The EBF has published bi-monthly newsletters since the early 1990s. Over that time we have compiled hundreds of Becker-oriented essays, literature reviews, news updates, and opinion pieces. Reflecting the fecundity of Becker’s analysis, topics range from psychology to ecology to cinema studies. Click on the title above to browse the most relevant articles from the past 17 years.
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Levinas Psychology for the Other |
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Monday, 02 July 2012 11:39 |
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The 10th Annual Levinas Psychology for the Other Seminar is being held November 9-11 at Seattle University. The theme this year is “Levinas and the Maternal Psyche: How Feminist Theory Informs Our Encounter with the Other.” We’re sorry we weren’t able to publish this newsletter in time to inform you of the deadline for the call for papers, but we know that our devoted Beckerites would be interested in this event. For more information, visit www.seattleu.edu/artsci/map/inneraspx?id=7174 |
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Call for Blog Submissions |
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Monday, 02 July 2012 11:37 |
We are looking for new contributors to our blog, The Denial File. Keeping a Tuesday and Thursday update schedule has been difficult with only four regular posters who have teaching responsibilities, so we’re calling on our worthy constituents to help carry the load! Those who enjoy reading the posts of our long time authors Bornschein, Farrell, Floyd and Liechty may be among those who would like to add their name to our roster of respected bloggers.
We like to display a vast range of ideas and topics, from philosophy to science and technology to current events to the arts, so feel free to write about what inspires you. We ask that you add to your submission a sentence-long summary that begins with the phrase “What we can’t think about:” and also send along a head shot. Take a look at thedenialfile.wordpress.com for ideas and then get writing! You can submit to
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or
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, or call 206-232-2994 with any questions or comments. We hope to hear from you soon! |
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Francis Ambrosio in Seattle May 1-4 |
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Wednesday, 28 March 2012 12:44 |
Dr. Ambrosio of Georgetown University is an award-winning teacher as well as a Dante scholar. He is co-director of Georgetown University’s “MyDante” Project, a web based platform for readers of Dante’s Divine Comedy (dante.georgetown.edu). Last year these pages featured two articles on his works and ideas. Dan Liechty described him as “one of the most prominent Christian philosophers today” in his review of Ambrosio’s "Philosophy, Religion, and the Meaning of Life," a 36-session lecture series from The Teaching Company (TTC). In a review from a learner’s point of view, I called his TTC course a pilgrimage that is both intimate and epic, kind of a Canterbury Tales of Western meaning-making. We are happy and proud to have Dr. Ambrosio back in these pages with our announcement that he has generously agreed to come to Seattle in the opening days of May to provide a quartet of events.
One Ambrosio event is planned for each of the first four days in May. The first two programs will be held at the University of Washington, co-sponsored by the Comparative Religion Program and the Simpson Center for the Humanities. These will be followed by two programs at Seattle University co-sponsored by the Departments of Psychology, Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies, and the Honors Program.
If you are wondering what you would be in store for you as an attendee at any or all of these events, the answer is plenty, and plenty more. Dr. Ambrosio’s knowledge and insight spanning philosophy, theology, history, literature, and the arts is a true cornucopia. He uses Becker’s ideas as the unifying strand within in all this abundance. He traces two paths that historically have been followed in search of authentic and meaningful life within Western culture: the way of the Hero and the way of the Saint. Building on Becker’s insights, Dr. Ambrosio proposes that a third way, the way of the Secular Saint, can be forged in modern times--a way of living with minimal denial and with “humiliated hope”.
The content and format of events of the first week of May evidence Dr. Ambrosio’s scholarly and creative range. Who else can give a lecture on death terror as inherent to the genetic structure of culture; a multimedia presentation on Becker, Giotto, Dante, and Saint Francis of Assisi; followed by a talk that mines the common veins of gold in such disparate lives as those of Albert Camus and Simone Weil; and cap the week with an open-ended roundtable discussion with other scholars, and you the audience.
Full Schedule
“Death Terror and Heroism: A Genetic Interpretation of the Cultural Record”
May 1st 7 pm Room 120 Communications Bldg University of Washington
Ernest Becker persuasively argued that terror in the face of death is the primary source of both human violence and psychological pathology on one hand, and of the life enhancing achievements of human culture on the other. This lecture builds on Becker’s insight into this ambiguity at the source of human heroism by making a distinction between The Hero and The Saint. The tension between these two archetypes of meaning and value constitutes a type of cultural schizophrenia that permeates the historical development of Western culture and is at the heart of the crisis that most starkly characterizes contemporary society.
“Becker, Dante and St. Francis of Assisi: Love and Death,” a multimedia presentation
May 2nd 3:30-5:30 pm Room 022 Johnson Bldg University of Washington
One of the most widely recognized and beloved characters of world religious culture, St. Francis of Assisi embodies a critical evolutionary development in the human search for meaning in the West: the emergence of the Saint as Romantic Hero. His influence on the poetry of Dante and the art of Giotto reveals the indispensable role of St. Francis in the emergence of the Renaissance, and exemplifies the particular form of human hope that characterizes Ernest Becker’s legacy.
“Hope in an Age of Terror: The Identity of the Secular Saint.”
May 3rd 7pm Engineering 200 - Wyckoff Auditorium Seattle University
I would try to illustrate and flesh out the way in which I think certain key personalities of the 20th century, especially Simone Weil, offer a concrete and practical vision of the kind of hope which Becker articulates at the end of The Denial of Death and in The Birth and Death of Meaning.
Roundtable Discussion
May 4th 2 pm Casey 516 Seattle U |
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Sheldon Solomon in Bellingham, March 5 |
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Written by James Swift
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Monday, 05 March 2012 13:23 |
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It felt like I was back in junior high school when Neil Elgee gave me an assignment to write an article for this latest Ernest Becker Foundation Newsletter. Okay teach, here’s what you get:
The story that I’ll tell now is about how I came across initially and then later reconnected with the writings of Ernest Becker. Way back in the 70s, I happened to run across Becker’s most famous book ‘The Denial of Death’. Like most of you I’m sure, I found his concepts, ideas and approach to be unusually innovative, iconoclastic and fascinating. I remember that for years afterward I recommended the book to numerous people and then reread it again in the 80s when I was back in school collecting additional academic degrees.
But it wasn’t until several months ago when I happened upon a DVD available on Netflix with the intriguing title ‘Flight from Death’ that I put the movie on my queue. When it arrived, I was astounded to discover that Becker’s ideas had been given an exciting new life and vitality through the visual media. I ended up watching that DVD several times and also in the company of various groups of friends collecting their comments and impressions.
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NEWSLETTER #100 AND OUR ANNUAL APPEAL CONVERGE |
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Thursday, 08 December 2011 14:16 |
 CELEBRATE THE FIRST 100; CONTRIBUTE TO THE NEXT
Here is what is going on for you, both right now and coming up in the pipeline.
1. We keep you in touch with our amazing Sheldon Solomon.
2. You help us work with the new generations of Becker scholars like Sheldon coming along.
Melissa Soenke, a graduate student with Jeff Greenberg, did a superb job stepping in for Sheldon when he was unexpectedly unable to be with us in the Fall Conference.
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