The Global Lecture Hall will offer a wide range of online courses (available on Zoom and Facebook) in four broad topic areas. Visit the website, and click the tab "Lectures" on the top of the page. The following are the main Topics with brief descriptions.
Sea Change: Cultural Evolution
“Sea Change” is Jim’s term for a period of rapidly accelerating cultural evolution. Our dominant human values move slowly but steadily towards a closer fit with reality. We gradually begin to realize the illegitimacy of racism, patriarchy, homophobia, ecological abuse, and injustice, and to embrace progressive countervailing values. Once in a great while, that slow trickle of change becomes a torrent. Is our age a time of Sea Change?
Life in Society: Culture, Politics, History
What is society? How is it shaped by culture and politics (and how does it shape them in return)? What role does history play in these processes? This domain ranges from the historical through the socio-political to the conjectural, bringing together a wide assortment of topics that will engage students of the complexities of human interaction.
Science: Physics, Evolution, Archaeology
How does the world work? The cosmos? And how much can we know? These courses – designed from the perspective of the humanities, rather than that of the hard sciences – will take up those questions in creative and challenging ways. In a period plagued by science denial, you’ll find some solid ground in these inquiries.
Inner Life: Religion, Philosophy, & Spirituality
The human quest for significance inspires this domain and its inquiry into the varieties of inner experience. We’ll encounter the great religious and spiritual paths, and the great philosophical questions; and we’ll explore the nature of religion, philosophy, and spirituality themselves. Whether you’re a seeker, a student of human nature, or both, you’ll find something intriguing here.