The Pluralism Project at Harvard University

Dr. Jeanne Matthews Sommer

Warren Wilson College
Asheville's Spiritual Odyssey

Asheville's Spiritual Odyssey is a year long, student centered research project which will involve 18-30 students. Two special topics courses will be taught in the fall and spring semesters, entitled "World Religions in Asheville" with 9-15 students in each course. The course includes in-class discussion of various components of a religion, discussion and reading about the nature of religion and how to study it as an academic pursuit, the meaning of pluralism and the particular challenges that religious practitioners face in America. A highlight of each course will be a series of 4-5 roundtable lectures which the class will sponsor, featuring area Religious Leaders who will talk about their faith and the challenges they face in the Asheville area. Students will be in charge of the roundtable agenda for each evening and will serve on a panel of respondents for each guest.

The first special topics course began on August 24 with nine students enrolled. We have been familiarizing ourselves with the CD-ROM, the website and other source materials, have been developing strategies for documentation, and have been making preliminary decisions as to which religion each student will study. So far, the following topics have been suggested: Buddhist communities, Unity Church, Native Americans in the Asheville area, Pagan with emphasis on Radical Fairies, Hispanic community, religious resources for gay/lesbian community, Judaism, African American, the Asheville myth and the New Age...

Students seem eager to get started on their research. We will decide on speakers for the Roundtable which will begin in November and will extend invitations in the next few weeks. These Roundtables will occur on Tuesday evenings and will be advertised on campus and in the larger Asheville area. It is our hope that these events and our class can provide the seeds for an Inter-faith group in Asheville.