This past weekend, Dr. Beck represented the Ponnivala legend at the 2012 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion in Chicago.
Among the highlights for this event were a trip to the museum at the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago, and of course a screening of The Gates of Heaven (one of our feature film versions of the Ponnivala legend).
Dr. Beck was also pleased to attend the Plenary Address given by Dr. Harvey G. Cox, Jr.. The Harvard University Hollis Research Professor of Divinity gave a fascinating and insightful address on how and why renewal, reform, and transformation movements in religion tend to originate at what the religious mainstream usually thinks of as the “fringe” of its culture, rather than at the centre.
