MEDIA RELEASE: St Andrew’s Trust for the Study of Religion and Society

16 February 2012

Internationally known writer and former Buddhist monk Stephen Batchelor to deliver lecture in Wellington

Best-selling author and former Buddhist monk Stephen Batchelor will give a talk entitled “Being Completely Human – Buddhist Practice in a Post-Christian World” at St Andrew’s on The Terrace on Monday 27 February from 6–8pm.

In this talk, Batchelor will offer a critical reflection on the secular transformation of Buddhism as it comes to terms with the challenges of globalisation and modernity.

New Zealand theologian Sir Lloyd Geering will respond, and this will be followed by questions and answers from the audience. The lecture will be recorded to be put onto YouTube as well as being available as a DVD.

Batchelor last spoke at St Andrew’s in 2010 when he exchanged views with Lloyd Geering on the ongoing relevance of the paths that they both promote and critique.

Drawing on the names of books for which they are justly well-known, the chairperson Noel Cheer,characterised the discussion as “Christianity Without God meets Buddhism Without Beliefs”.

While the talk is open to the public with no fixed cost, donations/koha/dana will be very much appreciated.

Biography

Stephen Batchelor was a Buddhist monk for ten years, first in the Tibetan gelugpa tradition and then in the Korean zen tradition. He disrobed in 1985 and returned to England where he became co-ordinator of the Sharpham Trust and then co-founder of the Sharpham College for Buddhist Studies and Contemporary Enquiry in 1996. He also worked as a buddhist chaplain at a nearby prison.

From 1990 he has been a guiding teacher at Gaia House meditation centre in Devon and since 1992 a contributing editor of “Tricycle: the buddhist review”. He works as a writer and photographer and travels worldwide to lead meditation retreats and teach Buddhism.

He is the translator and author of numerous books and articles on buddhism including The Faith to Doubt, Living with the Devil along with others and the bestselling Buddhism Without Beliefs. He has recently published sixty colour and black and white photographs in Martine Batchelor's Meditation for Life.

He lives in southwest France with his wife Martine.

For more information

To find out more about Stephen Batchelor visit http://www.stephenbatchelor.org

To find out more about the work of St Andrew’s Trust for the Study of Religion and Society visit http://satrs.org.nz

ENDS

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