Spiritual Transformation Public Symposium

Over April 6,7 and 10, Science & Theology News used it's daily e-newsletter (The Daily Dose) to report on the Spiritual Transformation Public Symposium. The Symposium, a three-day conference at the University of California-Berkeley, was sponsored by the Metanexus Institute who described it this way:

This symposium represents the first overall public presentation of the results of 22 rigorous investigations into the nature of the biological, psychosocial, and cultural conditions and factors that underlie spiritual transformations of individuals and groups. All of these projects are using today's cutting edge methodologies and sophisticated experimental designs to provide fresh insight into these phenomena under investigation. We anticipate that the many presentations from this unique symposium will help to create an innovative interdisciplinary field in the human sciences for the study of spiritual transformation.

Abstracts for the conference are available here. According to The Daily Dose reports, conference highlights included:

1. Day One: a. Plenary Session "Science, Society and Religion: From Dialog to Research" b. First National Survey of Spiritual Transformation c. Major Illness, Resilience and Spiritual Transformation

2. Day Two: a. Youth and Spiritual Transformation b. Spiritual Transformation Over the Life Course

3. Day Three: a. Descriptive and Ethnographic Studies of Spiritual Transformation b. Key Advances, Accomplishments and Challenges for the Future of the Spiritual Transformation Program

I have not finished The Daily Dose's commentaries, so I cannot *ahem* comment on them at this time. But here are links if you want to read them yourself:

• The Daily Dose: Spiritual Transformation Public Symposium - Day One A report from Day One of the Spiritual Transformation Public Symposium at the University of California-Berkeley (April 6, 2006) http://www.stnews.org/Commentary-2771.htm
• The Daily Dose: Spiritual Transformation Public Symposium - Day Two A report from Day Two of the Spiritual Transformation Public Symposium at the University of California, Berkeley (April 7, 2006) http://www.stnews.org/Commentary-2777.htm
• The Daily Dose: Spiritual Transformation Public Symposium - Day Three A report from Day Three of the Spiritual Transformation Public Symposium at the University of California, Berkeley (April 10, 2006) http://www.stnews.org/Commentary-2779.htm

I'll write more on this later.