Tuesday, Oct 14, 2025
1:30pm - 3:30pm
Lecture by:
David Seljak
Peter Berger, one of America’s most important sociologists, connected his study of sociology and theology to his personal spiritual quest for transcendence. Always interested in the connection between spiritual transcendence and humour, Berger released the book Redeeming Laughter, in which he argued that humor heals wounds, lessens suffering, and “signals” transcendence. Humour, Berger argued, could serve a spiritual purpose. In this lecture, Dr. David Seljak will mostly tell jokes but will also explore the moral ambiguity of both comedy and spirituality. While they may signal transcendence, they can also promote chauvinism, hostility, division, and even violence.
David Seljak is Professor of Religious Studies at St. Jerome’s University in Waterloo, Ontario, and former Chair of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Waterloo. With Paul Bramadat, he co-edited Religion and Ethnicity in Canada (2005) and Christianity and Ethnicity in Canada (2008). He is part of the editorial team working on a new book Opening and Closing Relations: Indigenous Spiritualities in Canada, the third volume of that series. He has authored research reports for the Canadian government’s Department of Canadian Heritage on religion and multiculturalism in Canada and consulted with the Ontario Human Rights Commission on its policy on freedom of religion. For 15 years he served as the editor of The Ecumenist: A Journal of Theology, Culture and Society, published quarterly by Novalis.
Third Age Learning Kitchener Waterloo