Auditorium (library) and on Zoom (https://psu.zoom.us/j/97820730327)

The Harshbarger Lecture in Religious Studies is an annual lectureship made possible by a generous donation in honor of Luther H. Harshbarger, former professor and head of the Religious Studies Department at Penn State.