FAITH IN ARTS: A CONVERSATION WITH RODGER KAMENETZ

Thursday, September 22 2022 at 1 PM Eastern
Streaming to Vimeo + Facebook
Presented as part of the Faith in Arts Institute

Hosted by BMCM+AC and UNC Asheville, these conversations and interviews with a diverse group of artists, curators, faith leaders, and scholars explore the role of arts in spiritual practice and religious life in the arts.

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Rodger Kamenetz is an award-winning poet, author and teacher. Of his thirteen books, his best known is The Jew in the Lotus, the story of rabbis making a holy pilgrimage through India to meet with the Dalai Lama. His account of their historic dialogue became an international bestseller, prompting a reevaluation of Judaism in the light of Buddhist thought. Now in its 37th printing overall, The Jew in the Lotus is a staple of college religion courses. The New York Times called it a “revered text.” A PBS documentary followed, and a sequel, Stalking Elijah, was awarded the National Jewish Book Award for Jewish Thought.

Kamenetz’s many books of poetry include The Missing Jew: Poems 1976 – 2022, The Lowercase Jew, Yonder and Dream Logic. He has been called “the most formidable of the Jewish-American poets.” His memoir, Terra Infirma was described as “one of the most beautiful books ever written about a mother and a son.”

When The History of Last Night’s Dream appeared in 2007, Oprah Winfrey interviewed him on her “Soul Series” program, saying, “What’s so exciting about this book is that it talks about how there’s a whole other life that we are living when we sleep and that our dreams are there as offerings and gifts to us if we only recognize what the dreams are there to teach us.”