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Document Type
Video
Interview Date
8-2-1993
Abstract
Would people be religious if they were never going to die?
Dr. John Carmody discusses the interesting question if people were immortal would they still be religious. He suggests that being mortal only shapes religion, it does not make religion. What makes a religion are all the other questions humans ask about all the mysteries in the world, and the search for meaning in their lives.
Recommended Citation
Carmody, John and Benney, Alfred. Created by Alfred Benney. "Dr. John Carmody Engages with the Question: Would People be Religious If They Were Never Going To Die?" August 1993. DigitalCommons@Fairfield. Web. https://digitalcommons.fairfield.edu/asrvideos/179
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Comments
Playing Time: 2:54 minutes
About the Interviewee:
Dr. John Carmody earned advanced degrees in philosophy from Woodstock College and Boston College, and his Ph.D. from Stanford University. More a research/writer than a teacher, his focus was on modern religious thought, world religions, and Roman Catholicism. He was influenced by Bernard Lonergan and Karl Rahner and together with his wife, Dr. Denise Carmody, published over 55 books. He continued to write up until a few days before his death. Among his last books are, Cancer and Faith, published in 1994 and Psalms for Times of Trouble, published in 1995. The work of the Carmodys has been described as ". . . virtually a compendium of contemporary Catholic thought. It ranges from systematic theology to world religions, from spirituality to Christian ethics, from scriptural studies to matters of ecology, peace and justice."
About the Interviewer:
Dr. Alfred Benney is a professor of Religious Studies at Fairfield University. He has a Ph.D in Theology from the Hartford Seminary Foundation and teaches courses in Non-Traditional American Religions and Christian Religious Thought. His research interests include "how people learn"; "the appropriate use of technology in teaching/learning" and "myth as explanatory narrative". He has published work on teaching with technology.